2024 has been a whirlwind of tech advances in the world of GTM. From AI SDRs that can automate outbound to life-like avatars that can join meetings to support reps as they pitch, there’s been a huge shift in how go-to-market jobs are done and who owns them: person or software.
Despite all of these changes, leaders and reps alike are feeling more confused and ill-equipped than ever. There’s a growing sense of confusion around what AI is actually good at, where to apply it, and when a human should intervene. After the past few years of an AI boom market, stakeholders are becoming more skeptical of some of the huge claims new tech companies are making. Only 55% of business buyers trust AI to be as accurate as a human.
On top of the skepticism in the market, leaders have struggled to get their teams the enablement they need to use AI effectively. A third of sales teams feel they have insufficient training on how to use AI.
All of this is why we chose to focus Season 3 of the 10x GTM Podcast on the evolving AI x GTM landscape. As the first half of our season winds down, we’re revisiting the first eight episodes and sharing some of the top pieces of advice. First, we’ll cover what we’ve learned about how to avoid shiny AI toys and focus on the tools that actually produce results. Then, we’ll dive into where humans fit into the picture and why relationship building is more important than ever.
Getting AI Right
Start with problems, not solutions
In the 90s and early 2000s, we had the dot-com bubble, when everyone rushed to plant their flag on the internet, even if they didn’t have a fully baked plan yet. (Pets.com, anyone?) Today we’re seeing similar behavior with AI. New companies are popping up every day, often with big (but unverified) promises to revolutionize your GTM strategy.
It can be easy to get sucked into the hype and feel pressure to start adding AI tools, but the smartest companies are taking a different approach. Tessa Whittaker, VP of Rev Ops at ZoomInfo, recommends starting with the problem you’re trying to solve and working backward to identify solutions. Avoid defaulting to AI “just because.” While AI might be a good fit for some or all of your goals, this simple framework will help you find the best tool for the job.
"When we think about AI, we should say ‘What are the 3 to 5 business objectives that we have or the goals we have as an organization? What KPIs are we ultimately trying to drive? What are our current priorities that are already in place? What’s already on the roadmap?’ Then we layer in AI to help accelerate that or drive more efficiency." - Tessa Whittaker, VP of Rev Ops at ZoomInfo
Adopt a “Do and Deliberate” approach
Once you’ve identified potential opportunities for layering in AI, you need a clear framework guiding how to launch, evaluate, and scale. The best way to launch AI is a combination of deliberation (top-down strategy) and doing (testing use cases). Kieran Flanagan, SVP of Marketing at Hubspot, shared his framework for rolling out AI tools to his team at Hubspot:
Step 1: Deliberate - Set top-down strategic priorities
Aligning on a top-down strategy first helps create guardrails for your test and prevent thrash. Don't worry if you don't have all the answers - start with:
- Define focus areas: Identify your top 5 areas where AI could be transformational
- Set hypotheses, goals, and metrics: Get clear on what you are testing for each focus area. Create goals for each area and how you’ll measure success, i.e. which metrics are you trying to move? Typically the goal is to improve productivity, reduce cost, increase revenue, or improve quality.
- Assign owners: Not groundbreaking but things won’t get done if too many people own a workstream. Instead, opt for DRIs (directly responsible individuals).
- Create accountability: Establish the operating rhythm of weekly and monthly check-ins on progress.
- Monitor the effectiveness of tiger teams: Regularly check in to ensure the right team is running with each initiative. Ask yourself if this test could see more impact in the hands of a different person or team.
Step 2: Do - Enable and empower your team
Once you have a strategy set, it’s time to roll out and empower the team to experiment with AI. Key elements of roll-out should include:
- Access & enablement: Give your team access to the necessary tools and provide training on the process. Don’t skip enablement!
- Make it fun & engaging: Organize internal hackathons, create healthy competition with leaderboards, and offer incentives like a bonus or SPIF (especially for sales!).
Lead with value over tech
The same solution-first approach we’ve outlined for adopting AI applies to bringing AI products to market as well. After the past three years, buyers often have AI fatigue. Go back to the basics and focus on value selling over-relying on buzzwords.
Kevin Baldacci, Head of Solutions Product Marketing at Asana, offered a nuanced approach to introducing AI features that cut through the hype and deliver genuine value to customers. The most effective AI product launches start by reaffirming your core value proposition. For Asana, this means continuing to emphasize how the platform helps teams collaborate, manage projects, and align work to goals – with AI serving as an accelerant, not the main attraction.
Go-to-market leaders should train their teams to position AI as a capability that elevates existing solutions, not a standalone feature. The goal is to show buyers that your AI isn’t a novelty, but a thoughtful solution that transforms how they get work done. By keeping the focus on the customer’s needs and pain points, companies can cut through the noise and position their AI features as meaningful innovations rather than trends.
“We can’t lead with AI every single time. We need to continue to address the value and the pain points customers see. Balance making sure that we are providing value to our customers while also being excited about the future of AI.” - Kevin Baldacci, Head of Solutions Product Marketing at Asana
Doubling down on the human element
It may seem counterintuitive at first, but the rise in AI means the human side of GTM is more important than ever. From hiring the right people to building authentic business relationships, our podcast guests emphasized the importance of personal connection.
Hire for the intangibles
Building a high-performing sales team is more important than ever in the current market. Ramp's Head of Enterprise Sales, Mark Goldberger, shared his personal rubric for identifying top sales talent - what he calls the "4 H's": hunger, hustle, humility, and heart. These traits represent the qualities that set exceptional sellers apart.
