What to automate first, based on how your company actually sells.
Everyone's automating their marketing. Almost nobody asks the question that determines whether it works: how does my company sell?
Your GTM model determines what to automate first. Get that wrong and you build a machine that produces output nobody on your team can use.
This playbook maps six GTM models to the marketing motions that matter most for each. Find your model. Start with motion #1.
How to use this playbook
- Find the GTM model that best describes your company
- Start with motion #1. It's the highest-impact automation for your model.
- Build motions in order. Each one feeds the next.
- Adjust based on the modifiers at the end (ACV, team size)
Find your GTM model
Everything in this playbook flows from one decision: which of these six models best describes how your company sells today?
Pick the one that matches how you generate most of your revenue right now, not where you want to be in 18 months. Most companies don't fit one model perfectly. That's fine. Pick the closest match and scroll to that section.
The 6 GTM models
1. Product-Led Growth (PLG) Free tier or freemium. Self-serve signup. No "talk to sales" gate. Public docs and community.
2. Sales-Led Growth "Book a demo" is the primary CTA. No public pricing. Sales team of 3+. AE/SE roles visible.
3. PLG + Sales Assist Self-serve signup AND a sales team. Free tier for individuals, "Talk to sales" for enterprise.
4. Outbound-Heavy SDR/BDR team of 3+. Outreach/Salesloft/Apollo in the stack. No strong inbound engine.
5. Inbound / Content-Led Blog with consistent cadence. SEO tools in the stack. Lead magnets. Marketing team larger than sales team.
6. Channel / Partner-Led Partner page. Reseller program. Integration marketplace.
Still not sure?
Ask these three questions:
- Where did your last 10 closed deals originate? If most came from self-serve signups, you're PLG. If reps sourced them, you're sales-led or outbound-heavy. If they came through content or search, you're inbound-led. If partners referred them, you're channel-led.
- Does a buyer need to talk to someone before purchasing? If yes, you're sales-led (or PLG + Sales Assist if a free tier also exists). If no, you're PLG.
- How large is your SDR/BDR team relative to your marketing team? SDR-heavy means outbound-heavy. Marketing-heavy means inbound/content-led.
If you genuinely straddle two models, start with the playbook for your primary revenue source and cherry-pick the top motion from the secondary model as your #3 or #4 priority.
The 10 GTM Motions
Every playbook draws from these 10 motions. No company needs all 10 at once. Your GTM model determines which ones matter and in what order.
| # | Motion | What it does | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lead Prospecting | Build targeted lists of companies and contacts matching your ICP. Verified emails, LinkedIn profiles, enriched data. | LinkedIn Engager Sourcing, Hiring Signal Outbound |
| 2 | Account-Based Marketing (ABM) | Monitor target accounts for buying signals: funding, hiring, LinkedIn activity, competitor evaluations. Engage at the right moment. | Signal-Based Outbound |
| 3 | Lead Enrichment | Take any list (CSV, CRM export, event attendees) and enrich with 50+ data points: email, phone, company data, funding, tech stack. | Data Enrichment |
| 4 | Outbound Outreach & Follow-Up | Generate personalized outreach referencing real context: signals, LinkedIn activity, company news. Multi-step sequences that escalate. | Data Enrichment + Outreach |
| 5 | Inbound Capture, Qualification & Routing | When a lead signs up or requests a demo, instantly research, score, and route to the right rep with a full brief. | Inbound Lead Routing |
| 6 | SEO / AEO | Create content that ranks on Google and gets cited by AI systems (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity). Blog posts, landing pages, comparisons, FAQs. | LLM Visibility Audit, SEO Audit, Search Visibility Monitor |
| 7 | Social Content | Short-form, opinionated content on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, YouTube, Reddit. Build awareness and start conversations with your audience. | Content Ideation |
| 8 | Sales Prep & Deal Acceleration | Auto-generate intelligence briefs before every sales call: attendee profiles, company context, competitive landscape, recommended talk track. | Meeting Prep |
| 9 | Customer Expansion | Monitor existing customers for expansion signals: headcount growth, new departments, funding. Surface upsell and cross-sell opportunities. | Signal-Based Monitoring |
| 10 | Competitor Monitoring | Track competitor pricing, features, positioning, reviews, and hiring patterns. Feed intelligence into outreach, sales prep, and content. | Competitor Monitor, G2 Review Capture |
GTM Model 1: Product-Led Growth (PLG)
How to detect it: Free tier or freemium, self-serve signup, no "talk to sales" gate, public docs, community.
