Revenue Operations is increasingly expected to be the connective tissue across GTM. But too often, teams are executing without a clear understanding of where their buyers actually are on the spectrum of pain and urgency.
I've always been a fan of 2x2 matrixes. They explain complex concepts with simplicity. So here's a new one to ponder: I'm calling it the Pain Awareness Matrix. It should be simple yet a powerful mental model to help RevOps leaders align Marketing, Product, and Sales around buyer reality, not internal assumptions.
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What Is the Pain Awareness Matrix?
The 2x2 matrix segments buyers based on their level of Pain (low to high) and Urgency (low to high). Naturally you'll end up with quadrants, and this matrix is no exception:
Active Buyers: High pain, high urgency. They’re in-market and ready to act.
Triggered Buyers: High urgency due to a change, but just becoming aware of pain.
Passive Buyers: They know the pain, but lack urgency to solve it now.
Unaware Buyers: No perceived problem yet.
As someone evaluating the matrix, you sure hope you're capturing most of the upper right quadrant. Up and to the right am I right? And if you're stuck dealing with the lower left, then there's a whole lot of work to be done.
Each of the buyer types above requires a different GTM motion. That’s where RevOps comes in. To the rescue!
Not just a segmentation tool, but a strategic GTM playbook
Below is a breakdown of the four quadrants and the corresponding GTM motions that make the most sense to support each buyer state.
Active Buyers
On the matrix these buyers will fall into the High Pain, High Urgency box. These buyers know they have a problem and are ready to solve it.
Some GTM Motions to consider:
Direct Sales: AE-led selling, fast follow-up,
Contentious but perhaps use ROI calculators or maturity matrixes. These tools show the gap between where the customer thinks they are relative to where they want to get to
Pricing Acceleration: Incentives, urgency-based close tactics. I'm not a huge fan of this because of 1/ undue discounting, 2/ pressure tactics when a prospect may not be fully ready but with a high pain, high urgency it is more palatable
The goal here is to accelerate pipeline velocity by removing friction. Prioritize these leads because they can and should improve your deal cycle metrics. If you don't get to them first, another competitor will.
Triggered Buyers
Now let's get to the Low/Moderate Pain, High Urgency box. In this case something external caused urgency where they’re open to help, but not fully aware of the problem. Closing the awareness gap is going to be critical here.
GTM Motions:
Trigger-Based Outreach: Role changes, new funding, compliance deadlines
Challenger Sale Approach: Teach them the problem and lead them to your solution
Sales Development: High-touch SDR sequences focused on reframing
Live Events/Webinars: Educational and time-sensitive content
Product-Led Onramps: Low-friction trials, freemium, ROI sa
The goal here is to make the pain visible and show why solving it now matters. This segment would be who you go after secondly. If you find that all of your customers fall into this category you are either in a 1/ category creation play or 2/ worse you are a vitamin and not a pain killer. Sort out which is which first and start cranking on identifying how you can close that education gap. If the pain is high enough to exceed the opportunity cost of inaction then you have a path to unlocking this segment.
Passive Buyers
The third priority is the High Pain, Low Urgency buyers. They know the problem exists, but don’t feel a need to solve it today. They might have a homegrown or manual solution in place already. The cost of inaction is low here.
GTM Motions:
Nurture Campaigns: Email drip, retargeting, educational content. The 95/5 Rule kicks in here. They're not currently in the market. Deploying sales here is a waste of time in my opinion.
Use Case Content: Show how similar companies solved the same problem
Marketing Automation: Score and monitor for urgency signals. This is crucial not just for active and triggered buyers, but also for passive buyers. These are green shoot signals that the ice has thawed. Hopefully you've built up enough of a credible brand up to this point that you are FIRST to come to mind.
Sales Check-ins: Low-pressure outbound touches over time. They key here is not to apply a ton of pressure here. If you do, you may spook the buyer away.
Customer Stories: Share before/after metrics to trigger action
The goal here is to build urgency over time. Create “fear of missing out” on value. FOMO!!!!
Unaware Buyers
The last quadrant is for the Low Pain, Low Urgency buyers. They don’t know a problem exists or don’t associate it with cost or risk. There will be TREMENDOUS friction selling to these folks
GTM Motions:
Brand Awareness & Thought Leadership: Blogs, LinkedIn, community, PR
Ok that was a whirlwind tour of different buyers. Remember, not all buyers are equal in the eyes of a marketer and the seller. For good reason too. Mapping your buyer reality to this matrix allows for more intelligent resourcing across functions:
Buyer Type GTM Focus Resources to Emphasize
The goal isn’t to treat all buyers the same — it’s to meet them where they are.
Projects RevOps Can Lead to Enable This
Alright so we need to develop a practical view of how RevOps teams can operationalize the matrix across systems and strategy:
