You can have the best product in the world, but if your GTM system is weak, it will not help you sell. That’s just the reality. There are many reasons for this, but in this newsletter we’ll keep it straightforward.
These are the five most common mistakes I see in GTM setups today.
They are not complicated, but if ignored, they can cause your entire motion to fail.
1) Overcomplicating the flow
A flow should only exist if you are absolutely sure why you are adding it. Many teams either overcomplicate things with layers they don’t need, or oversimplify to the point where nothing meaningful happens.
People want to insert AI into every step of the process, even if it doesn’t make sense. Is it REALLY NEEDED?
What we Automate Vs Humanize (after months of testing)
The right approach is intentional simplicity. If you are 100% clear on why a step exists, keep it. If you are only adding it because you saw it in someone else’s system, remove it.
A GTM flow has to reflect your own motion, not a borrowed one.
2) Poor team structure
This one is very simple but very common. An SDR should not be doing GTM engineering work, and a GTM engineer should not be doing SDR work.
Yes, some people can do both, but they are rare, and even then, splitting their focus weakens performance.
The clearer the role split, the stronger the outcome. Let engineers build the systems, let SDRs focus on selling.
It sounds basic, but many teams ignore this and then wonder why neither side is performing.
3) Using signals without context
Signals are one of the most important parts of a modern GTM setup, but the mistake is treating them generically.
Everyone talks about job switch signals, but does that even apply to your ICP?
The Most Generic Personalization
You need to think from the buyer’s perspective, not just from how you want to sell.
This means speaking to your customers, asking what problems they actually solved with your product, and noticing how different their journeys are.
You might find that five customers give you five different reasons they bought.
That is the real work of understanding signals. Without it, you are just guessing and hoping for results.
4) Poor personalization
It’s surprising that in 2025 this is still a problem, but it is. Personalization that relies only on job titles or company names does not mean much.
For example, you may have seen the viral screenshot where someone put a fake instruction in their LinkedIn “about” section asking any AI-driven outreach tool to include a recipe for flan. And sure enough, a recruiter email actually included the entire recipe for flan inside the body of the message.
Recent Viral Automation Fail
This is what happens when personalization is automated without context or quality control. It’s embarrassing, but more importantly, it shows a lack of care for the person receiving the email.
If personalization does not connect to a real signal about the buyer’s needs, which brings us to the last point.
5) Skipping basic quality checks
The tools we use today are powered by AI. They are powerful, but they can also hallucinate or misinterpret.
That is why quality checks are critical. Whether it is reviewing signals, testing copy, or making sure the right fields are being merged, someone has to validate before campaigns go out.
If you do not, you risk burning bridges before you even build them.
And that is the worst thing you can do in GTM. AI will get better, yes, but no matter how advanced it becomes, there will always be a need for human checks.
Because at the end of the day, you are talking to another human, not a dataset.
These 5 mistakes are simple but fundamental.
Careless flows, weak team structures, generic signals, shallow personalization, and missing quality checks can quietly block growth.
Fix them, and your GTM setup will work much harder for you.
If you are still unsure how to put this together for your own motion, feel free to reach out. I am always happy to jump on a call and walk through your setup and strategy :)
