Go-to-Market Approach & Channel Partners
Companies face many questions when designing their go-to-market approach.
Client Case Examples
Engineering Design Software Company
Revenue growth stalled as purchasing responsibility moved to executive levels of customers where the company had little sales experience. We developed a new top-down sales approach for the company, including a new go-to-market model, senior executive messaging, and channel partner relationships. We also recommended a new product bundled positioning to simplify branding, increase deal size, and broaden executive appeal. The CEO believed we were ’spot-on’ with our recommendations which are now being implemented.
These questions include the following: Is a direct sales force best or should I use channel partners? How effective would an outbound telesales group be in generating new customers? How should these decisions vary by geography, customer size, industry, etc? How should existing customer relationships be cross-sold other products/services? Is there a need for a lower cost sales and service channel to meet the needs of highly price-sensitive customers? Should products be bundled? And many more.
We use a disciplined approach to help clients answer these questions. We combine external market insights and a clear understanding of the company’s competitive strengths and weaknesses to design the go-to-market approach. For example, we used the framework below to help a client decide which services should be bundled, which should merely be cross-sold and whether common ownership of the business units providing the different services was creating enterprise value.
Once a go-to-market structure has been defined, the necessary processes, skills, tools and organization design can be determined. We believe that changes in the go-to-market model and underlying support systems should be undertaken in “waves of change” to achieve benefits while next undertaking unnecessary risks associated with excessive change. In one case we structured four incremental phases for a technology services company:
Our go-to-market planning provides a roadmap to growth that ensures the right pieces are in place to optimize revenue and margin performance.
For more information about our work in connecting growth strategy and execution through defining the go-to-market approach and channel partners, please contact us.