The Three Cardinal Sins of GTM

Foundational is a strategic consulting firm that helps high-growth technology companies with all aspects of their go-to-market strategy. We help teams determine what markets to go into, with what products and services, how to resource and plan for successful launches, and set a solid foundation for marketing with effective messaging and positioning.

Skipping any of these steps is like trying to put the roof on a house before the foundation is laid.

But, high-growth companies are action-oriented. Why put off till tomorrow what we can do today? Which is an admirable ethos, but it can lead to burn-out, churn, growth stagnation, and frustration when it comes to growing a business.

Here are three main mistakes I see companies make in going to market without the right information and foundation, often in the name of “moving fast and breaking sh*t”:

Let’s not forget that it was Mark “let’s break privacy and democracy” Zuckerberg that started this trend.

1. Diverting your team from their existing goals. This is company-enemy #1 in my book. The ways in which this screws a team up can not be overstated. Here’s the scenario:

Your company, Mars Attack!, makes software that helps octogenarians shoot down aliens from Mars. You have a solid product, a bit of $$ (and validation) from investors in the bank, and ok traction. It could be better, but nobody is hitting the panic button.

Somebody plants a bug in your ear that you should really be selling to nursing homes, not DTC. Your sales will triple, CAC will plummet, you won’t have to provide individual training and support, and on and on.

Now, there’s a whole bunch of questions that you should ask yourself, starting with, “Is this a pivot, an enhancement, a totally new product, or a totally new company?” (I even wrote a blog post on this question.)

Give me a second, I’m still figuring parts of this out.

But, what so often happens, is that enthusiasm and grass-is-greener syndrome takes over. Before you’ve answered any of these questions, you’re telling your head of Sales about this opportunity, you’re asking Marketing to start targeting nursing home directors, you’re asking User Experience to add in language that would apply to nursing home staff. You’re starting before you really start, and the effect is that your head of Sales has to figure out if they need an Enterprise sales process, Marketing is diverting budget and coming up with updated ad copy on the fly, and user experience is trying to create a single experience for two very different audiences, without a lot of insight into how this new audience will use the product. 

Your team may act like everything is fine, but, I promise you, this is how people feel.

At best, you’re diluting existing efforts, at worst, you’re unintentionally causing a lot of confusion, frustration, and burn-out.

2. You’ve over-sized the market, set unrealistic goals, under-sized the resources you need, or committed any other numbers-related planning gaffes. 

This is bad, but, if you can keep a lid on your new idea, limit the impact to your team, and avoid Mistake #1, things are still recoverable*. But, this is still a bad one, and by far the most frequent mistake I see. I’ve seen plans where the expectation was to capture 100% of the market; I’ve seen plans where the revenue from a yet-to-be-launched product was going to surpass current revenue of a 10+ year old product in 3 months; I’ve seen product launches that anticipated no additional resources to market, sell, or support. I’ve seen a lot, and, again, without the upfront research and planning, it doesn’t usually turn out well. 

Again, back to our Mars Attack! scenario, it would be helpful not only to know how many nursing homes there are, but how many provide alien-shooting equipment to their residents. Or, if 45 states have banned alien-shooting equipment in nursing home facilities. Or, if they only make purchases like this every 3 years because of budget constraints. 

Basically, there’s a lot to learn, and you’re going to learn it one way or the other - the question is, do you learn it cheaply, easily, without burning a lot of internal resources, before you go to market, or after you’ve committed a bunch of capital, internal resources, and credibility? I know which one I’d prefer.

For the love of all things holy, pick the easy way!

3. You don’t understand your audience and how to position and message your product to them. This final mistake is also more common than it is damning. It is the most recoverable, but, it’s also the easiest to avoid, so why not avoid it in the first place?

The most common mistake I’ve seen made in positioning and messaging work is framing the product in the company’s terms, not the customer’s. Even customer-centric companies and ones that interview their customers, and try to do all of the right things, very often still frame the industry in their own terms. This is not a cardinal sin, by any means, but it will hamper your go-to-market efforts and should be avoided.

I should say, positioning & messaging work is the heart of what I do, but the reason that I listed it last is, because after nearly 20 years of doing this, I know how critical laying the right foundation in your planning and resourcing is. You can update your messaging, you can pivot your positioning, but if you send your team in different directions, chasing after too-small markets with too few resources, you’re going to do some real damage to your business. And that is what Foundational is here to help you avoid.

We do the analysis quickly, efficiently, without disrupting your team, and we give you the best chance of success when you decide to bring a new product to market, or a new market to your product. 

Want to talk more about GTM strategy? My twitter is @jomjessie or email me at jessica@foundationalco.com.