The GTM Automation Playbook

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.

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 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.

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. 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.

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 for accounts that will never self-serve. ABM then runs a two-track watch: monitoring your existing user base for expansion signals and monitoring target accounts for buying signals.

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. 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 here because competitive intel is outreach ammunition. ABM is last because outbound teams need volume first, then precision.

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. SEO/AEO comes second because you're already investing in content, and now you can scale the research and production side, including getting cited by AI systems. Social content amplifies what's already working by distributing insights across LinkedIn, YouTube, and community channels.

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.

The playbook starts with two-track prospecting because both pipelines need fuel. Enrichment comes second because partner-sourced leads are notoriously thin. A partner sends you a name and a company. That's it. Before anyone 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 which end-customer accounts show buying signals.