Little Glossary · Go-to-market
Go-to-market (GTM)
Go-to-market (GTM) is the plan a company uses to take a product to its market: who it targets, with what message, at what price, through which channels and with which sales model.
Components of a GTM strategy
- Market and customer: the ICP and buyer personas.
- Positioning: which alternatives the product competes with, including spreadsheets or doing nothing, and why it's better for that customer.
- Messaging: the value proposition turned into headlines, arguments and proof.
- Pricing and packaging: plans, pricing metric (per user, usage-based, per account) and discounts.
- Channels: how buyers arrive. Search, content, ads, outbound, partners, events.
- Sales motion: how the purchase gets closed.
The most common sales motions
- Sales-led: a sales team guides the purchase with demos and proposals. Common for large contracts.
- Product-led: users try the product and buy on their own or with little help.
- Hybrid: the product brings in users and sales steps into the accounts with the most potential.
- Partner-led: integrators, consultancies or marketplaces sell or recommend the product.
Launch GTM vs ongoing GTM
The term is used both for the launch plan of a product or a new market entry and for the steady way the company sells. In both cases it should be reviewed with data: which channels bring customers who stay, which segments close faster and what the acquisition cost per channel is.
Signs of a poorly defined GTM
- Marketing generates leads that sales rejects.
- The website speaks to everyone and convinces no one.
- Every salesperson pitches the product differently.
- Pricing is negotiated from scratch on every deal.
Related terms
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