AI Is Everywhere In GTM. Customer Value Isn’t.

2026-05-07 · Source: Featured Blogs - Forrester · Field: Business & Management — Corporate Strategy & Leadership, Marketing, Branding & Advertising, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning · Depth: Intermediate, short

Summary

Go-to-market (GTM) leaders recognize that AI is fundamentally reshaping buyer behavior and company differentiation, moving beyond decades-old practices like mass emails and MQL obsession. A survey of 30 senior GTM leaders at the B2B Summit revealed that 88% believe AI's benefits outweigh its risks. Key AI initiatives include applying AI to existing workflows for efficiency, rethinking roles and skills to incorporate marketing engineers and AI leaders, and experimenting with market-facing AI for human, buyer agent, and answer engine audiences. The real opportunity lies in redesigning work to improve customer outcomes, shifting from engagement-based metrics to a return-on-objectives model, and fostering cross-functional alignment across marketing, sales, product, and customer success.

Key takeaway

For GTM leaders aiming to adapt to AI-enabled buyers, you must move beyond optimizing internal efficiency to fundamentally redesigning workflows around customer outcomes. Shift your focus from engagement metrics like MQLs to a return-on-objectives model that directly ties success to business and customer goals. Establish a cross-functional AI council to ensure shared ownership and consistent direction for your AI initiatives.

Key insights

AI is transforming GTM, necessitating a shift from efficiency to customer outcomes and cross-functional alignment.

Principles

• Prioritize customer outcomes over internal efficiency.
• Redesign workflows, do not merely automate existing ones.
• Align GTM goals with business and customer objectives.

Method

Embed AI into existing tools, then rearchitect or eliminate processes. Plan for new roles like marketing engineers and AI leaders. Experiment with market-facing AI for human, buyer agent, and answer engine audiences.

In practice

• Form a cross-functional AI council.
• Focus on return-on-objectives metrics.
• Simplify messaging for AI-driven discovery.

Topics

• Go-to-Market Strategy
• AI Transformation
• Customer Value Creation
• AI Workflow Integration
• GTM Organizational Roles

Best for: Executive, Product Manager, Director of AI/ML, AI Product Manager, Consultant

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Featured Blogs - Forrester.