In today’s episode, Matt and Craig are joined by AJ Gandhi, Chief Growth Officer at Marlin Equity. The discussion is an in-depth exploration of go-to-market (GTM) strategies. They cover the importance of core selling skills, the impact of over-reliant sales enablement tools, and the undervalued power of creative marketing. AJ emphasizes the critical role of coherent, cross-functional collaboration in GTM strategies and the need to reassess current methods to align with today's discerning buyers. They also discuss the importance of accurate marketing spend, talent development, and the overlooked strategic role of customer and partner funnels in driving business growth.Takeaways:Be realistic about growth objectives and ensure that spending on sales and marketing is justified by actual returns.Focus more on marketing activities influencing the self-managed buyer's journey as buyers become more self-sufficient.Prioritize marketing activities that can quantitatively demonstrate influence on the buyer’s journey rather than just focusing on attribution metrics.Define and rigorously pursue your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).Create and maintain a targeted list of potential customers. Ensure all marketing and sales efforts are aligned with engaging this list.Implement structured hiring and talent assessment practices to ensure you are onboarding the right people.Ensure the CEO and executive team understand the value of different marketing and sales strategies and invest in the most promising approaches.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction and Paella Party Realization01:06 - AJ's Networking and Social Schedule06:59 - The Value of In-Person Problem Solving10:48 - Rethinking Go-To-Market Strategies14:15 - The Importance of Marketing in the Buyer’s Journey21:38 - Holistic Approach to Pipeline Management28:50 - Marketing Spend and Attribution41:24 - Challenges in Sales Talent Development47:34 - Evaluating Marketing Investments50:04 - Building a Winning Team51:14 - Closing Thoughts and FarewellQuote of the Show:“People just need to step back and almost like forget all the stuff that they're doing that's part of the standard playbook. Take a step back and really think about what are we trying to do here and how do we actually influence these buyers’ dreams.” - AJ GandhiSponsor:The Transaction is sponsored and produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through Branded podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/Connect with AJ:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjaigandhi/ Website: https://www.marlinequity.com/ Shoutouts:Sydney Sloan https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydsloan/ Ryan Azus https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanazus/ RingCentral https://www.ringcentral.com/ Marc Benioff https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff/ Jen Igartua https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-igartua/ Salesforce https://www.salesforce.com/ Guy Rubin https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubinguy/ Follow the Show:Craig’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigrosenberg/ Matt’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-amundson-91657236/ The Transaction on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-transaction/ The Transaction Website: https://thetransactionpod.com/ Substack: https://thetransaction.substack.com/ Ways to Tune In:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3i3r3WLacRZiSa7dOaOgDz Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-transaction/id1734518309 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTransaction?sub_confirmation=1