Go-To-Market FAQ

Uncover the essentials about Go-To-Market in our comprehensive FAQ section. From understanding its core components to discerning its significance across different business stages, delve into all aspects of GTM to accelerate your business growth.

Whether you're a startup founder, a seasoned business leader, or someone carving a niche in sales or marketing, our GTM FAQ is here for you.

The FAQ section answers the most common questions about GTM and explains how it interrelates with sales, marketing, and overall business strategy.

What is a Go-To-Market or Sales-Led Go-To-Market?

A Go-To-Market (GTM, in short) is the combined actions of how you sell your products or services to customers. It outlines various strategies, tactics and activities to engage your target audience, drive conversions, and meet business objectives.

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Sales-led Go-To-Market is a strategy that strongly emphasises sales efforts to facilitate customer acquisition and business growth.

Sales-led GTM, on the other hand, is a GTM strategy commonly adopted by B2B enterprises offering complex or high-value items. It usually entails a consultative sales process concentrating on developing relationships, comprehending customers' requirements, and providing tailor-made solutions. This strategy aims to engage with decision-makers, encompass lengthy sales cycles, and focus on meaningful interactions to secure transactions.

What is Product-Led GTM or Product-led Growth?

Product-led Go-To-Market, commonly known as Product-led Growth (PLG), revolves around the product driving customer acquisition, business growth, and retention. This strategy leverages the product's value and usability to naturally attract, engage, and retain users, bypassing traditional sales tactics. With PLG, an intuitive user experience and the product's inherent features encourage users to transition from free or basic versions to advanced, paid options.

What is Marketing-Led GTM?

Marketing-led Go-To-Market is a term that has not been defined as well as sales-led and product-led GTMs have been. Most commonly, marketing-led GTM or marketing-led growth refers to sales-led GTM with a strong emphasis on inbound marketing, meaning that the marketing team generates a notable number of leads for the sales team to work with.

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In the context of GTM Club, we focus on sales-led GTM. For us, sales-led GTM includes both outbound and inbound sales.

Whether a company embraces an inbound sales model, grows with outbound sales, or works in a hybrid model, it is a selection that comes after making the strategic decision between sales-led GTM and product-led growth. After all, sales-led GTM is not for everybody.

How do you decide if sales-led GTM is for you?

What is founder-led sales?

Founder-led sales involve the company’s founders directly participating in sales activities, particularly in the early stages of the company. This approach leverages the founders’ deep product knowledge, passion, and vision to secure initial customers and refine the product-market fit.

Once they mature, many start-ups transition to a sales-led go-to-market motion.

What embodies a GTM strategy?

A GTM strategy outlines the steps and methods to reach your target customers. It details target markets, value propositions, sales and marketing activities, distribution channels, pricing, and post-sales support.

Read more articles about GTM strategies.

When is a GTM strategy relevant to me or my company?

A GTM strategy is relevant when launching a new product, entering a new market segment, or aiming to grow or change your market presence. Essentially, it’s crucial whenever you're looking at how to reach and serve customers.

Is GTM tailored only for startups?

GTM is essential for all businesses regardless of size or stage. Startups often use it to launch, while established companies use GTM strategies to introduce new products, expand, or revamp offerings.

Our blog includes a dozen winning GTM examples.

Why is the GTM crucial?

GTM ensures that companies reach their target audience with suitable offerings. Discussing GTM helps align product, sales, and marketing efforts, aiding in optimal market penetration and growth.

Can I carve a career role in GTM?

Absolutely. While a "GTM Specialist" or similar title may not be typical, many roles in marketing, sales, product management, and business strategy significantly overlap with GTM aspects. That said, GTM-related headlines have started appearing more frequently on LinkedIn recently.

What are the factors of a good GTM strategy?

Key components include defining target customer segments, crafting a unique value proposition, choosing optimal distribution channels, setting pricing strategies, planning promotional and marketing activities, and detailing how you engage with and win over prospective customers.

How does GTM stand apart from sales?

GTM covers a broader strategy that includes sales, marketing, distribution, pricing, and more. Sales is more tactical, focusing on converting leads or prospects into customers.

Read our articles about increasing and accelerating B2B sales.

How does GTM diverge from business or marketing strategies?

Business strategy outlines the overall company direction, marketing strategy focuses on promoting products, while GTM details how a product or service will be sold and delivered to customers.

What is product/market fit?

Product/market fit describes the point at which a product satisfies a strong market demand. Once product/market fit has been found, customers are willing to pay for the product, use it consistently, and even recommend it to others.

Product/market fit is usually found through iteratively improving the product, listening to (early) customer feedback, and gaining a better market understanding. Robust signals of product/market fit are that the retention rate notably improves, selling becomes more straightforward, and customers refer and recommend the product.

Startup's founders play a crucial role in the search for a product/market fit.

How does GTM align with product/market fit?

GTM strategies aim to achieve product-market fit by ensuring offerings meet the needs of a specific market segment. Achieving product/market fit means that a company has found a market where its product can thrive and has identified a clear customer base that sees value in the product.

Who executes a GTM strategy within an organisation?

It's a cross-functional effort involving teams from marketing, sales, product management, customer support, and sometimes finance and operations, ensuring a comprehensive strategy.

How frequently should a GTM strategy be revisited or revamped?

Reviewing and updating your GTM strategy whenever there are significant changes in the market, competitive landscape, or product/service offerings is a good idea.

Surprises and crises do happen. During such an event, the GTM strategy should be evaluated.

Can GTM strategies be industry or geography-specific?

Yes, definitely. Industry nuances or specific geographical factors like cultural, economic, and regulatory environments can significantly influence how a product or service is marketed and sold, and the impact may even extend to the point at which products, features, and services are made available.

How is the success of a GTM strategy gauged?

Success metrics include sales growth, market share gains, customer acquisition and retention rates, profitability of new products/services, and brand awareness levels.

What hurdles might surface while deploying a GTM strategy?

Common challenges include team misalignment, insufficient market research, underestimating competitors, unclear value propositions, and failing to iterate based on feedback and results.

What is a product demo?

A product demo for current customers in a B2B SaaS context showcases the product's new and existing features, updates, or advanced functionalities. It aims to enhance customer engagement, ensure they get the most out of the product, drive continued satisfaction, and improve customer retention.

What is a sales demo?

A sales demo is a presentation given to prospective customers to demonstrate the capabilities, features, and benefits of a B2B SaaS product. The best sales demos are personalised and customised to meet prospects' situations and needs. Its primary goal is to illustrate how the product can solve the prospect's business challenges, moving them closer to purchasing decisions. There are five reasons why sales demos are a powerful element in sales-led GTM.

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A demonstration is a sales demo when you, in a sales role, are working to win a qualified sales opportunity. It involves showcasing the product and its functionality, features, and benefits to explain how it addresses the prospect's pain points.

GTM Club's guidelines for a great SaaS sales demo. With these guidelines, you should succeed in SaaS sales demos and outpace your competition and colleagues.

What is the difference between a sales demo and a product demo?

The difference between sales and product demos lies in the audience and purpose. A sales demo targets prospective customers, focusing on showcasing the product’s value to drive new sales. In contrast, a product demo is aimed at existing customers, highlighting new features and updates to enhance their experience and encourage continued usage.