The Boring GTM Detail That Really Matters

GTM I- The Detail:  What are the individual areas we should think about?
Earlier we set up Why we’re all in Sales – setting out the mind set for thinking about customers and Go-to-Market/GTM – that holistic approach that considers a customer’s experience as first priority.
Now that you’ve got the mind set, here’s the top 6 GTM areas for Seed invested companies to consider:

1. MARKET

Understand the whole of the potential and know the detail. Focus on what gets you to Product Market Fit.  Don’t try to do everything at once.

• Market breakdown
• Holistically, globally, from top down and then bottom up
• Go, No Go/Not Yet and Stop areas

2. CUSTOMERS

Focus on those already educated, aware of their pain points and ready to consume solutions.

• Customer Types & Personas
• Use Case(s)
• Proactive, reactive and inactive customer types
• Top accounts focus -especially for the next 12-18months

3. PRICING

Focus on what works for next 12-18months based on value exchange with first few customers. Pricing will evolve over time and will change as you get to know the customers more.

• Simply what pricing mechanism will you use?

4. PARTNERS

Focus on understanding the bigger picture of the customer ecosystem and therefore how partners play within it.  Partners often play a bigger role at Series A and beyond.  For Seed companies – limit to what makes sense in a 12-18month timeframe and work with a select one or two to establish trust and collective customer insight.

• Partner Strategy – why use? What is the value exchange?
• Top Partner Focus – which ones bring the greatest value exchange for 12-18months?

5. SALES PROCESS

Keep it simple – likely still at Founder Led sales combined with perhaps 1/2 Commercial Leads.  Limit to 5 stages, co-develop with customers and maximise resources to achieve product market fit.

• Sales Engine/pipeline/funnel
• Demand generation techniques

6. SUCCESS METRICS

Focus on what you need to achieve to prove Product Market Fit, showing progress on conversion rates over a 12-18month time frame within the funnel and the evolution in customer types.

• Funnel step conversion rates, adoption and engagement
• Total customer numbers – health of the portfolio

  
ABOUT GTM BLOG Series
Over a series of blogs, we’re focusing on the Seed to Series A step of GTM and share what it means to think through the customer experience:
INTRO Why we’re all in Sales 
GTM I- The Detail:  What are the individual areas we should think about?

Coming next:
GTM II – Playful Customer Dynamics: Connecting with customers
GTM III – What doing it correctly actually looks and feels like?
GTM IV – What tools should we use and where can I access advice?
GTM V – Pitching to VCs – What to tell us about your customers.
 
We do more than just blogs – after all the writing of theory is easy. We work with our portfolio companies at a deeper level on an accelerated approach to crafting a properly and considered GTM that delivers results. Working with a wider ecosystem of expert partners and existing expertise within the Portfolio Companies, we’re embedding customer culture into the heart of success for start-ups.
We welcome input from you – expertise, areas to hear about more. Comment below or tweet at the link.
#GTM  #SalesDoneRight #CustomerExperience #startupsuccess
@sioclark
 
Co-published at:
https://www.thestartupnetwork.co