Spring has sprung – and in my house that means it is time for a room-by-room cleanup. It is an annual ritual that entails a methodical approach to ensure that each room (and its contents) are evaluated to determine what should be kept, donated, or perhaps sold at the neighborhood garage sale. And it involves making tough decisions (and sometimes heated debates over which items should stay or go!). It is not unlike the difficult decisions that B2B leaders must make when it comes to prioritizing their go-to-market efforts. Organizations need a methodical approach to gaining alignment across product, marketing, and sales leaders and developing an audience-focused go-to-market approach.
I’m excited to announce new Forrester research that helps B2B leaders assess their go-to-market capabilities. Forrester has characterized three stages of maturity – Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced – and the research includes guidance on how to improve and advance through the stages. The assessment includes an evaluation across four core areas:
- Business context. Leaders need a well-defined process in place for making wise go-to-market decisions that maximize market opportunities and boost revenue growth. Critical success factors include taking an audience-first approach and obtaining alignment across go-to-market stakeholders.
- Market strategy. Prioritization is often a missing element when it comes to determining the right go-to-market approach. B2B organizations must identify and prioritize the market segments that are the most viable and attractive for their business. And internal insights alone are not enough – you have to blend those with external factors to ensure the most appropriate segments are prioritized.
- Buyer strategy. Buyer-focused engagement strategies are critical for success. Identifying and documenting buying centers, buying groups and personas fuels engagement efforts. An understanding of the issues buyers care about most will inform which offerings in a portfolio are best suited to position.
- Engagement strategy. Engagement strategies must be coordinated across go-to-market teams to deliver a cohesive and integrated buyer experience. Required elements include the development of robust persona profiles, documentation of buyer journey maps, and creation of audience-focused messaging.
B2B leaders can use the assessment results to build a structured and repeatable approach for decision-making when developing their go-to-market strategy. When organizations take the right steps, their go to market strategy is a growth catalyst that aligns product, marketing, and sales teams around core decisions.
Forrester clients interested in taking the assessment can access it here to get started: Forrester Go-To-Market Maturity Assessment. For anyone attending our B2B Summit in Austin in May, I will be leading a lab session where you can take the assessment. It will be a fun and interactive experience and I hope you’ll join me on Monday afternoon! Reach out to me on LinkedIn if you’d like to start a conversation or connect.
