Buying Meetings: Why GTM Teams Are Betting Big on a Losing Strategy

I had a call recently with a prospect whose goal, plain and simple, was to “bring in meetings.”

So, naturally, she’s searched for and invested in appointment setting programs to supplement the outbound activity her SDR team has been facilitating.

She wasn’t even coy about it—just bluntly admitted that the challenge was these meetings the programs provided rarely led anywhere.

When I asked why she kept investing in these appointment setting programs, her answer was chillingly familiar:

“I was told to do so.”

This wasn’t her first rodeo, either.

She had cycled through a handful of vendors I was all too familiar with, the kind you see plastered across LinkedIn and cybersecurity vendor ads.

I’ve been there too.

As a former demand gen leader for several cybersecurity firms, I’ve trialed every appointment-setting vendor under the sun.

And every time, it was the same story:

Grand promises of opportunity creation, disappointing outcomes, and my sorry ass left scrambling for the next shiny solution to “buy” meetings.

BUY MEETINGS! 

Let that sink in for a second.

Even the terminology feels gross.

It’s transactional.

It’s ineffective.

And it’s outright harmful to both vendors and buyers.

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The Real Problem: Flawed Thinking Breeds Flawed Outcomes

Let’s challenge a dangerous misconception:

The belief that you should focus all your energy (and budget) on chasing buyers who are “in-market.”

Conventional wisdom says that a very small segment of buyers are truly are actively looking for solutions at any given time.

(I know there’s a statistic somewhere that says 1-3% in B2B.)

But the real issue is—this narrow view cripples your approach from the start.

Why?

Because it’s reactive.

It’s built on the flawed assumption that buyers know exactly what they need and will magically land in your funnel when the time is right.

This thinking reduces marketing and sales to a waiting game.

Instead of driving demand, you’re sitting back, hoping to catch the few buyers who “raise their hands".”

BUT, This, my friends, is NOT what capturing demand is about.

Even within that segment that might be in-market:

• What are their actual strategic priorities? Are you aligned with their most pressing goals?

• Does your solution fit into their roadmap right now? Or will it sit on the shelf until later?

• Have they even fully defined the problem you’re solving? Many don’t know the depth of their challenges until someone helps them uncover it.

And what about the remaining majority of your market?

Ignoring them is a colossal missed opportunity.

Most aren’t actively searching for solutions—but that doesn’t mean they’re not open to influence.

It’s not their job to magically understand how your product fits into their strategy.

It’s your job to help them see it.

So, the question isn’t whether a buyer is “in-market.”

The real question is:

What are you doing to built trust and relationships to make them ready?

The False Promise of Appointment-Setting Programs

These programs promise growth, but they perpetuate the flawed idea that value lies in the act of setting a meeting, not in what happens before or after.

Meetings booked ≠ pipeline generated.

They create vanity metrics that give the illusion of progress while delivering little to no real ROI—high numbers of scheduled meetings that make dashboards look impressive but fail to translate into meaningful business outcomes.

A booked meeting that lacks proper context, alignment, or trust is more likely to waste time and erode goodwill than to drive opportunities.

The illusion of progress created by these metrics is dangerous.

It distracts GTM teams from focusing on what actually matters:

Delivering value and creating readiness in their market.

A Better Way Forward: Flipping the Script

It’s time to stop chasing flawed models and start doing things differently.

Here’s what I propose:

Invest in Buyer Research (Foundational Priority)

Understanding your audience is the foundation of any effective GTM strategy.

Go beyond surface-level data and dive into the deeper layers of buyer behavior.

Learn not just their challenges, but also their motivations, decision-making priorities, and buying triggers.

What metrics define their success?

Armed with these insights, you can:

• Craft messaging that resonates: Speak directly to your audience’s needs and aspirations.

• Design solutions they actually need: Align your offerings with their real pain points, not just assumptions.

At CyberSynapse, we take this a step further.

We align with your organizational metrics and create tailored customer research playbooks designed to improve them.

Whether your focus is pipeline generation, competitive intelligence, or user testing, our approach ensures that every initiative contributes to measurable, long-term outcomes.

Train Your Team to Actively Listen (Building Buyer Trust)

Your team doesn’t need more tools or scripts—they need the skills to truly understand your buyers.

Active listening and empathetic communication are essential for building trust and uncovering deeper insights.

• Prioritize understanding over pitching: Equip your teams to ask thoughtful questions, actively listen, and respond with tailored insights.

• Create meaningful engagement: Conversations should feel collaborative, not transactional.

By training your team to focus on the buyer’s perspective, you’ll create interactions that buyers value and remember, setting the stage for long-term relationships.

Ditch the Mindset of Scale at All Costs (Aligning Realistic Internal Expectations)

The obsession with booking as many calls as possible needs to end.

It’s not about the quantity of conversations; it’s about the quality.

One well-researched, meaningful conversation with a practitioner who feels heard and understood is worth more than ten irrelevant meetings that go nowhere.

Focus on targeting the right people at the right time with a tailored approach.

This means identifying who will benefit most from your solution and engaging them with content, insights, and discussions that resonate with their specific needs.

Scale doesn’t mean “more”; it means “better.”

Reframe Prospecting as Problem-Solving (Creating Demand)

Stop viewing prospecting as a race to secure a meeting.

Instead, approach it as an opportunity to solve problems.

Buyers aren’t looking for vendors; they’re looking for partners who can help them address their most pressing challenges.

• Share actionable insights: Help buyers see their challenges from new angles. Offer data, benchmarks, or perspectives they haven’t considered.

• Tailor solutions: Generic pitches are dead. Craft your messaging and value propositions to align directly with their unique pain points.

• Position yourself as a partner: Your role isn’t to sell—it’s to guide. Build credibility by showing you understand their world and can help them navigate it effectively.

When your outreach delivers value upfront, buyers start to see you as a trusted advisor rather than just another vendor vying for their time.

Transform Sales Calls into Collaborative Think Tanks (Deepening Engagement)

Cybersecurity practitioners don’t want to be sold to—they want to be understood.

By making your meetings feel like a think tank, you elevate the interaction from a transaction to a partnership.

This approach reflects a broader trend towards valuing authentic, personal connections in business, suggesting that practitioners are more open to discussions, collaborations, and even sales dialogues when they occur in a relaxed, non-traditional environment.

It underscores the importance of understanding and adapting to the personal preferences and schedules of business contacts to foster stronger, more meaningful professional relationships.

Measure What Matters (Evaluating Success and Iterating)

It’s easy to get distracted by vanity metrics like “meetings booked,” but these numbers rarely reflect true progress.

Instead, focus on metrics that align with long-term growth and success:

• Deal velocity: How quickly are opportunities moving through your pipeline?

• Win rates: Are your engagements translating into closed deals?

• Customer lifetime value (CLV): Are you building relationships that drive ongoing revenue and loyalty?

Tracking meaningful metrics ensures that your efforts are tied to outcomes that matter—not just to your team but to your buyers as well.

Build Internal Resilience (Ensuring Sustainability)

Dependency on external programs like appointment-setting services creates a fragile foundation for growth.

If those programs falter, your entire pipeline strategy can collapse. The solution? Build internal resilience.

• Develop in-house expertise: Strengthen your team’s capabilities in demand generation, messaging, and relationship-building.

• Own your buyer relationships: Direct engagement helps you maintain control over your brand narrative and buyer experience.

• Foster adaptability: Teams with internal expertise can quickly pivot and respond to changes in market dynamics.

By investing in your team’s skills and infrastructure, you reduce reliance on external vendors and build a robust, self-sustaining strategy.

Why Immediate Change Is Necessary

I know change is uncomfortable.

It’s much easier to follow the playbook that says, “Buy a tool, set meetings, watch revenue roll in.”

But if that playbook worked, why are so many vendors still struggling to gain traction?

Doing things the right way takes courage, creativity, and patience.

So here’s my challenge to every GTM team out there: stop chasing the metrics that don’t matter.

Stop buying into the lies that these programs sell.

Start focusing on building trust, solving problems, and creating real value—for yourself and your buyers.

We don’t need more vendor pitches or scaled meetings.

We need better conversations, deeper insights, and a hell of a lot more empathy.

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