Sales gtm

Sales & GTM

Complete B2B sales and go-to-market execution framework. From identifying triggers to closing deals. Includes 137 sales triggers, 34 cold email templates, and 11 GTM plays.

Keywords

Sales, GTM, go-to-market, cold email, outbound, prospecting, pipeline, SDR, BDR, lead generation, sales triggers, buying signals, lead qualification, BANT, MEDDIC, objection handling, battlecards, demo scripts, sales sequences, email deliverability, CRM, deal flow, quota, ABM, Clay, Apollo, sales automation, ICP, cold call, follow-up

Core Domains

1. Sales Triggers & Buying Signals

Sales triggers are events that create a window of opportunity. Don't cold email random people — target people experiencing a trigger that makes your solution relevant NOW.

Trigger categories (137 total in reference file):

Category	Examples	Signal Strength
Leadership changes	New CXO, new VP, reorg	Very High
Funding events	Raised round, IPO filing, acquisition	Very High
Hiring signals	Job postings for roles your product replaces	High
Tech stack changes	Adopted/dropped competitor, new tools	High
Growth signals	Office expansion, new market entry, partnerships	Medium-High
Pain signals	Bad reviews, security incidents, layoffs	Medium
Industry events	Regulation changes, market shifts	Medium
Content signals	Blog posts about your problem space, conference talks	Medium
Engagement signals	Website visits, content downloads, social interactions	Variable

See references/sales-triggers.md for the complete list of 137 triggers with response templates.

2. Cold Email

The anatomy of a great cold email:

1. Subject line: 3-5 words, lowercase, curiosity-driven
2. Opening: Personalized hook tied to a trigger (1 sentence)
3. Problem: Acknowledge their specific pain (1-2 sentences)
4. Bridge: How you help (1 sentence, not a feature dump)
5. CTA: One clear, low-friction ask (1 sentence)
6. Total: Under 100 words

The 4-email sequence:

Email	Timing	Approach	Length
Initial outreach	Day 1	Trigger + problem + CTA	<100 words
Follow-up	Day 3-4	New angle + social proof	<80 words
Value-add	Day 7-8	Share useful content + soft CTA	<80 words
Break-up	Day 14	Direct close or graceful exit	<50 words

Key principles:

• Personalization > templates (but templates are a starting point)
• Sell the meeting, not the product
• One CTA per email
• No attachments (kills deliverability)
• Don't start with "I" — start with them
• No buzzwords (leverage, synergy, innovative)
• Would YOU reply to this?

See references/cold-email.md for all 34 templates (23 first-touch, 4 follow-up, 4 re-engagement, 3 special).

3. GTM Plays

11 proven go-to-market plays for different scenarios.

Play	When to Use	Key Metric
The New Exec	Target within first 90 days	8-12% reply rate
The Funding Round	Company just raised	6-10% reply
The Competitor Swap	Using a competitor you can beat	5-8% reply
The Industry Event	Around conferences/events	4-7% reply
The Content Engage	Engaged with your content	8-12% reply
The Referral Play	Warm intro available	15-25% reply
The Case Study Drop	Similar company success story	5-8% reply
The ROI Calculator	Quantifiable value prop	4-7% reply
The Free Audit	Can diagnose their problem	6-10% reply
The Mutual Connection	Shared network/background	8-15% reply
The Breaking News	Industry/company news hook	5-8% reply

See references/gtm-plays.md for full playbook with templates and execution guides.

4. Lead Qualification

BANT Framework:

• Budget: Can they afford it?
• Authority: Are they the decision maker?
• Need: Do they have the problem?
• Timeline: When do they need a solution?

MEDDIC Framework (for enterprise):

• Metrics: What quantifiable goals are they trying to achieve?
• Economic Buyer: Who controls the budget?
• Decision Criteria: What are they evaluating on?
• Decision Process: How do they buy?
• Identify Pain: What hurts?
• Champion: Who internally advocates for you?

Lead scoring signals:

• Visited pricing page (High intent)
• Downloaded content (Medium intent)
• Multiple visits in a week (High intent)
• Matches ICP firmographics (Baseline fit)
• Engaged with competitor content (Medium intent)

5. Sales Enablement

Battlecard template:

• When prospect mentions [Competitor]:
  • Acknowledge: What they're good at
  • Differentiate: Where you're different/better
  • Prove: Data, case studies, customer quotes
  • Landmine: Question that exposes competitor weakness

Demo script structure:

1. Discovery recap (2 min): Confirm their pain points
2. Vision (1 min): Paint the "after" picture
3. Demo (10-15 min): Show solution to their specific problems
4. Social proof (2 min): Similar customer success story
5. Next steps (2 min): Clear CTA with timeline

Objection handling (LAER):

• Listen: Let them finish, don't interrupt
• Acknowledge: Show you understand the concern
• Explore: Ask questions to understand the root cause
• Respond: Address with evidence and confidence

6. Outbound Infrastructure

Email deliverability checklist:

• SPF, DKIM, DMARC records configured
• Dedicated sending domain (not your main domain)
• Domain warmed up (2-4 weeks, gradual volume increase)
• Email validation on all addresses before sending
• Sending limit: 50-100/day per mailbox
• Bounce rate <3%, spam complaint rate <0.1%

Tech stack recommendations:

• Prospecting: Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Clay
• Sequencing: Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist
• Enrichment: Clay, Clearbit, Apollo
• CRM: HubSpot (free tier), Pipedrive, Salesforce

Sales Metrics

Metric	Formula	Benchmark
Reply rate	Replies / Emails sent	5-15% (cold)
Positive reply rate	Positive / Total replies	30-50%
Meeting booking rate	Meetings / Prospects contacted	2-5%
Show rate	Attended / Booked	70-85%
Demo → Close	Closed / Demos given	15-30%
Sales cycle length	Days from first touch to close	Track by segment
Pipeline velocity	Pipeline $ × Win rate / Sales cycle	Increasing

Reference Files

• references/cold-email.md — 34 cold email templates with use cases
• references/sales-triggers.md — 137 sales triggers organized by category
• references/gtm-plays.md — 11 go-to-market plays with execution guides
• references/lead-qualification.md — BANT, MEDDIC, and scoring frameworks
• references/sales-enablement.md — Battlecards, demo scripts, objection handling
• references/outbound-infrastructure.md — Deliverability, tech stack, domain setup
• references/negotiation-tactics.md — Tactical empathy, calibrated questions, mirroring, labeling, Ackerman model (Source: Never Split the Difference)
• references/offer-creation.md — Value equation, Grand Slam offers, pricing psychology, guarantee stacking (Source: $100M Offers)
• references/lead-generation-advanced.md — 4 core lead gen methods, warm/cold frameworks, content-led leads, lead magnets (Source: $100M Leads)