Go-To-Market Experts Are Essential To Success

If you’re like most people, you revere experts.  When something hurts or you’re not feeling well, you go to doctor and maybe even a specialist.  When you need to sell your house, you hire a realtor.  And the same probably holds for your business life.  When you need a key executive, you hire a recruiter.  When you need technology upgrades, you hire an IT consultant. And when you need a new website or to optimize an existing one for search engines, you hire a web designer or SEO expert.  Most businesspeople would agree that needs that require specialized skills, real-world experience, and industry and market savvy demand an expert.  And when those needs relate to something that probably isn’t ongoing, engaging a consultant is widely recognized as a best practice.

A recent term for an ancient business need

Go-To-Market (GTM) is a recent term for an ancient business need: an effective strategy for offering a product or service to an ideal customer in a way that assures competitive advantage.  GTM encompasses the positioning and messaging of a product or service to not only the target customers but also key influencers; communication tactics; packaging and pricing of offerings; sales strategy and channels; sales process, content, and tools; and the customer’s journey and success.  A strong GTM strategy provides a company with the best opportunity to achieve growth objectives.  When a strong GTM strategy is well-executed, even the most ambitious goals can be exceeded.  GTM is a specific, rigorous methodology and it’s distinct from the piecemeal, best-efforts marketing and sales that most companies employ — to generally disappointing effect.

Not employing the experts

Too many companies that revere many types of experts don’t employ GTM experts.  They “WebMD” their marketing and sales aches and pains.  They “By Owner” their product launches.  They “Help Wanted” their competitive positioning.  They “DIY” their packaging and pricing.  In most cases companies never even consider bringing in outside GTM expertise when their marketing and sales is struggling or they have a new product or service to launch or they have portfolios they need to merge due to an acquisition.  Why?  It often comes down to three strengths of most businesses:

1. Determination.  What you sell, how you sell it, who you sell it to, and where you sell seem to many business leaders to be things they are, or at least should be, proficient in and they are determined to succeed at GTM strategy and execution — with the resources they allocated and the personnel they hired.
2. Expertise.  Most business leaders are experts on their business and at least a segment of their industry.  This focused expertise is viewed by them as an essential strength for GTM that outsiders are unlikely to possess.
3. Success.  Businesses that don’t have success don’t survive much beyond the idea phase.  So every operating business has succeeded at GTM in the past to at least a certain extent.  This success could have been years ago, with different products and services, and in different markets against different competitors.

These strengths are also weaknesses when it comes to evaluating GTM performance and quickly addressing poor results.

• Determination causes costly hesitation when existing GTM strategy and execution is lagging or when GTM for new offerings fails to adequately capture the market. It spurs efforts to protect turf and keep responsibility in-house.  But quickly remediating weak GTM essential to survival and growth.  And GTM consultants can lay the groundwork for rapid improvement and even bring to bear additional leadership and staff to take on execution.
• Expertise, when narrow, can be limiting. Best practices in other segments and industries can be transformational when applied to yours.  GTM expertise is its own field that draws from experience with multiple types of products and services, across many industries, and encompasses the full range of marketing and sales roles. GTM consultants bring all that and multiply the value of a business’ expertise in their industry segment.
• Success can be blinding. It can raise expectations. It’s difficult to replicate — especially in diverse circumstances.  And it can also make acknowledging the need for assistance more difficult.  GTM consultants have a track record of success.  Adding them temporarily to your team builds upon your company’s past successes and helps assure a successful future.

We value experts

We know that crucial, complex tasks demand expertise.  But too often our own determination, expertise, and past success overwhelms our judgement.  Proven GTM experts can boost your marketing and sales performance and help assure future growth.  Typically, improvements to GTM strategy and execution occur quickly and the return on investment is massive.  Aventi Group are GTM experts. That’s why world class brands like SAP, Adobe, ServiceNow, Atlassian, and others have tapped our professionals. Let us know if you’d like an “audit” or quick assessment benchmark of your own GTM plan. Click here to book an appointment.

Written By

Matt Bramson