Revenue is a Team Sport! There is No “I” in GTM!

Successful execution in Go-To-Market requires effective collaboration and orchestration among diverse roles. While having a capable “captain” to organize and lead project or deal teams is essential, it is equally important to distinguish between healthy teamwork and team abuse.

Unfortunately, in the pursuit of major deals, key renewals, or crucial deployments, certain individuals engage in detrimental behaviors, that transform the team dynamic into a self-serving and chaotic circus. This DoDo behavior can be especially toxic and a culture killer.

DoDo Behavior to Avoid

• Making Unnecessary Commitments: Engaging in promises that not only harm your company and teammates but are also unnecessary or detrimental to a customer’s success. Presenting yourself as an “internal agent” working against your own company’s interests.
• Creating False Crisis: Fabricating or exaggerating problems or deadlines to elevate the importance of a situation to secure valuable resources, prioritization, or exception approvals.
• Sacrificing Teammates: Failing to position or prepare teammates for success and willingly burdening them with extra work or hardships. Attempting to enhance your own image by disparaging or blaming others on your team. Writing bad checks that others must cash.
• Personal Win at All Costs: Prioritizing personal triumph at the expense of the team, company, or customer. Displaying complete disregard for the obvious, negative consequences of self-centered, narcissistic behavior.

Adhering to Star behavior fosters an environment of trust and contagious team camaraderie.

Star Behavior to Follow

• Stewardship of the Business: Acting as a responsible custodian of the company's interests by adhering to established policies, pricing structures, and processes that contribute to scalable success. Aligning personal actions with the team's objectives and the company's overall mission.
• Smooth Organization: Facilitating seamless coordination within the team, promoting effective communication channels, and ensuring adequate preparation among all team members to minimize panic and optimize performance.
• Protecting Teammates: Advocating for and supporting the well-being and success of teammates, cultivating a collaborative and nurturing environment that fosters trust, respect, and open dialogue. Appropriately pushing back on unreasonable customer demands.
• Positioning Customers for Success: Placing the success and satisfaction of customers at the forefront of decision-making, prioritizing win-win outcomes, and making recommendations that are logical, justifiable, and beneficial to both the customer and the company.

Example Pitfalls:

• Sales: AEs leading with discounts or generous payment terms as default behavior – without any request from a customer.
• Customer Success: CSMs attempting to restrict access to individuals within the customer account – to elevate the prominence of their role.
• Sales & Customer Success: Agreeing to aggressive product dates or special service commitments without any customer ask – just to make themselves look good.

?Be a Star! Don’t be a DoDo!

#sales #customersuccess #marketing #businessdevelopment #gtmstrategy #gtm #enablement #coaching

About Go-To-Market Life

As a Go-To-Market (GTM) Leader, I have maintained a journal to document
common skills and behaviors that lead to top performance in Go-To-Market
roles. To deliver performance across the buyer-customer journey, I have
used my journal for team culture, staff enablement and role orchestration.
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In order to build fun into business life, I always imagined a cartoon
for this resource. That's why I am thrilled to present Go-To-Market Life, 
a passion project that aims to teach and entertain.
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My audience for Go-To-Market Life is Sales, Customer Success, & Marketing 
professionals – with application to RevOps, Enablement, & Partnerships.
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Please enjoy! Please subscribe! Please comment! Please share!
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Jim