Mark emphasized that while product knowledge and sales tools can be learned, core traits like the desire to win, resilience in the face of adversity, and willingness to outwork others are things candidates have to already have as part of their inherent personality. The key to identifying 10x sellers is finding reps who have these fundamental characteristics and then building on that foundation with technical skills and product expertise.
"Those intangibles are things that I can't teach someone. I can't teach someone grit. I can't teach someone passion. I can't teach them the heart.” - Mark Goldberger, Head of Enterprise Sales at Ramp
Get personal with account-based strategies
Want to stand out in a sea of AI spam? Get hyper-targeted and use account-based strategies to reach your ICP.
The trick is to go beyond old-school ABM and adopt a holistic, data-driven approach. Kyle Poyar, founder of Growth Unhinged, dubbed this strategy “ABX.” The focus is on selling to “precisely the right person at the right time, using the right data” to create a super efficient (and effective) sales motion.
- Align around a shared goal and ICP: Get product, sales, marketing, and ops on the same page by sharing high-level goals and the types of focus accounts you’ll be going after.
- Go deeper than basic firmographics: Use information like tech stack usage, growth indicators (hiring, fundraising), and recent leadership changes to identify your best prospects for ABX.
- Get clear on the buyer’s journey: Decide how you’ll track engagement across channels and define clear criteria for buyers to move through the funnel. This will help you understand where your prospects are in the process and whether your efforts are working.
- Launch coordinated engagement: Start your ABX campaigns using coordinated efforts across GTM teams, including marketing air cover, targeted sales outreach, and relevant product touchpoints. Make sure all messaging is consistent and focus on accounts that have the highest likelihood of conversion.
- Test, measure, and iterate: Keep refining your ABX strategy as you gather metrics on what’s working - and what’s not. Consider metrics like pipeline generation, conversion rate from ICPs, engagement depth across key stakeholders, and sales cycle velocity.
Remember: The goal isn't to generate more activity, but to create focused, efficient engagement with the right accounts at the right time.
"We can know precisely - are the decision makers we care about visiting our website? Are they going through our interactive demo? Are they attending our webinars? Are they at our dinners? We can see if we're doing these coordinated go-to-market activities towards the right people in a way that's influencing their journey.” - Kyle Poyar, Founder of Growth Unhinged
Show prospects you know them
With the rise in AI SDRs, outbound has never been spammier. So how can reps stand out from their competition in crowded inboxes? By capitalizing on social selling techniques to build meaningful business relationships. Sam McKenna, founder of #samsales Consulting, recommends a three-step approach:
- Refresh your LinkedIn profile: Make sure that your LinkedIn profile is professional and up-to-date, including a high-quality photo, engaging headline, and detailed about section. Your profile should not only list your job title but also explain what you do and how you help your clients.
- Engage authentically online: Avoid immediately pitching to new connections. Instead, take time to build relationships by engaging with their content before sending a DM or email. Focus on contributing meaningfully to conversations first.
- Show them you know them: Prospects don’t want generic outreach. Show them you’ve done your homework by referencing something specific they’ve shared online. Sam recommends creating intriguing subject lines that only make sense to the recipient. For example, Sam noticed a prospect had posted about wearing leopard-print shorts to Soul Cycle and sent an email with the subject line “Leopard-print shorts + Soul Cycle + #samsales.”
Personalized doesn’t have to mean time-consuming. Sam recommends using AI for "speed to knowledge" when doing research. Tools like Pocus AI Strategy can help you quickly gather insights about prospects' interests, challenges, and recent activities, that you can then use to craft tailored messaging. Whether it's commenting thoughtfully on a prospect's content or sending a handwritten note (one of Sam’s secret tricks!), the key is to show that you've invested time in understanding who they are beyond their professional title.
“You can't forget that your buyers are people that are human beings, not just people with wallet share. Connect on something authentically. Make an effort.” - Samantha McKenna, Founder of #samsales Consulting
Teach with every touch
You’ve hired the best reps and launched a targeted, personalized account-based strategy. What comes next? Making sure that every touchpoint delivers tangible value. Meka Asonye, partner at First Round Capital, shared his "teach with every touch" philosophy that shifts traditional sales conversations into meaningful exchanges where prospects gain valuable insights, regardless of whether they ultimately become customers.
The “teach with every touch” approach starts with the very first interaction, including outbound messaging, and extends through every meeting. Meka emphasized that even discovery calls shouldn't be purely extractive - they should blend qualification with delivering value. By sharing insights about industry trends, peer approaches, and best practices, sellers can position themselves as trusted advisors, not just vendors.
This mindset shift from pure qualification to value creation not only improves conversion rates but also builds stronger, more sustainable customer relationships - an advantage in a competitive market.
"If you are talking to your customers, taking their time, they should be learning something from you. When you think about what you're doing, you're spending a 100% of your time thinking about this one problem space. You're seeing how good companies do it well, and you're seeing how bad companies have messed up. I always looked at [engaging with prospects] as I can tell you what all of your peers are doing and where it's working and where it's not working. Regardless of if you buy the thing that I'm selling, you can learn something from your interaction with me today." - Meka Asonye, Partner at First Round Capital
Success in 2025 won’t be isn't about chasing every new trend or tool. It will be about thoughtfully combining technology with human connection, staying adaptable, and remaining focused on delivering real value to your customers. The best GTM strategies don't just drive revenue - they create experiences that customers actually value and remember.
Want to explore our guests’ advice more deeply? Check out Season 3, Part 1 of the 10x GTM podcast.
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