The core problem: Users are already signing up. The gap isn't lead generation. It's that sales-worthy signups get treated the same as tire-kickers.
Most PLG companies treat every signup identically. A student testing your free tier and a VP of Operations at a 500-person company both land in the same queue. By the time someone manually researches the VP and realizes they're a perfect fit, the lead has gone cold. The fix isn't more leads. It's instant qualification: research every signup automatically, score them against your ICP (company size, title, funding, industry), and route the high-value ones to sales with a full brief within minutes of signing up.
Once that's working, the natural next step is enrichment (which powers the scoring) and then expansion (because PLG companies already have a large user base sitting on untapped upsell potential). Content comes after because PLG lives on organic discovery, but only once you can actually convert the traffic it brings.
| Priority | Motion | Why, in this order | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inbound Capture, Qualification & Routing | Users are signing up. Route the sales-worthy ones to reps with a full brief. A Fortune 500 VP just signed up for your free trial, and nobody noticed for 3 days? This fixes that. | Inbound Lead Routing |
| 2 | Lead Enrichment | Enrich every signup with company data, title, funding stage. This powers the scoring and routing in motion #1. | Data Enrichment |
| 3 | Customer Expansion | You have a large user base. Find which accounts are ready for upsell based on usage patterns, headcount growth, and funding signals. | Signal-Based Monitoring |
| 4 | SEO / AEO | PLG lives on content. Rank for the searches your buyers are making. Get cited by AI systems when prospects ask "what's the best tool for X?" | LLM Visibility Audit, SEO Audit |
| 5 | Social Content | Build awareness through LinkedIn, YouTube, and community content. Feed the top of the funnel so the self-serve engine keeps growing. | Content Ideation |
| 6 | Lead Prospecting (Outbound) | Lower priority for pure PLG. Useful for enterprise accounts that won't self-serve. | LinkedIn Engager Sourcing, Hiring Signal Outbound |
What to skip (for now): ABM is not worth the investment at low ACVs. Monitoring individual accounts doesn't pay off when deal sizes are small. If you have an enterprise tier with ACV above $25K, add ABM after Customer Expansion.
GTM Model 2: Sales-Led Growth
How to detect it: "Book a demo" is the primary CTA, no public pricing, sales team of 3+, AE/SE roles visible.
The core problem: If reps are sourcing their own leads, they're not selling.
Sales-led companies live and die by pipeline. But in most orgs, reps spend hours each week manually building prospect lists, researching companies, and writing outreach from scratch. That's expensive selling time burned on work an agent can do better.
The playbook starts with prospecting because it produces the most tangible output: a qualified, enriched list of people to talk to. Once you have accounts, ABM adds a timing layer by monitoring them for buying signals (funding, hiring, competitive evaluations) so reps reach out when the account is actually ready. Outreach and sales prep follow naturally: personalized sequences built from real context, and full intelligence briefs before every call. At ACVs above $25K, walking into a meeting without a brief on the buyer, the company, and the competitive landscape is leaving money on the table.
| Priority | Motion | Why, in this order | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lead Prospecting (Outbound) | The sales team needs pipeline. Give them a qualified, enriched list every week instead of making them build their own. | LinkedIn Engager Sourcing, Hiring Signal Outbound |
| 2 | Account-Based Marketing | You have accounts. Now find which ones are ready to buy. Prioritize based on funding rounds, hiring surges, and competitive signals. At high ACVs, timing is everything. | Signal-Based Outbound |
| 3 | Outbound Outreach & Follow-Up | Reps have prioritized leads from prospecting and ABM signals. Generate personalized sequences that reference real context. | Data Enrichment + Outreach |
| 4 | Sales Prep & Deal Acceleration | Before every call, auto-generate a brief. Attendee profiles, company context, competitive landscape, recommended talk track. At ACV above $25K, this is table stakes. | Meeting Prep |
| 5 | Lead Enrichment | Take any list and make it actionable. Event leads, partner referrals, CRM imports. | Data Enrichment |
| 6 | Competitor Monitoring | Feed competitive intel into outreach copy and sales prep briefs. Know when competitors change pricing, launch features, or lose customers. | Competitor Monitor, G2 Review Capture |
GTM Model 3: PLG + Sales Assist
How to detect it: Self-serve signup AND a sales team, "Talk to sales" for enterprise tier.
