Week 2 - GTM Game Plan Weekly

THANK YOU!

First, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who read, shared, and responded to my first newsletter. Your support and feedback mean a lot, and it’s clear that there’s still opportunity and room for meaningful insights on GTM strategy, growth, and talent. So let’s dive into week two!

I am obviously new to all of this so will try and build on some key themes and keep it somewhat consistent :). Wow - sitting down to do this is easier said than done!

Let’s start at the highest level.

The current GTM Situation:

I am putting together deck for my thoughts on modern GTM and then how to execute. The first slide is all about The Current GTM Situation: A First Principles Look.

These are the top 5 things I am seeing right now from my personal PoV:

The answer?

AI - AI and more AI!! Just shotgun the crap out of it. I don’t even care if it is my primary email domain. It is what most say. Seriously.

Fine - just go get an AI BDR then as we can go faster, cheaper and hit more. WRONG.

Jeremy + Kyle share some thoughts below.

The good news Jeremy is that most are doing so from their primary email domain so they are not hitting any inboxes. They are actually not burning the TAM as it’s spam: )

So what “can” this look like in the new modern world? Is a picture worth 1k words?

Can we really “Flip the Funnel”? More from my WIP deck.

One of the biggest challenges I see in modern go-to-market (GTM) strategies is the balancing act between personalization and scalability in prospecting. Over the past few years, we’ve moved from mass-email blasts to where hyper-personalization is all that matters. One email guru this week told me cold email is dead in all aspects - even if you do it right (domains, infra, data, etc, etc).

But here’s the thing: while personalization is key, it doesn’t mean you can’t scale it. It also doesn’t mean you can scale it either.

So how do we get there? So much here to unpack and newsletters for days on this.

Let’s start with 3 quick things:

1. Start with Deep ICP Definition

The foundation for personalized prospecting is nailing down your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Without this, even the most personalized message falls flat. Your team needs to be crystal clear about who you’re targeting—down to their pain points, goals, and what success looks like for them. ICP is more than demographics and firmographics. It’s understanding the moments that matter to your ideal customers—the “triggers” that move them to take action.

An ICP is NOT a list and bullet points - that is part of it. An ICP is a clear definition and it MUST be something we ENABLE the entire company on. It is the ethos by which we build features, get feedback from the market and engage the market.

HUMANS IN THE LOOP MUST DO THIS.

I recommend that teams use automation on the research - for sure:

? The most simple stack: use tools like Clay, Trigify, SmartLead and LeadMagic.

? Map your ICP’s most critical challenges to your solution in an actionable and measurable way. We live and die by MEDDPICC. Metrics always win. Why are we not reverse engineering all of that into our ICP and then into the triggers we can find in non-linear data to use to attack at the right time?

You will likely see a post from me on LI this week on this topic.

ICP is not some list you create from tools like ZoomInfo or Apollo (not terrible but a far cry from the Ozempic people think it is). Triggers are not some “I see you are hiring - I now have personalization at scale - can I sell you now?.”

I got the most trash email ever from a recruiter about some role to be “The first sales person at this company - your background is perfect for this!”.

I have never been the first sales person and if you looked at my background I am likely not replying to a subject line with a “up to 150k base”. In fact - if you looked at my background the subject line should have nothing to do with a base - even if it was $1M.

If you want to be a revenue operator than the base salary isn’t a trigger and worse if I am hiring I don’t want people where that is the main motivation. Of course - I do not mean this isn’t important (as it is - we all need to live and eat) as it is but you get my point. This is TRASH.

I am not the ICP here, there is no trigger, nothing relevant and worse - he thinks he built an ICP list as it was likely a random list of CROs or whatever. He “thinks” this is personalized and with a trigger and clearly was automated with AI and NO HUMANS THINKING.

Now…..you can actually go at some scale and be generic. It does not mean you can’t. You can. You can’t. Automate. Don’t Automate. AI. No AI. AI with Human in the loop.

What does all of this tell you? Strategy still matters and so do brains of humans who know what they are doing. ZIRP or no ZIRP - too many companies and too many people in positions where they don’t belong. It honestly isn’t even their fault.

2. Build Systems for Efficiency, But Keep the Human Touch

It’s no secret that automation has revolutionized prospecting, but it can also lead to lazy outreach. Automation doesn’t mean impersonal.

Here’s a simple formula for avoiding that trap:

? Start with the human touch:

? Leverage automation for efficiency:

? End with a strong CTA (Call to Action):

Great example here I have saved. I do not know Patrick but he seems great. I have used the service he outlines though - it is fantastic. Maybe I need to get into the affiliate program here so if you reach out to him at least let him know it was me. Kidding. Not really. Kind of.

3. Measure What Matters

Too many GTM leaders focus on the wrong KPIs when it comes to prospecting. The number of emails sent, calls made, or connections added don’t tell the whole story. I did post this week on knowing your ROI on LinkedIN (more on that later).

So What really moves the needle?

? Response rates: How many replies (positive or negative) are you getting? This is a clear indicator of whether your messaging is resonating. STOP with open rates.

? Meeting Held that got Qualified: This is the core metric that should drive your pipeline-building efforts. The higher your conversion from outreach to qualified meeting, the more aligned your messaging is with the market.

Your messaging is a direct reflection of the actual message and format combined with the ability to truly know the ICP, the persona and the triggers I briefly mention above.

Who cares if you book a bad meeting and the SDR feels “they hit their number”. I heard that this week from a leader but then when asked what pipeline that generated he said he didn’t know. What??

? Pipeline creation velocity: How fast are you moving from first contact to a qualified opportunity? The speed at which prospects move through your funnel is a reflection of the value you’re delivering in your outreach.

? Steak Dinners Held: I hate steak dinners - especially the ones where the rookie orders the shellfish platter. Code Red. Immediate Firing. Anyway - I do love business dinners and meetings. If you are a 10k ACV - I get it. This isn’t for you. If you are 100k this is for you. Side note - people are now recruiting for reps who do $1M in ACV as I am working on some of those. If so - you better be able to command an audience such that they would go to dinner with you.

One of my favorite lines ever (small tangent here) is from Craig Nowell where he asked a rep “If you sent your Champion a text message on Christmas Eve would they reply?” You could start with do you even have their cell (another topic).

Point being - Will your champion (or better yet will they bring the EB) have dinner with you without waiving the shell fish platter or your CEO as the bait?

Stole this from Ed Sim (thanks Ed!) and I don’t know Will but I want to. Although if you are 3k% of plan I hope you are not 300k but more like $3M but a side note. The point here is spot on. Obviously some sarcastic humor here…..and love it.

What’s Next?

I’ll continue to dive deep into GTM topics like modern sales productivity, building high-performance teams, and the evolving role of AI in GTM strategy. I want this to be a conversation—so if you have ideas, topics you’d like covered, or questions you’re struggling with, please reach out!

Together, we’re building a modern GTM playbook that isn’t just about theory—it’s about action and results.

Thanks again for joining me on this journey!

Best,

Andrew

https://gtmgameplan.substack.com/p/the-gtm-game-plan-weekly-volume-2?r=4cplou