How to develop a go-to-market strategy
May 2024 · 4 min read
…that aligns everyone to focus on what winning looks like and delighting customers
If you're navigating the maze from start up to scale up, central to your GTM strategy ought to be keeping and growing your existing customers. In this first edition of our ten-part series, I’ll share what I've learned to cut through the noise:
- understand what's currently happening with your customers
- start to paint the picture for your own unique GTM strategy
- think through the concrete actions to take and get (re) started
Pulling together the numbers
Suggest not to read any more of this article unless you know these 2 things:
- why your current customers have stayed with you (if you don't know, call them to find out!)
- why companies cancelled your service
If you're all set with the above, then here's some essential data to gather:
Revenue analysis:
Sales by product
| Sales Last 12 Months | Product | Plan | % Achieved | NPS | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 1 | 50 | 200% | 0 | Why is NPS low if we beat the plan? |
| 300 | 2 | 400 | 75% | 25 | If NPS is high, why didn't we achieve the plan? |
| 500 | 3 | 500 | 100% | 10 | How can we maintain and build on these results? |
Revenue by customer (repeat same structure)
Insights to glean:
- Existing customers: highest spenders, reasons for staying and increasing spend
- New business: win rates, sales cycles
Unit economics
Look at Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Lifetime Value (LTV) to get a simple overview of how to grow profitably. There is a lot of advice on this from SAAS writers.
Understanding your markets and customers
Carve up the target market by company stage rather than just industry sector, as this could better indicate propensity to buy (or use alongside the sector view). B2B markets often shape like this:
| Company Stage | Annual Revenues | Buying Style |
|---|---|---|
| Startup | 0-5m | Look for value exchanges |
| Scale-up | 5-100m | Can spend big and quick in search of committed growth |
| Established | 100m+ | Considered approach, multiple people in buying team |
| Market Leader | 1bn+ | Stable spend, often replicate external options in-house |
How does your target market look and what volumes are there in each bucket?
Crafting your approach
Analyse the data to identify where future revenues could come from. Develop an ideal customer profile (ICP) to target customers who will buy, stay and refer.
Criteria to confirm across the team:
- Industry
- Budgets
- Readiness to buy
- Geography
- Employee numbers
- Business goals
A simple action plan with one ultimate owner for each
- Marketing. Building trust
- Develop a single motion to build trust and gently encourage companies to engage and consider buying. Remember, buyers want to select, not be sold to.
- Revenue. Most effective way to keep, grow & win customers
- Balance focus between existing and new business?
- Create a specific target list?
- Customer Success. Deliver and demonstrate impact to delight
- Ensure you can deliver against the sales person’s commitments and show business impact.
Stay tuned for more tactics and detailed steps to enhance your GTM Strategy!
References: