In this episode of Trust and Influence in B2B Marketing, Joel Harrison sits down with Teresa Allan, Managing Partner at Magnus Consulting, to explore a striking disconnect in B2B leadership: only 9% of commercial leaders feel highly confident about hitting their 2026 growth targets, yet over half of their organizations are aggressively pursuing growth. Teresa shares insights from Magnus Consulting's new GTM Confidence Index report, revealing that this confidence gap isn't just an internal problem—it's a trust issue that buyers can sense. Leaders who are confident in their current quarter's pipeline are nine times more likely to feel confident about the year ahead, and those with integrated tech stacks are five times more confident than those with fragmented systems.

➡ Throughout the conversation, Joel and Teresa unpack the five systemic gaps holding organizations back—from sales and marketing silos (where misalignment drops confidence to zero) to the mid-market "messy middle" where complexity outpaces resources. Teresa offers a practical 90-day roadmap for closing the confidence gap: survey your team's actual confidence levels, identify where the real struggles are, and rally everyone around clear priorities within your current reality. Most importantly, she argues that confidence should be tracked as a formal metric at board level—not as a soft measure, but as a predictor of growth, alignment, and buyer trust. If you're responsible for driving B2B growth in an environment of flat budgets and rising expectations, this conversation is essential listening.

📑 Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction: The GTM Confidence Crisis

03:45 - Why Only 9% of Leaders Are Confident in 2026 Targets

11:20 - Pipeline Confidence: The 9x Multiplier Effect

18:35 - The Budget Reality: Doing More with Less

26:10 - AI Adoption vs. AI Integration: The Maturity Problem

33:50 - MarTech Fragmentation and the Data Hygiene Challenge

42:15 - The Mid-Market Squeeze: Stuck in the Messy Middle

50:30 - 90-Day Action Plan: Closing Your Confidence Gap

Download the report

https://magnusconsulting.co.uk/the-gtm-confidence-index-2026-closing-the-growth-gap/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=Joel-Harrison&utm_campaign=GTM_Confidence_Index&utm_content=B2B-Catalyst

Follow Teresa Allan

Linkedin https://linkedin.com/in/teresaallanmagnus/?originalSubdomain=uk

https://magnusconsulting.co.uk/

If you care about building confidence in your commercial teams and bridging the trust gap with buyers, this conversation is for you. It's packed with research-backed insights and practical steps you can take in the next 90 days.

🌐 Visit Joel Harrison's website to explore exclusive reports, upcoming events, and join the B2B marketing community ➡ https://www.joelharrisonb2b.com/

💬 What's the biggest confidence gap in your organization right now—pipeline visibility, budget alignment, or team integration? Let us know in the comments below.

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