What five GTM executives say are their biggest pain points

For go-to-market (GTM) teams, the list of pain points can be seemingly endless. Issues can range from navigating the ever-changing AI landscape to perfecting coordination among teams.

Revenue Brew spoke with five GTM executives about their biggest issues and how they overcome them.

Prioritization

Baby care brand Coterie’s go-to-market team focuses on “prioritization” to overcome internal and external communication challenges, according to Lindsey Kling, senior vice president of brand marketing and partnerships.

“Know your hero channels, anchor around a compelling message, and build internal alignment early so execution feels like true teamwork,” she said.

Kling said if a product or campaign doesn’t wow Coterie’s fervent community or further its brand promise and vision, that product or campaign doesn’t go out the door. 

“We’re really proud of that,” she said. “Protecting brand trust is a long game—and that means holding the line when it’s tempting to chase short-term wins.”

The AI landscape

According to Casey Foss, chief commercial officer at digital services firm, West Monroe, GTM teams have to navigate two big challenges: keeping up with AI advancements and new, if not more, stakeholders entering the decision-making process.

“From AI bots to data and IT leaders to competing business units, the buying journey has become more complex and less predictable,” Foss said. “As we face a more diverse buyer set, it means more message personalization, a greater need for differentiation in demand channels, and new ways of content consumption.”

These two big factors change how West Monroe’s marketing team, sellers, and industry experts show up, she said, “to hold true to our brand promise—deliver value through technology.”

Keeping up demand

In a saturated B2B market, having your product stand out and keeping up demand are key. At investment firm BuildGroup, co-founder Klee Kleber said he overcomes these challenges through several initiatives.

“Usually, this means adjusting spend to more productive channels, running some sort of time-bound promotion, and in the B2B world, hammering the customer base,” he said.

The proliferation of AI has helped his team with these pain points, he said, as these tools have increased efficiency and personalization.

“The good news is that a slew of new AI tools are now available to provide a step change in results,” he said. “Those leads that were scored too low to contact can now be handled by an agent. Demos can be more easily customized. Landing pages can be produced at scale. And rote scheduling tasks can be handled on behalf of sales reps, freeing up time to actually sell. The best marketing leaders will take advantage of these dynamics to drive the new AI tools into their organizations.”

Defining success

Defining success is unique to each company. At marketing and ad agency Spark, executive vice president and partner Dulani Porter said clear KPIs need to be determined ahead of time in order to gauge campaign success.

“Engagement metrics may be celebrated, while conversion metrics lag behind,” she said. “Or the goals may shift mid-flight, creating confusion for everyone involved. We define success criteria at the outset, aligning campaign KPIs with broader business outcomes. We also ensure the measurement framework is agile, meaning we can learn and adapt while the campaign is live. Tracking meaningful signals and understanding what they indicate enables us to pivot if needed, ensuring the GTM plan evolves in line with performance.”

Cross-department collaboration

It’s important for GTM professionals across departments to work together to overcome pain points, according to sales enablement platform Seismic’s chief revenue officer, Hayden Stafford.

“Too often, GTM and back-office teams operate in silos,” he said. “Without shared goals and open communication, teams may measure the wrong outputs. When marketing, product, and sales aren’t working in lockstep, GTM efforts lose clarity–especially around the product’s key differentiators and how to position effectively.”

Stafford suggests that revenue leaders can encourage growth by breaking down barriers to cross-department collaboration.

“Aligning teams internally ensures everyone is in sync moving forward,” he said. “For example, regular touchpoints between product and marketing teams lead to clearer pricing for revenue teams. This ensures that all parties are aligned on product-market fit, its potential for disruption, and its competitive differentiation.”