How to introduce a GTM strategy that improves togetherness to realize competitive advantage

Imagine if you could be where the magic happens, where you and your ideal buyers meet and where your GTM team is equipped and enabled to unlock their potential success.

In 2020, I crossed a major milestone with my GTM team in my leadership journey.

We improved our togetherness by transforming from Product-centric to an Audience-centric Go to Market strategy.

At the start of 2021, I crossed another major milestone where we had our first 2 clients entering our (Go-To) Market program connected to their growth strategy. With a significant influence from the sales team from the start.

Transforming the game for sales from:

“Only team truly accountable for revenue with limited influence”

to

“Sales influence in GTM”.

It's been quite a ride, and the lessons have been aplenty.

Here are 5 pillars for a strong foundation to play the new game of:

“Growth through togetherness”.

Before we go….Culture is everything

To make it fly you need to establish a team culture based on commercial togetherness to unlock their potential success. Analyze and scan the existing culture of your GTM team, and identify what is needed for developing your one commercial dream team culture connected to your company culture and values. Make sure the team lives and breathes it, to accelerate growth through togetherness.

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Pillar 1: An ICP that combines the history and the future

Attracting, keeping, and retaining the right buyers, talent and investors is what drives businesses through the different phases of growth. It is critical to understand your Ideal Customer Profile for example. An ICP that can combine or marry the history and the future. So looking back at where you have been successful and into future (e.g. vision, mission) who you want to be when you grow up.

I wrote an article on an account based approach with ICP:

5 lessons learned in realizing an 80%-win rate and 5x higher ARR with an Account-centric Approach

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/5-lessons-learned-realizing-80-win-rate-5x-higher-arr-jeroen-hendriks/

Improve togetherness: Define and craft your ICP together with the players of your GTM team. Involve sales, marketing, product, CS. It will boost your togetherness.

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Pillar 2: Continuous understanding of Persona’s and buying group

A deep understanding of persona’s and the buying group, what they really care about in relation to social issues and causes. What problems they have, what challenges they face. How does success look like on a role, departmental and organizational level. Just to name a few components of the profile.

The one who adopt togetherness internally and externally will take a competitive advantage. They continuously bring internal and external knowledge, intelligence and insights together to have a perfect understanding of Persona’s and buying groups.

Improve togetherness: Build your persona and buying group in a workshop. Involve sales, marketing, product, CS. It will boost your togetherness.

Pillar 3: Memorable Messaging

There is a disconnect between purpose(-brand storytelling), Go-To-Market with products/offering, and campaign approaches, and this affects people who matter inside and outside organisations.

Claiming a topic in the market based on your purpose and inviting your customers to join you in a movement is what makes your brand and messaging memorable. Talking about consistency, how great is it if you coule have this spread among the channels and platforms your buyers are on. I wrote an article on putting purpose into practice by claiming a topic in the market / fueling a movement:

The step by step guide to Putting Purpose into Practice realizing a 10x higher Customer Lifetime Value and fueling a movement

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/step-guide-putting-purpose-practice-realizing-10x-higher-hendriks/

An example here: The topic we have defined with a client of ours:

“Making IT carbon free”

Improve togetherness: 1 team, 1 topic, 1 message. From sales deck to the website and a customer conversation to the board meeting. It is all about consistency and training your team, so they will live and breathe it.

Step 4: Human and resonating Content & Conversations based on your topic

Businesses are tired of marketers and sales people not being on 1 page with their content & conversations and find it hard to cope with the ongoing need for resonating content. Thrivers adopt a content & conversations strategy and get their teams ramped up to produce human content that is easy to create and conversational. Adopt a podcast strategy connected to claiming a topic in the market. Smartly reuse the content & conversations in various content types like long-form articles, short video’s, posts and more to drive awareness, educate and accelerate pipeline leading to recurring revenue growth.

Your ideal buyers, invite them as a speaker in your podcast, connected to the challenges and needs that they have and what your product solves – now and in the future. It will make you relevant, connected and memorable. It will be so much more around value then cost in your conversations with clients.

The topic we are claiming in the market as IF Associates:

"Serving your market as a King or Queen".

Take a look at our podcast on these channels

Listen on Spotify

Watch on YouTube

Improve togetherness: Use the podcast in your ABM / ABE account planning, make it key part of your revenue/sales meetings. Your podcast as a Trojan horse….

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Pillar 5: GTM team not just a central/HQ thing

If you want to have alignment and accountability across your markets and HQ. Let your GTM team set-up follow your organizational design. Have a mix of dedicated people and role based ones in your team. A country or region - for example EMEA - that has a need for localization in the offering or a significant different way to reach buyers might need more resources than one where it can just easily follow the HQ GTM strategy and leverage the resources from that team.

Improve togetherness: Define your need for localisation for your offering and way to reach your buyers together with the right GTM stakeholders. Localize because there is a need, not because you just want it. Where needed present it back so global, regional and local are aligned and integrated to strengthen each other.

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Encore…integrate it with other strategic area’s like campaign

Thrivers implement an integrated multi-channel campaign strategy interlocked with their GTM strategy. Accelerating demand while making their brand top of mind, contributing to pipeline and claiming their spot in the market.

My business partner Liesbeth de Rooij wrote an article on this:

Lessons learned in realizing 533% increase in qualified pipeline and 50% decrease in CAC with a campaign strategy that stayed relevant for years

Click here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/lessons-learned-realizing-533-increase-qualified-50-cac-de-rooij/?trackingId=yci39D%2FgTlOBU%2FbwHhC1xA%3D%3D

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So after transforming from product-centric to audience-centric Go to Market strategy. Improving efficiency, excellence and togetherness for functional (product/marketing/sales/operations), global, regional and local commercial teams, I have co-founded IF Associates to help B2B tech/SaaS business in making their growth strategy a reality.

Our IF formula to Growth & Happiness provides the glue between revenue, marketing, sales and purpose-driven leaders to achieve predictable recurring revenue growth, realizes growth & happiness and will help you to become better every day.

So IF you are ready to achieve a competitive advantage by introducing a GTM that improves togetherness?

Explore more on what I can mean for your business, for example as a fractional leader (CMO, CRO, VP GTM) - for a fraction of the cost, getting access to the skills and expertise you need and the results you are looking for.

https://www.ifassociates.eu/what-if-does/if-leadership-services/meet-jeroen-hendriks