Go-To-Market Planning and Execution
Everyone starts his or her business with a great idea. An idea that
can’t fail because it makes sense in so many ways and satisfies so many
clear market needs. So why do so many businesses fail?
Frequently the failure is caused by targeting markets mismatched to what
company's are best at providing, not developing the right message to
compel potential customers to buy, and/or not getting offerings to the
market through the right sales channels.
Many businesses too loosely target markets for their offerings.
Following Willie Sutton’s infamous rationale for robbing banks “because
that’s where the money is”, businesses go after the biggest markets with
rationalizations like “it is a $20B market, if we can get 1% of the
market we’ll be highly profitable”. While I’ve actually heard this
rationalization used in the boardroom of a Fortune 100 company for entry
into a complimentary market to a company’s existing business, this is
poor market targeting and poor business rationale. Just because you’re a
large successful company with a recognized brand, companies in a
complimentary market aren’t going to give up any of their market share
without a fight. As a start up or established business trying to gain a
foothold in a new large market, the key to success is finding the niche,
which your company is uniquely capable of serving and exploiting.
A simple example of how a seemingly good market message can undermine
sales is the use of technical benefits to sell technology to small
businesses. Technology companies have tried to sell to small businesses
with messages like “affordable leading edge technology for small
businesses”, and while this may be true about their products, this type
of tout is very unlikely to be successful in getting small businesses to
buy. First the penetration and investment in technology for small
businesses, is lower than the penetration and investment in technology
for larger businesses. Having not been aggressive to implement
technology, it is highly unlikely that small businesses have not
implemented technology because they want leading edge technologies
but can't afford them. A more compelling market message might be
“affordable technology providing small businesses a competitive edge”.
Selecting the right channel strategy can make a tremendous difference in
the success of a company. Indirect channels can provide credibility with
and access to markets that can take much longer to penetrate with direct
sales forces. Conversely indirect channels must be sold on the benefits
of selling your offering as well as the legitimacy of your offerings
before they will expend their resources, introduce their customers and
risk their reputation on your proposition. If your proposition directly
competes with an established competitor or is an alternative way to do
something, you will have to displace the competitor or prove to the
channel that your way of doing it is worth abandoning the competitor or
established solution. It is easy to identify a channel, which has all
you need to be successful. Where many companies fail, is they vastly
underestimate the amount of additional selling they have to do, to
convince a channel to sell their proposition, and the work to train a
channel to sell their proposition to prospective customers.
The Edify Group provides complete Go-To-Market services. From planning
to execution, the Edify Group can successfully bring your new offering
or business to market. With start up, and Fortune 100 Go-To-Market
successes, having the Edify Group’s experience and skills at work on
your Go-To-Market planning and execution can make the difference between
success and failure.
For information on our Go-To-Market Planning Services
click here
For information on our Strategic Go-To-Market Planning
Services click
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For information on our Tactical Go-To-Market Planning
Services click
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