The Cost of Inaction: How much revenue is stuck in your GTM?

What's up GTM friend?

This is GTM Truth reality check n° 04.

Most companies think their GTM is about lead generation. They assume more more leads or better salespeople will fix revenue unpredictability. So they buy more tools, stack more automation, and now, they’re throwing AI into the mix. And yet, nothing changes.

Revenue is still inconsistent. Sales cycles are still long. They are still getting ignored.

You're spending more to close fewer deals

Last week, a CEO showed me his company's "impressive" pipeline. 2,000 leads. $10M in potential deals.

But when we dug deeper, reality hit hard: They hadn't closed a deal in 3 months.

This isn't just their story. It's happening everywhere.

Companies are sitting on bloated pipelines, running expensive marketing campaigns, and throwing AI at broken processes - all while their cost of acquisition silently bleeds them dry.

This isn't a sales problem. Or a marketing problem. Or even an AI problem.

It's a systems problem.

Your GTM was built for a world that no longer exists.

Think about it:

• Your marketing assumes buyers still respond to mass outreach
• Your sales process assumes linear buyer journeys
• Your tech stack assumes more tools equal better results.

None of these assumptions hold true anymore.

100% Human - This wasn’t AI-generated. It’s hand-crafted, unedited, and I can pretty much guarantee that there is some sort of typo or grammatical error. But it’s real, and that’s the point.

Every week, I’ll break down a real-world business experience or challenge a GTM myth - and leave you with an actionable plan.

Why? Because GTM needs a reality check. We’re all drowning in information, with everyone claiming to have the “magic tool” or “magic service.” I'll try to be your GTM Truth-Teller: I’ll cut through the noise and give you the raw, unfiltered truth.

I do this because writing helps me stay sharp and default to action. Your comments? They push me to see things from angles I hadn’t considered.

Your GTM is Broken - symptom 1

Revenue Is Unpredictable, Growth Is Stagnant

You close deals some months, then nothing. There’s no system to generate predictable revenue.

Sales is still relying on gut feeling. You don’t use buyer signals to guide their outreach.

You have no real outbound-to-inbound motion. Every sale feels like a new battle, not part of a repeatable process.

You think your industry is just "hard to sell in" instead of realizing your GTM motion isn’t designed for your reality.

"If your revenue isn’t predictable, your GTM is broken. AI won’t fix it unless your system is built for it."

Your GTM is Broken - symptom 2

Pipeline Is Full, But Revenue Is Stuck

You might have leads, but:

• You aren’t converting. Most of your pipeline is noise, not real opportunities.
• You have no way to tell high-intent from low-intent buyers.
• You don’t know where deals are getting stuck.

You think the answer is more leads, instead of fixing how you qualify and move buyers through the journey.

"More leads won’t fix a pipeline that doesn’t convert. Your real problem isn’t quantity - it’s knowing which buyers are ready now."

Unlocking the GTM Status Quo Trap

GTM is the missing link between enterprise value and growth. If it’s designed well, it creates a predictable, compounding revenue engine.

If it’s built like a traditional sales and marketing function, it becomes a cost center that eats budget without producing predictable results.

Most companies won’t make this shift until it’s too late. Where does your GTM stand?

The GTM Revenue Leak Formula: How Much Revenue Is Stuck in Your GTM?

The real problem isn’t leads. It’s how revenue moves, or doesn’t move, through the system.

If your GTM is not designed to convert efficiently, more leads just create more waste.

So the real question is: How much revenue is trapped inside your GTM right now?

The GTM Revenue Leak Formula

We can break GTM inefficiency into four key variables:

1. Pipeline Leakage (PL): The percentage of leads that enter the system but fail to convert due to poor GTM design.
2. Sales Cycle Delay (SCD): The additional time deals spend in pipeline due to inefficiencies in buyer engagement.
3. Acquisition Waste (AW): The percentage of marketing spend that generates unqualified or non-converting leads.
4. Missed Buyer Signals (MBS): The number of buyers who were in-market but were not engaged properly.

The formula

How to Calculate Revenue Leakage in Your GTM

1. Pipeline Leakage (PL)

• Find the percentage of leads that enter your pipeline but never progress past a key conversion stage (e.g., SQL to opportunity).
• Example: If 60% of your MQLs never reach SQL status, your PL is 0.60.

2. Sales Cycle Delay (SCD)

• Measure the difference between your current average sales cycle and the optimal benchmark for your industry.
• Example: If your sales cycle should be 45 days but your actual cycle is 90 days, your SCD is 45 days.

3. Acquisition Waste (AW)

• Find the percentage of marketing spend that generates leads but not revenue (ads, content, outbound).
• Example: If you spend €100,000 on marketing per quarter and €60,000 of that does not produce sales, your AW is 0.60.

4. Missed Buyer Signals (MBS)

• Estimate the number of in-market buyers your system failed to identify or engage.
• Example: If 10% of buyers were in-market but never engaged because outreach was mistimed, your MBS = 10% of lost deal volume.

Why Most GTM Motions Are Built for a World That No Longer Exists

The way businesses buy has changed. But the way most companies run GTM hasn’t.

The playbooks that worked five years ago (ads, cold outreach at scale, inbound content...) are hitting diminishing returns.

The reason? GTM was designed for a world where buyers were easier to reach and faster to convert.

That world no longer exists.

Today’s buyers:

• Are flooded with outreach, so they ignore generic messaging
• Move between inbound and outbound channels before making a decision
• Expect relevance, timing, and value before they engage

Yet, most companies still run outdated GTM motions that assume:

• More outreach = more pipeline
• More leads = more revenue
• More tools = more efficiency

This thinking is why CAC is rising. Conversion rates are dropping. Pipeline looks full, but revenue is stuck.

AI can automate parts of this process. But if your GTM is broken, AI will just scale the dysfunction.

Omar

Your GTM Truth-Teller ??

My Commitment to You

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading.

This newsletter will unpack these ideas week by week. If you’re a business leader staring at the “Lego pieces” of your GTM - data, tools, AI, and processes - and wondering how to put it all together, drop me a line with what else you'd like me to cover, or if you have a specific GTM challenge you want to discuss, grab some time here.

Let's build better revenue systems together.