The GTM model you inherited was built for a different market
The traditional GTM approach and expectation evolved over a period of time when martech vendors owned the narrative. Serving consumers filled the lower part of the pyramid, whilst B2B occupied the top.
Naturally B2C was the larger market and dutifully they/we:
- consumed the content
- filled out forms
- signed up to newsletters
- responded to calls
- followed digital consumer sales-led cycles
- and moved through a predictable linear funnel.
Whilst B2B buyers dabbled with that in the early days of digital marketing and automation. The GTM model was never properly adapted for B2Bs.
Buyers changed faster than GTM strategies did
Virtually every B2B buyer:
- stays anonymous for as long as possible
- self-educates across dozens of sources
- avoid forms and SDR outreach
- research asynchronously and on-demand
- involves committees, not individuals
- arrive at sales far later — but far better informed.
Your GTM system was not designed for this behaviour.
Martech amplified inefficiency, it didn’t solve it
For two decades, B2B reacted to GTM friction by adding:
- more tools
- more automation
- more channels
- more campaigns
- more attribution layers
This created the illusion of sophistication while masking a fundamental problem: the underlying GTM model was never rebuilt.
More tools simply made the old model operate faster, not better.
Internal friction increased while outcomes declined
Symptoms most CEOs now recognise:
- Lead gen volume up, revenue impact down
- SDR burnout and low contact rates
- Buyers skipping early sales touchpoints
- Forecasts slipping more frequently
- Rising CAC despite more activity
- Marketing execution without commercial clarity
- Sales and marketing operating from different assumptions
These are not execution issues. They are architecture issues.
What this means for you as CEO
Until GTM is rebuilt around buyer behaviour, organisations will continue to:
- spend more to achieve less
- drown in complexity
- lack predictable pipelines
- misinterpret marketing metrics
- over-rely on sales heroics
- restructure teams unnecessarily
This is why GTM is broken.
And this is why it must be replaced — not optimised, with a new GTM Operating System.
Once you accept that GTM failure is systemic, not tactical, the next question becomes economic. That’s where The Revenue Reset begins.
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete"