Go To Market Model

The Model

GTM models of Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success are aligned based on number of deals per year and ACV, in order to deliver the best customer experience at the right cost to serve.

Key Elements

Aligning GTMs across Marketing, Sales & Customer Success

The GTM Model shows how the specific motions of Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success can be matched and aligned, based on two key factors: 1) the number of deals sold per year, and 2) the annual contract value (in the first year of the customer's contract).

The GTMs must be matched in order to achieve maximum efficiency and growth.

Sales GTMs: These range from 'no-touch' to 'high touch'.

  • Product-led growth: The product itself acts as the marketing and sales function
  • 1-stage: Entire sales process is handled by one inside rep, from discovery all the way through to close/commitment
  • 2-stage sales organization: Two roles manage the sales process (e.g., an SDR qualifies and hands off a lead to an AE) [Footnote 1]
  • Field sales: Reps are located in region, and typically hold a few hundred accounts. They may be aligned by geography or vertical.
  • Named accounts: Enterprise reps work on a short list of large enterprise accounts

Marketing GTMs:

  • Inbound: Typically content, SEO, events, communities. These marketing materials and content are not highly targeted (i.e., 1:everyone)
  • Prospecting: Sending tailored messages to segments of customers or personas, based on firmographics and/or persona characteristics (i.e., 1:many)
  • Account Based: Targeting fewer accounts, but addressing more people inside that account (i.e., 1:few)
  • Targeting: Contacting a very specific list of people with highly targeted messages that refer to each person's unique situation and pain points (i.e., 1:1)

Customer Success GTMs: These range from do-it-yourself to highly supported.

  • Community: This is typically in the form of online forums where customers find support and answers for themselves.
  • Help desk: Often a combination of an online bot and human support who are available to answer questions via a ticketing system.
  • Volume: Accounts handled by CSMs, with each CSM handling hundreds of small accounts.
  • Segment: Accounts handled by CSMs, with each CSM handling a particular segment of accounts (e.g., mid-market accounts, healthcare accounts)
  • Accounts: Accounts handled by CSMs, with each CSM handling a very small number of large enterprise accounts

When we map the GTMs of Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success to the axes of number of deals sold per year and annual contract value, we can then understand that the customer acquisition cost and the service the company delivers to them are being matched together. As an example, in product led growth, the customer wants a low-priced product delivered to them very quickly; with named accounts, they are buying products at a high price point and typical want high-touch service and customized support along the way. By applying GTMs in this way, companies can deliver the best possible customer experience during the buying process, while spending an appropriate amount of money to acquire that customer.

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The right GTM allows for a company to deliver the best possible customer experience, at the right cost to acquire that customer.

Findings

  1. Companies often have mismatched GTMs (e.g., using a two-stage sales process while relying entirely on inbound content); there is a need for companies to examine what their current GTMS are for each of these three functions and align them accordingly under one coherent strategy.
  2. Multiple GTM strategies deployed too early on in the growth cycle of a company results in spreading resources too thin. For example, companies selling into SMB often want to move upstream to sell into larger enterprise accounts. Companies will often start to build out a second and third strategy, before having solidified their revenue stream in the original strategy, which can quickly lead to resource constraints.
  3. It is common for companies to move up- or down-market in order to grow; these movements typically take far longer than anticipated to fully execute. This is due to the fact that the growth engines across GTMs are based on different foundations --- e.g., the growth engine for enterprise accounts is expertise-based relationships and brand, while the growth engine for mid-market accounts is typically coming from events, content, and thought leadership. The growth engine for SMB is more often reliant on reputation, user base, and ease of use of the product.
  4. The DNA of selling a product is very different from selling a service. On the lower end of ACV, the customer typically expects to buy the product, but they expect the service to be free (e.g., paying for premium 24/7 enterprise support for a software product). On the higher end of ACV, the customer typically buys the service, while they expect the product to be free.

The Model in Action

Aligning GTMs

This model is a guide for choosing the most effective method for reaching your target customers, delivering the appropriate level of service as customers move through the customer journey.

Visualization of the ROM GTM Model in action

Templates

Template of the ROM GTM Model

Apply the model

Download the template of the model so that you can customize and apply it to your own organization.

NOTE: The template is in Google Slides format; click "USE TEMPLATE" to make a copy for yourself.

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Related Products

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GTM Models Poster

Map out the Go To Market models for your business. Available either standard (as shown), or customized, with your own metrics printed directly on the poster.

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Terminology Used

Annual contract value (ACV). The average contract value from new customer commitments (in this model, we focus specifically on the ACV from the first year).
Lifetime value. The average amount of money that a typical customer pays over their entire time as a customer.
Product-led growth. A GTM strategy where the product is the main vehicle to acquire, activate, and retain customers.

References

Source 1.

Footnotes

Note 1. The terms SDR and MDRs are often used in the market interchangeably; here, we refer to SDRs (Sales Development Reps) as those that use outbound motions to develop leads, and typically report into the Sales function. MDRs (Market Development Reps) are those that handle inbound leads, and typically report into the Marketing function.
Note 2. This model does not specify SMB, mid-market, or enterprise, as these GTMs can apply across these segments. For example, a business can successfully employ a product-led growth GTM by selling to pro users within large enterprise companies.
Note 3. The two-stage sales model, and therefore the role of the typical SDR role, has been shrinking in recent years, as buyers have become more educated and are more interested in speaking with an expert on the first call, rather than going through a discovery process from junior sales reps. Instead, in recent years the role of the SDR is has been successfully applied in a more to field sales and named account GTM models, where they function in a research capacity, focusing on in-depth research on a smaller list of accounts where a lot of preparation is needed. In this role, the SDRs learn a great deal about the company's customers, and then are well equipped to transition into one of many different functions in the business (sales, HR, customer success, product, etc.).
Note 4. This model can be used as a guide; however, other factors must be considered that are not depicted here, such as customer lifetime value.  For instance, if a company uses a land and expand strategy where the LTV is much larger than the initial sale, then the proper GTM for this company would shift further to the right on the model.
Note 5. This model should be used closely in conjunction with the Data Model.
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