Today’s business landscape — driven by the needs of buyers and employees and technological advancement — is highly volatile. Adding to the complexity are global pandemics and other uncertainties. As a result, B2B organizations are adapting their go-to-market (GTM) strategies to navigate the evolving (and unpredictable) business world.
The emergence of “GTM confusion” is posing a significant challenge for many businesses. This crisis refers to a state where organizations struggle to effectively align their marketing and sales efforts, leading to GTM inconsistencies and inefficiencies. The consequences of this confusion can be detrimental and were discussed at length during the 2023 B2B Sales & Marketing Exchange (#B2BSMX).
“We need to stop considering growth as a single business unit’s problem,” said Sangram Vajre, Co-Founder at GTM Partners, during his campfire session. “It’s no longer a sales or marketing problem; it’s a GTM problem.”
Throughout “The New Role Of Revenue Leaders In The Constantly Changing Go-To-Market World,” Vajre explained that a GTM business mindset starts at the top: It profoundly impacts every aspect of the organization, cascading downward to shape the company culture, strategies and execution. It begins with leadership setting the tone and establishing a clear vision for the GTM approach.
Through effective communication, alignment and collaboration, the GTM mindset ensures that every decision, process and action is aligned with the overarching goal of delivering value to customers and achieving business growth, Vajre noted. This mindset creates a unified and focused organization where all teams work in synergy to bring products to market successfully, drive customer acquisition and retention, and ultimately achieve sustainable competitive advantage.
“If I’m going to invest in marketing or sales, that’s a GTM decision,” Vajre said. “If I’m going to spend money to work with an agency to drive aspects of our business, that’s a GTM decision. If you want to open an office in the EMEA or if you want to stay in North America, that’s a GTM decision. Every day we make multiple GTM decisions, but most don’t frame themselves that way.”
As with all B2B strategies, there is no silver bullet to growth and scale, which Vajre noted is a continual challenge. Instead, practitioners need to analyze and blend several different GTM strategies, which include:
- Inbound, wheremarketing harvests demand through paid, organic, social, email and other inbound channels;
- Outbound, which featurescoordinated and targeted account outreach by marketing and sales;
- Product, where practitioners can facilitate deals, upsells, usage and expansion — “a popular option for SaaS and app companies offering free trials, for example,” Vajre noted;
- Channel, which includes companies developing a network of distribution agents that focus on enablement to educate and support resellers, agencies and certified partners;
- Event, where companies leverage premium event experiences to drive quality connections;
- Community, whichaims to create a movement or category around a transformative idea; and
- Ecosystem, where companies leverage product integrations and symbiotic relationships with aligned tech partners to build relationships with prospects.
Leveraging a GTM focus has a pervasive impact on every facet of the business, Vajre explained. Neglecting to prioritize this will result in falling behind competitors. Rather than assigning blame to specific business units, the organization must address it as a GTM challenge.
“Don’t point fingers,” Vajre said. “A single function, whether marketing or sales, cannot solve GTM problems. If it did, we would still not be having this conversation.”
For more insights into the 2023 B2B Sales & Marketing Exchange, check out our day one and day two recaps!
