Top 5 reasons your team isn't adopting your GTM playbook and how to address them.

You've spent months, maybe even years, developing the perfect go-to-market (GTM) playbook. It has everything you need to take your product to market and succeed. So why isn't your team using it?

There could be any number of reasons, but we've compiled the top 5 most common ones here. If you're struggling to get your sales, presales, customer success, marketing, services, or product team on board with your GTM strategy, this list is a great place to start troubleshooting.

1. They don't understand it. The first step in getting your team to adopt your GTM playbook is ensuring they understand it. This may seem like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how often teams are given complex strategies without any explanation on how to execute them. Sit down with your team and walk them through the playbook step-by-step. Make sure they understand each component and how it fits into the larger strategy

2. They don't buy into it. Even if your team understands the playbook, they may not believe in it. Maybe they think it's too complicated, abstract, or won't work in their specific market. If this is the case, you need to sell them on the strategy by proving the value of the approach and how it can be personalized for their specific market. Share success stories from other companies who used similar playbooks or case studies of when the playbook worked well for your company in the past. Show them the playbook can and will work if they give it a chance.

3. They don't have time for it. In today's fast-paced business world, many teams feel like they simply don't have time to implement a new GTM strategy—no matter how well thought out it is. If this is the case with your team, try breaking the playbook down into smaller, more manageable components. Assign specific tasks to individual team members and set deadlines for learning and practicing each component. By taking this approach, you can ensure that the playbook gets implemented without overwhelming your team's day-to-day work schedule.

4. They don't know how to use it. Even if your team has bought into the playbook and is willing to allocate time to implement it, they may not know where to start or what tools to use. In this case, provide them with enablement and resources that will help them get up to speed quickly. Ensure managers have the resources to coach and role-play how to execute the playbook effectively with their teams.

5. They're not being held accountable for results. If your team knows how to use the playbook but still isn't executing it properly, there's a good chance they're not being held accountable for results. Make sure you have clear playbook input and output metrics to track progress and identify improvement areas. Then, sit down with team members regularly to review those metrics and discuss what's working well and what needs improvement.  Build rituals into your monthly cadence to recognize early success and celebrate wins!

There are a number of reasons why your team might not be adopting your GTM playbook—but thankfully, there are just as many solutions. By taking some time to troubleshoot the issue, you can develop a plan of action to get everyone on the same playbook page and rowing in the same direction. Thanks for reading!