Execution Is the New Advantage

Why strategy isn’t your bottleneck anymore and what operators are fixing instead

Author

Tom Slocum
January 12, 2026

Welcome to the GTM Launchpad newsletter! Each week I will share a sales play to help you grow your business, level up your sales game and succeed in the trenches

The Part Nobody Wants to Admit

The first full week back is always weird

Calendars are full again
Slack is loud again
Everyone’s “locked in” again

But underneath all that?

You can feel it

Things still aren’t moving the way they should

Not because the strategy is wrong
Not because people are lazy
Not because the plan didn’t make sense

But because execution keeps breaking down between the plan and the work

I’ve been deep this week inside HubSpot, ZoomInfo, Expandi, Smartlead, Maildoso helping a founder finally build a real outbound engine after years of duct-taping Outlook and tasks together

And what stood out wasn’t messaging
It wasn’t ICP
It wasn’t effort

It was this quiet, brutal truth

Most GTM teams dont have a strategy problem
They have an execution gap

Strategy Isn’t Losing You Deals
Execution Is

Here’s what execution breakdown actually looks like in the wild

• Reps know what accounts matter, but don’t know what to do next
• Leaders know the plan, but can’t see where deals are slipping
• Context lives everywhere, so action happens nowhere
• Sellers bounce between 8 tabs just to prep for one conversation

So what happens?

Spreadsheets become the command center
Inbox becomes the CRM
Memory becomes the system

Not because people want it that way
because it’s the only place execution can actually happen

and that’s the gap most teams are finally waking up to in 2026

This is why ZoomInfo GTM Workspace actually matters right now.

Not as “another tool”
Not as a CRM replacement
Not as an AI gimmick

But as an execution layer

Here’s the uncomfortable stat that keeps showing up:

85% of reps manage their book in spreadsheets
10% in inbox
5% in CRM

That’s not rebellion it’s survival

Deal data is in Salesforce
Calls are in Gong
Content is somewhere else
Signals are buried
Context is fragmented

So ZoomInfo didn’t build more data

They built a workspace where execution actually happens:

• CRM data + buyer intelligence in one place
• Signals tied to timing, not noise
• Context delivered inside the seller workflow
• Visibility without chasing spreadsheets

This is where strategy finally turns into action

Execution wins deals
This is one of the cleanest attempts I’ve seen at fixing the gap

Explore • Engage • Evolve

🎙 Cheer Dads Unfiltered (New Podcast)

This week we officially launched Cheer Dads Unfiltered

Three episodes dropped on Jan 8
Episode 4 goes live Jan 15

It’s real talk on:
• competitive youth sports
• being present dads
• balancing work, pressure, and family
• learning as we go

If you’re a parent navigating ambitious kids and real life this one’s for you

One Question Worth Asking This Week

Ask your team (or yourself):

“Where does execution break down after the plan is clear?”

Not in theory
In real workflow

That answer is where your leverage is this year

Tom’s Play of the Week

The Execution Audit (30 Minutes)

Don’t set goals this week

Instead do this:

Pull up one active deal or account

Answer three questions:

  1. Where does the rep actually work this deal day to day?

  2. How many tools do they touch just to prep?

  3. Where does context get lost before action happens?

Don’t fix everything

Fix one execution break

That’s how momentum actually starts

Let Me Land This

2026 isn’t about louder plans
Or bigger strategies
Or more tools

It’s about fewer gaps between knowing and doing

The teams that win this year won’t be the smartest
They’ll be the ones who execute cleanly, calmly, and consistently

We’ll keep tightening that muscle together

See you next Monday
Let’s keep building

Tom 🤙

Thanks for reading. See you again next week at 8 am MST!

- Tom Slocum ✌️

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