Are You Aligning All Your Go-to-Market Pieces?

In our previous post, we discussed the importance of having an integrated, multi-touchpoint go-to-market strategy that guides prospects seamlessly through the entire funnel. We highlighted how an effective go-to-market approach evolves iteratively as companies mature and gain deeper understanding of their customers.

In this article, we cover the 8 components that make up go-to-market.

1. Product and Price

No go to market motion matters if you do not have product market fit (PMF). Product market fit depends critically on your product (does it solve your customers’ pains) and price (does it do so at a price that they can afford and provides enough margin for you to have a sustainable business).  You can have the best brand and most beautiful and efficient sales process, but if you do not have PMF you will find success to be elusive and the struggle to be never ending. 

2. Marketing top of funnel

Marketing at the top of the funnel drives awareness of your product. The goal of this phase is to get customers to consider your product in their purchase decision. You cannot consider buying something you do not know exists, so this is a critical piece of any go-to-market. 

Frequently the marketing department is responsible for driving “marketing qualified leads” or MQLs to the sales team. MQLs may or may not be buyers, but they are aware of your solution and are engaged enough for sales to take a look and decide if they are worth a conversation.

3. Sales top of funnel

Sales top of funnel is where marketing ends and sales picks up. Sales is not selling your product; rather it is helping prospects decide whether or not to buy. It usually begins with a digital handoff of an MQL to the sales organization, and consists of a series of meetings or other more involved activities. Great sales teams generate their own leads–through referrals, partnerships, networking or other channels. These might skip the MQL phase and go straight to being a “Sales Qualified Lead” or SQL. An SQL is usually any lead that sales has met with (because they fit within your definition of a likely customer or even ideal customer).

4. Customer Journey

The customer journey is the process of moving through this buying process, of engaging with sales in sales meetings and potentially more involved activities (demonstrations, prototypes, etc.). The customer journey also includes what is going on behind the curtain, at the prospective customer’s company. Who is making the decision? How are they learning about your product? The website and especially content marketing material (including that which is posted by you and others on social media and review sites) can play a large role in the customer journey, whether or not you want it to. For example, if googling your company results in finding a lot of great reviews of your CEO on Glassdoor, that can only help your prospects trust your company.

5. Sales meetings

For most companies, sales meetings are where selling actually happens. Key questions I ask in assessing GTM processes at companies are whether their sales teams know their subject matter, ask a lot of questions, stay curious, interact as peers, and have clear and well-defined agendas to which everyone has agreed. Perhaps most importantly, at the end of every meeting there needs to be an outcome, and usually a decision on whether or not to take the next step. The next step must always be clear and reasonable.

6. Closing, onboarding and implementation 

Eventually, after one or more meetings, someone needs to ask the customer if they want to buy what you’re selling. This is called “closing”. Closing almost always involves signing an agreement whether on paper, electronically, or through a binding click on a website. When you close the customer, at the same time you need to ensure they are also onboarded to the product or service you are selling, and set up for success.  These are critical, interrelated steps so we group them together as one motion.

7. Account Management

For many companies, the sales process does not end at the close. Rather, this is the beginning of a longer relationship where account executives, account managers, or other team members help the customer buy more products or services from your company. This is also a sales function, and is key in the revenue production of your team. The personality of an account manager is usually different than a salesperson–they are “farmers”, happy to talk frequently with people they know well, where salespeople are “hunters”, who enjoy meeting and creating rapport with strangers. It is exceptionally rare to find someone who is great at both activities.

8. Reporting and management

Throughout the sales process you need to report on what is going on. Reporting has many uses. For salespeople, it can help them track and close deals. For managers, it can help them coach salespeople, catch underperformers and highlight laudable performances, and improve the sales process on an ongoing basis. For HR, it is where bonuses and commission payouts are calculated. For finance and the executive team, once a company generates significant revenue, the forecast of future revenue becomes a critical input in financial planning, as that cash will go towards paying expenses. 

Reporting is also useful in fundraising, to demonstrate growth and future prospects. Typically, reporting exists either within the customer relationship management software (CRM, like Hubspot or Salesforce), in a dedicated reporting tool like Looker or Tableau, or in a tool designed for both billing and reporting–like Maxio. Some reporting may exist outside of these systems, in other dedicated systems like Google Analytics, the Google AdWords Console or the Meta ad platform.

All of these components of your go-to-market deserve more detailed analysis, which we will cover in upcoming articles.

Would you like to know the current state of your GTM?
We have created a checklist for you to assess it in the link here. If you prefer to have expert assessment and advice from us, you can contact us on silverwood.ai