The core problem: You have two engines running but they're not connected. Self-serve signups are flowing, but enterprise accounts get the same treatment as individual users.
This is the most complex GTM model because you're running two motions simultaneously: a self-serve funnel that needs to scale and an enterprise sales motion that needs precision. The biggest mistake these companies make is treating both the same. A developer signing up for a free trial needs a smooth onboarding flow. A VP at a 1,000-person company signing up for that same trial needs a rep in their inbox within the hour with a personalized demo offer.
The playbook starts with inbound routing because you already have signup volume, and the immediate win is separating the enterprise signals from the noise. Prospecting comes second because the sales team can't rely on inbound alone for enterprise accounts that will never self-serve. ABM then runs a two-track watch: monitoring your existing user base for expansion signals (who's growing, who just got funded, who's using the product heavily) and monitoring target accounts for buying signals. The rest follows the natural chain from outreach to sales prep to expansion.
| Priority | Motion | Why, in this order | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inbound Capture, Qualification & Routing | Self-serve signups flowing. Catch enterprise accounts worth a sales touch. Separate the VP who just signed up from the student doing a tutorial. | Inbound Lead Routing |
| 2 | Lead Prospecting (Outbound) | Sales team can't rely on inbound alone for enterprise. Build targeted lists for accounts that won't self-serve. | LinkedIn Engager Sourcing, Hiring Signal Outbound |
| 3 | Account-Based Marketing | Two-track monitoring: user base for expansion signals AND target accounts for buying signals. | Signal-Based Outbound |
| 4 | Outbound Outreach & Follow-Up | Reps have leads from prospecting and ABM signals. Reach them with context. | Data Enrichment + Outreach |
| 5 | Sales Prep & Deal Acceleration | AEs running enterprise demos need full briefs. | Meeting Prep |
| 6 | Customer Expansion | PLG base growing. Identify accounts ready for the enterprise tier. | Signal-Based Monitoring |
| 7 | Lead Enrichment | Enrich any list from any source. | Data Enrichment |
GTM Model 4: Outbound-Heavy
How to detect it: SDR/BDR team of 3+, Outreach/Salesloft/Apollo in stack, no strong inbound.
The core problem: You're already doing outbound. The biggest upgrade isn't more volume. It's better targeting and better timing.
Outbound-heavy companies already have the motion running. SDRs are sending emails, making calls, working sequences. The problem is usually quality, not quantity. Reply rates are low because outreach is generic. Lists go stale because nobody enriches them after the initial pull. And reps reach out based on gut feel rather than buying signals.
The playbook starts with prospecting because the machine needs fresh fuel every week. But the real upgrade is motion #2: layering signal data and real personalization into outreach. When an SDR references a specific hiring signal, a funding round, or a LinkedIn post the prospect wrote last week, reply rates jump. Competitor monitoring comes earlier in this playbook than others because competitive intel is outreach ammunition. "Did you see [competitor] just raised their prices by 30%?" is a better opener than any template. ABM is last because outbound-heavy teams need volume first, then precision. Add signal-based timing once pipeline is flowing and you want to improve conversion, not just volume.
| Priority | Motion | Why, in this order | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lead Prospecting (Outbound) | Feed SDRs with fresh, enriched lists every week. The machine needs fuel. | LinkedIn Engager Sourcing, Hiring Signal Outbound |
| 2 | Outbound Outreach & Follow-Up | Upgrade existing outreach with real personalization and signal data. Signals turn cold outbound into warm outbound. | Data Enrichment + Outreach |
| 3 | Lead Enrichment | Enrich every list that comes in. Event leads, partner lists, anything. | Data Enrichment |
| 4 | Competitor Monitoring | Feed competitive intel into outreach copy. "Did you see [competitor] just raised prices?" is a better opener than "I help companies like yours." | Competitor Monitor, G2 Review Capture |
| 5 | Sales Prep & Deal Acceleration | Once deals are in pipeline, arm reps with briefs before every call. | Meeting Prep |
| 6 | Account-Based Marketing | Add precision after volume. Monitor accounts for buying signals once pipeline is flowing and you want to improve conversion rates. | Signal-Based Outbound |
GTM Model 5: Inbound / Content-Led
How to detect it: Blog with consistent cadence, SEO tools in the stack, lead magnets, marketing team larger than sales team.
The core problem: Content drives traffic, but what happens after someone lands on your site? Most inbound-led companies lose their best leads in a queue.
Inbound-led companies have built something most startups struggle with: a reliable source of traffic and form fills. The blog is publishing, the SEO is working, leads are coming in. But the gap between "someone downloaded our whitepaper" and "a rep followed up with context" is usually hours or days. In that gap, your best leads go cold or pick a competitor who responded faster.
The playbook starts with capture and routing because it's the highest-leverage fix: take the traffic you already have and convert it better. Score every lead against your ICP automatically, route hot leads to reps with a full brief (who they are, what their company does, why they're here, recommended next step), and push everyone else into the right nurture track. SEO/AEO comes second because you're already investing in content, and now you can scale the research and production side. This includes ranking on Google but also getting cited by AI systems like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity when prospects ask "what's the best tool for X?" Social content amplifies what's already working by distributing insights across LinkedIn, YouTube, and community channels.
| Priority | Motion | Why, in this order | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inbound Capture, Qualification & Routing | Content drives traffic. The gap is what happens after. Route, score, and brief in minutes, not hours. | Inbound Lead Routing |
| 2 | SEO / AEO | Automate the research side. Scale what's already working with structured, search-optimized content. Get cited by AI systems that recommend products. | LLM Visibility Audit, SEO Audit |
| 3 | Social Content | Distribute insights, case studies, and use cases on LinkedIn and YouTube. Amplify what's driving traffic. | Content Ideation |
| 4 | Lead Enrichment | Every inbound lead needs enrichment before it's actionable. | Data Enrichment |
| 5 | Account-Based Marketing | Layer buying signals on top of the inbound base. Know which visitors are actually in-market. | Signal-Based Outbound |
| 6 | Sales Prep & Deal Acceleration | Inbound-sourced deals still need prepared reps. | Meeting Prep |
GTM Model 6: Channel / Partner-Led
How to detect it: Partner page, reseller program, integration marketplace.
The core problem: You have two pipelines to fill: direct sales and partner recruitment. Most tools only handle one.
Channel-led companies face a unique challenge: every motion needs to work for two audiences simultaneously. You're prospecting for end customers AND for potential partners. You're enriching leads from partner referrals AND from your own sourcing. You're monitoring signals on partner accounts AND on end-customer accounts.
The playbook starts with two-track prospecting because both pipelines need fuel. Direct sales prospects and potential channel partners have different profiles, different messaging, and different qualification criteria, but the underlying motion is the same: source, enrich, score, reach out. Enrichment comes second because partner-sourced leads are notoriously thin. A partner sends you a name and a company. That's it. Before anyone on your team touches it, the agent enriches it with verified email, title, company size, funding stage, and LinkedIn profile. ABM adds intelligence on both tracks: monitor which partners are growing (and worth investing more in) and which end-customer accounts show buying signals. Sales prep is different here too. Partner-sourced deals require understanding three relationships: your company, the partner, and the end customer.
