GTM lessons and basketball zen

I coach my son’s basketball team. I am very bad at it. So I’ve been doing homework to try to channel my inner Phil Jackson. He’s one of the most successful coaches in NBA history, leading both the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers to multiple titles, and he’s known for 2 things. His zen approach to life, and the Triangle Offense.

The Triangle Offense is a basketball #strategy that emphasizes spacing, ball movement, player movement, and passing to create high-percentage scoring opportunities.?

Here are its basics:

• Formation: The offense is run with three players forming a triangle on one side of the court. To achieve this, one player is near the basket (in the low post) while the other two players are positioned near the corner and on the wing to provide spacing and options for ball movement.
• Player Movement: Players are constantly moving within this offense, cutting, screening, and rotating to maintain space and create passing lanes. This movement is essential for keeping the defense off balance.
• Ball Movement: The ball is passed frequently between the 3 players within the triangle. This keeps the defense scrambling and forces them to make decisions quickly, potentially leading to defensive breakdowns and mismatches.
• Options for Scoring: The triangle provides multiple scoring options on each possession. These may include post-up opportunities for big men, cutting lanes for guards and wings, open shots off of screens, and offensive rebounding opportunities.
• Patience and Discipline: The Triangle Offense requires patience and discipline from players, as it may take time to develop scoring opportunities. Players must be willing to move without the ball, make the extra pass, and wait for the right moment to attack the basket.
• Adopting the Triangle Offense is similar to a sales and marketing organization transitioning to an Account Based Marketing strategy. #ABM involves leveraging teamwork, strategic positioning, and coordinated efforts to maximize the effectiveness of targeting key accounts.?

Here's how you can align the principles:

• Formation (Account Teams): Similar to the formation of players in the Triangle Offense, create teams within your organization focused on specific target accounts. Each team should consist of sales, marketing, and possibly other stakeholders, such as customer success, aligned to work together on nurturing and converting high-priority accounts.
• Player Movement (Coordinated Effort): Just as players in the Triangle Offense move and interact to create scoring opportunities, your sales and marketing teams should coordinate their efforts to engage with target accounts effectively. This includes personalized outreach, tailored marketing campaigns, and strategic touch points throughout the buyer's journey. All leveraging consistent and relevant messaging and content.
• Ball Movement (Seamless Handoffs): In the Triangle Offense, ball movement is rapid and continuous. Similarly, in ABM, there should be seamless handoffs between sales and marketing at different stages of the account journey. Marketing may initiate engagement with targeted content or campaigns, then smoothly transition qualified leads to sales for further nurturing and conversion. From a content perspective this presents an opportunity for a vendor to offer a much more seamless for eduction as well.
• Options for Scoring - (Diverse Engagement): Just as the Triangle Offense provides multiple scoring options, ABM involves deploying a variety of engagement tactics tailored to the preferences and needs of individual accounts. This might include personalized emails, targeted advertising, account-specific events, or direct outreach from sales reps. It’s all about the right message, at the right time through the right channel.
• Patience and Discipline - (Long-Term Focus): Like the patience and discipline required in the Triangle, ABM programs often require a longer term focus and consistent effort to build relationships with target accounts. That’s why teams need to stay committed to nurturing relationships over time, even if immediate opportunities may not always be apparent.

By approaching your transition to ABM the way Phil Jackson thought about winning championships you can foster collaboration, coordination, and alignment to get the the most out of your targeted accounts.