Going to market means introducing a product or service to a new buyer persona.
...At least, that's how I define it...
And, the success percentage is minimal. Just a few of the things that must go right to achieve a successful GTM campaign are:
You are made aware of the correct buyers.
These buyers understand your value proposition.
The pricing is correct.
You have the correct amount of customer support.
Your delivery is seamless.
The playbooks for go-to-market for technology companies have been pretty standard since I began my career in growth for SaaS back in 2008. We would leverage social network audiences and SEO to seed the market with our messaging, maybe do a PR campaign, capture audiences, retarget, and nurture... Standard stuff.
But, I knew this was slow, costly, and too dependent on algorithms, and we were never close to the buyer during any of it. So, in 2018, while consulting with SaaS during their seed and series A, amidst GTM campaigns, I noticed something I thought was odd...
None of my clients were trying to establish partnerships before their go-to-market.
Hmmm 🤔 I thought.
I put together presentations examples and plans... However, not a single CEO I was consulting for believed it was best to recruit partners PRIOR to their go-to-market campaign launch.
So, that night in May 2019, I bought a domain name and started Partnerprograms Inc.
Over the next 4 years, I learned how correct I was. The vast majority of CEO's are more comfortable and confident in a go-to-market strategy that is entirely internal. Which makes complete sense. What's not under your control, is potentially out of control. And B2B partners are not under your control. Regardless of the contracts you made them sign.
Regardless, it's my opinion tech companies should involve partners when they are ready to go to market.
And here's why...
#gtm #partnerships #powertothepartners #partnershipsledgrowth
