Hello there!
In designing your revenue strategy, choosing a Go-to-market motion is one of the most fundamental things you will do.
And so, I am happy to share with you the conversation I had with Koen Stam from Personio.
We cover go-to-market motions, and go deeper in the emerging nearbound GTM.
If you want to listen, or watch the full episode (only 35 mins), then here you have the links:
And with this, let’s start:
1: Understanding GTM
Let’s start with the basics. GTM stands for “go-to-market” and is the way, the motion, of how you will position and sell your solutions on the market.
Here are the most common ones:
- Product-led growth (PLG)
- Inbound motion: Attracting customers through education and content.
- Outbound motion: Proactively reaching out to potential customers based on ideal customer profiles (ICP).
- Partner GTM motion,
Further you have community-led GTM, and event-led GTM motion and further down the article we talk about the latest one, Nearbound GTM.
2: Deciding on GTM Strategy
Choosing the right GTM motion involves understanding the target market (region, industry, segment, customer profile).
And the holy grail for many companies are inbound and product led growth motions.
Now, the reality is that most solutions are not tailored (at least not today) to be product led, and that inbound is only responsible for 2-5% of your revenue. Even with a great product-market-fit, this grows to 25% (and for the rare breed up to 50%).
In any case, this means that these should not be your first GTM.
Don’t forget the basics: sales before marketing.
3: When to add a GTM Motion
Some companies like Winning by Design advise to stick to 1 GTM motion until you reach 10 million annual revenue, but this is something that is more suitable to a US environment compared with Europe or the rest of the world.
In any case, changing or abandoning a GTM depends on performance metrics -and constantly testing.
This will help you deciding whether to abandoning your GTM, or adjust as transitioning requires significant investment and expertise.
When you are looking to add a new GTM motion, start with with small-scale experiments and look at what works and gradually scale based on positive signals.
Considerations for scaling include:
- time,
- resource allocation,
- return on investment (ROI),
- impact on sales cycles
- building trust and buy-in
with a focus on long-term revenue impact and cost-effectiveness.
4: The new kid in town: Nearbound
At first sight, nearbound looks like the traditional referral program, where people formally, or informally, introduce one to another.
It is a bit like this, but at scale.
A nearbound strategy emphasises leveraging credible voices, such as ecosystem partners, to build trust and credibility with prospects.
It differs from traditional partner models by focusing on information sharing and mutual benefit rather than direct monetisation.
My only concern is how to roll this out across your organisation, so it becomes much more than the referral program among mates, but I guess it is the same with other motions. You can have brilliant event based GTMs, and then others that are done half heartedly.
I am very much looking forward at hearing about systematic success about Nearbound rollouts. and love to hear from you if you are rolling it out in your org.
What GTMs work for your org? let me know or drop it in the comments!
If you want to talk more about what a :
→ Need more structure? I help crafting a revenue strategy for you
→ Need more revenue? I get you unstuck: better leads, higher conversion rate, better performing reps
→ Need sales leadership? I step in for mid market and complex sales orgs as a fractional sales leader.
Schedule a free strategy call to discuss your specific needs and how I can customize a solution for your business here