| Priority | Motion | Why, in this order | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lead Prospecting (Outbound) | Two-track: direct sales pipeline + partner recruitment pipeline. Source end customers and potential partners simultaneously, enrich both. | LinkedIn Engager Sourcing, Hiring Signal Outbound |
| 2 | Lead Enrichment | Partner-sourced leads arrive thin. Enrich everything before anyone touches it. | Data Enrichment |
| 3 | Account-Based Marketing | Monitor partner accounts and end-customer accounts for buying signals. Prioritize which partnerships to invest in. | Signal-Based Outbound |
| 4 | Sales Prep & Deal Acceleration | Partner-sourced deals need different prep. Understand the partner relationship, the end customer, and the competitive context. | Meeting Prep |
| 5 | Outbound Outreach & Follow-Up | Reach both prospects and potential partners with context-rich outreach. | Data Enrichment + Outreach |
| 6 | Competitor Monitoring | Track competitors' partner ecosystems. Know when a competitor loses a partner or a partner's customer. | Competitor Monitor, G2 Review Capture |
ACV Modifier: How Deal Size Changes the Playbook
Your average contract value changes which motions are worth the investment.
| ACV | Adjustment |
|---|---|
| Under $5K/year | Deprioritize Sales Prep, Outbound Outreach, and ABM. Monitoring individual accounts isn't worth it at this price point. Boost Inbound Capture and Lead Enrichment. Volume matters more than precision. |
| $5K - $25K/year | ABM at default priority. Signal-based timing improves outbound efficiency. The sweet spot where most motions deliver strong ROI. |
| $25K - $100K/year | Boost ABM, Sales Prep, and Competitor Monitoring. Every deal justifies the investment in account-level monitoring and buying committee mapping. |
| Over $100K/year | ABM becomes top 3 priority. Boost Customer Expansion. Deprioritize Lead Prospecting (precision matters more than volume). Sales Prep is table stakes. No rep should walk into a six-figure conversation without a full brief. |
Sales Team Modifier: How Team Size Changes the Playbook
| Team size | Adjustment |
|---|---|
| No sales team (founder-led) | Skip Sales Prep. Frame prospecting as "your first sales hire that works 24/7." Focus on motions that produce pipeline without requiring a team to act on it. |
| 1-3 people | Boost Sales Prep. Every deal matters when the team is small. A prepared rep closes more with less. |
| 4-10 people | Specialization is happening. Inbound routing, qualification, and signal-based outbound scale without adding headcount. |
| 10+ people | Process and consistency across the team. Inbound Capture & Routing and Sales Prep get a boost. Everyone follows the same playbook. |
How Motions Chain Together
Each motion produces output that feeds the next. This is the natural progression:
| When you finish... | Build next... | Because... |
|---|---|---|
| Lead Prospecting | Account-Based Marketing | You have accounts. Find which ones are ready to buy. |
| Account-Based Marketing | Outbound Outreach | You know who's in-market. Reach them. |
| Outbound Outreach | Inbound Capture & Routing | Outbound is running. Handle inbound the same way. |
| Inbound Capture & Routing | Sales Prep | Leads are flowing. Arm reps to close them. |
| Sales Prep | Customer Expansion | You're winning deals. Grow revenue from existing accounts. |
| Lead Enrichment | Prospecting or Outbound | Data is clean. Use it. |
| SEO / AEO | Inbound Capture & Routing | Organic content drives traffic. Capture what comes in. |
| SEO / AEO | Social Content | You have content. Distribute insights on social. |
| Social Content | SEO / AEO | Social drives branded search. Capture that demand with SEO pages. |
| Competitor Monitoring | Outbound Outreach | You know the landscape. Use it in messaging. |
| Customer Expansion | Competitor Monitoring | Accounts are growing. Don't let competitors poach them. |
Every Model Has a Different Bottleneck
The common mistake: picking what sounds impressive instead of what fixes the actual gap.
- PLG companies don't need more leads. They need to stop losing the good signups in a sea of tire-kickers. Automate the routing.
- Sales-led companies don't need better content. They need pipeline so reps can sell. Automate the prospecting.
- Outbound-heavy companies don't need more volume. They need better timing. Automate the signals.
- Inbound-led companies don't need more traffic. They need to convert what's already landing. Automate the capture.
- Channel companies don't need a single pipeline. They need two. Automate both tracks.
Find the bottleneck. Automate the bottleneck. Then move to motion #2.
