Dave Govan (VP of Sales, Sailthru) - Aligning a Go to Market Strategy with Sales Execution
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The document discusses alignment issues in sales execution, identifying root causes such as business plans lacking marketing focus and insufficient market detail. It proposes solutions like integrating go-to-market strategies with market maps and emphasizes the importance of understanding customer voices and competitive landscapes. Strategies for prioritizing targets, creating unique messaging, and aligning sales and marketing efforts are also outlined to improve sales outcomes.
Dave Govan (VP of Sales, Sailthru) - Aligning a Go to Market Strategy with Sales Execution
- 1. Dave Govan Executive Vice President, Sailthru, Inc. Founder, G2 Strategic Advisory Services Aligning Go to Market Strategy w/ Sales Execution
- 2. The Problem Sales Execution often lacks Alignment Symptoms: Smaller Sales Pipelines Longer Sales Cycles Smaller Opportunity Values Lower Win Rates Lower Revenue
- 3. Root Causes Most Business Plans are: Authored by Non Marketers / Non Sellers Written for Investor Audience / Capital Campaigns Product / Technology heavy Lack sufficient detail for successful Marketing & Sales Execution
- 4. Solution Include Go to Market Strategies with detailed Market Maps in new and existing Business Plans
- 6. Varying “Voices”, Concerns / Needs
- 7. Voice of the Customer Critical Starting Point (Must get it right) Which one(s)? When Messaging, One Size Fits All, only for B to C and B to B simple tools Enterprise B to B Marketing & Sales need Message Platforms
- 8. Solution Strategy: Competitive Alternatives 947 companies in 43 categories: the increasingly crowded marketing technology landscape
- 9. Solution Strategy: Competitive Alternatives Whose customers are you going after? Why? Why will you win? Will your prospective Power Decision Maker agree?
- 10. Solution Strategy: Differentiators Crossing The Chasm, Elevator Pitch “Acid” Test; Geoffrey Moore For? (target customers?) Who are dissatisfied with? (current market alternative?) Our product is a ? (new product category?) That provides? (key problem-solving capability?) Unlike? (the product alternative?) We have assembled? (key whole product features of our application?)
- 11. Solution Strategy: Vulnerabilities of Competitors Which vulnerabilities are you able to exploit to defeat your competition?
- 12. Sample Competitive Matrix Features FLL Strohl LDRPS Strohl PLANet Sungard Paragon Recovery Planner MMT Ease of Use / Usability Total Cost of Ownership Program Management Business Impacts and Risks Technology Management Plan Management Incident Management Reporting and Dashboards Automatic Notification Compliance Management Vendor Management Customization Requires Add On Not Available Poor Adequate Good Excellent
- 14. Prioritize Targets Your Prioritization “Sweet Spot”? Who has the highest propensity to buy from you? Who does your Solution benefit the most? Where will you achieve the fastest traction? Hence your Sales & Marketing Execution Priorities
- 15. Marketing Execution Ideal Prospective Account Characteristics? Which SIC Code Sub Category Industries Align with your Market Map? Create and Pursue Universe of Accounts with Suspects that Align Create Unique Messaging Platforms to Attract, Engage, Convert and Retain High Impact / High Priority Deliverables
- 16. Message Platform: CFO Pain Point Benefit Feature Distinct Competitive Advantage Ability to Forecast Results During times of crisis or business disruption I know where I stand on my vendors, clients, people, technology , etc. and can continue to forecast results FLL’s Modules: •Compliance Manager •Incident Manager •Risk & Impacts Module •Asset Management •Technology Management •Client Management •People Management Our integrated system is broader than other vendors. It covers seven areas of your business, more than a single or dual silo solution. The areas are Risk, Continuity, Compliance, Vendor, Technology, People, and Client Maintaining morale & productivity / working capital mgt During a disruption FLL provides you with a complete view of your human resource dependencies enabling you to redeploy personnel to maintain productivity. It also enables you to maintain morale by easily communicating with your employees either on demand or automatically People Management Employee Communication Portal FLL is one of the few solutions that automatically communicates with employees and provides access through a employee communication Portal Balance-sheet awareness Having a Live Reports view of Risk, Continuity, Compliance, Vendor, Technology, People, and Client during a disruption contributes to improved balance sheet awareness FLL’s Features Live Reports We are the only vendor to offer “Live” Reports and therefore we uniquely offer the broadest, most consistent, & current info across departments Attracting and retaining qualified employees FLL will enable you to manage risk more effectively and minimize disruptions to their business. Employees are attracted to and remain with firms who do the above •Compliance Manager •Incident Manager •Risk & Impacts Module •Asset Management •Technology Management •Client Management •People Management Our integrated system is broader than other vendors. It covers seven areas of your business, more than a single or dual silo solution. The areas are Risk, Continuity, Compliance, Vendor, Technology, People, and Client
- 17. Message Platform: IT Evaluator Pain Point Benefit Feature Distinct Competitive Advantage Job Security: FLL’s SaaS architecture minimizes many traditional IT risks associated with new projects FLL is a Software as a Service solution FLL is the only Business Continuity & Governance, Risk, and Compliance system available in a SaaS architecture Keeping up w/ Project Load FLL’s fully automated single touch system is faster and easier to implement System design supports DRII, BCI, standards and integrates CMDB from ITIL One of the few products that integrates business continuity best standards with ITIL best standards Staying within internal IT Standards Easily scales. Easily integrates. FLL is designed on top of common industry technologies FLL is designed around Microsoft Sharepoint and .NET One of two products built around Sharepoint Software Bugs and Support Issues FLL is high quality software Eg Gold certified Microsoft FLL is built on proven methodologies using CMMI standards. A dedicated QA team ensures quality. Testing occurs at module level and integration of module into platform in customer focus groups. Microsoft tested & awarded Gold Seal of approval Only BCP and GRC vendor awarded Microsoft’s Gold Standard for software
- 18. Sales Execution Align Sales Channels with Target Markets Align Sales Human Capital with Selling Model & Buyer’s DNA / Voice Targeting: Identify ideal Job Title of Prospect as your Entry Point and his/her Characteristics? Pursue your Unique Qualification Criteria for Business Fit? Solution Fit? Align Pricing with Value Proposition Methodology: Repeatable process for finding, qualifying, managing and winning opportunities Invoke Forecast Discipline Data Centric Monitoring & Performance Coaching
- 19. Reassess & Optimize Frequent Reviews of Strategy & Execution Alignment with your short and long term objectives. Identify external market changes impacting your go to market strategy. Determine if you are leveraging state of the art sales & marketing tactics. Identify potential additional resources, channels, and opportunities. Provide detailed recommendations to improve sales & marketing execution.
- 20. Troubleshooting Questions Is the “Voice of the Customer” clearly understood and listened to? Is your Solution Strategy comprehensive enough? - how are you different than your competitors? - what is your unique value? - what are your competitors vulnerabilities? Have you Identified and are you engaged with all areas of opportunity? Have you prioritized targets? Are you finding them, engaging with them, converting? - who has the highest propensity to buy your product? - target verticals and suspects? - are you connecting with buyers with acute pain as soon as they need a solution? Sales & Marketing Execution: - How are you doing at ? Finding, Attracting, Engaging, Converting, and Retaining. - Are you using state of the art best practices? - Any breakdowns in Sales Execution?