During my conversations with various founders, a recurring sentiment I've noticed is their tendency to blame the sales team for the business's failure to meet its targets. While this claim may have some truth, it's essential to consider a broader perspective. In my experience, it's rarely just a sales problem that hinders a company's success.
When delving deeper into the inner workings of a business, I often discover that the root cause of its struggles was present from day one. It all starts with a great idea and a compelling narrative based on the founder's viewpoint of the problem at hand. However, more than relying solely on individual experiences to shape the foundation of an aligned and well-crafted Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy is required.
To establish a thriving Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy, building it upon my carefully designed ideation-to-commercial validation model is of utmost importance. This framework is crucial for achieving business success while effectively mitigating potential risks.
By adopting this model, businesses can ensure that their GTM strategy is not just a collection of ideas but a well-validated and market-ready approach. It begins with ideation, where innovative concepts are generated, but it continues beyond there. The model guides founders and entrepreneurs to thoroughly validate their ideas at each process stage, from concept development to commercialization.
My model provides the business with a solid and validated strategy right from its inception. It enables aligning sales, marketing, product development, and operations to meet customers' needs, address their challenges, and offer a value proposition that resonates with them. This approach also considers the balance between the return on investment (ROI) and the customer's cost of inaction (COI).
Imagine opening up your business's metaphorical "bonnet" and examining its inner workings. If you were to pull a few wires and ask yourself whether you've validated your "Product Customer Market Fit," the answer might be a disappointing "no." Similarly, you may have yet to thoroughly evaluate the customer journey or the packaging of your product or service. This lack of validation can lead to significant setbacks.
To mitigate these risks, it is crucial to prioritize validation at every step of the ideation-to-commercialization process. By doing so, you equip your sales team with the necessary tools and knowledge to craft a narrative that truly resonates with customers. When you understand your customers better than they know, you possess the key to effectively addressing their needs. This, in turn, gives your sales team a fighting chance to drive sales, leading the business on a trajectory of traction and growth.
By implementing an ideation-to-commercial model that emphasizes validation, we can significantly reduce the failure rate of startups. This approach ensures that businesses with viable ideas don't become mere statistics but instead have the opportunity to commercialize their offerings successfully.
In conclusion, moving beyond solely attributing business challenges to the sales team is essential. Instead, let's focus on building a solid foundation through validation at every stage of the ideation-to-commercialization process. By doing so, we can equip our sales teams with the necessary knowledge and tools to deliver results, positioning our businesses on a sustainable growth path. Let's embrace this validation-centric approach and increase our chances of success.
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Author
Andy Hamer BA (Hons) Marketing Engineering FCIM
Building a business based on disruptive technologies can be a challenging task; I'm passionate about helping customers find solutions to improve their businesses and increase profitability while minimizing risk.
With a proven track record of delivering disruptive technologies to market in the UK and globally, my diverse portfolio of experience in commercial, sales, marketing, and operations allows me to offer consultancy services that align businesses for success.
Think of me as your personal “Google Maps” for business, processing and making sense of the overwhelming amount of information and variables in the business world to help you navigate your journey. I've worked with various medium-sized businesses and start-ups, including CodeBook, Xinaps, Invicara, XYZ Reality, and Archdesk, helping them to grow and scale.
I've also worked with major technology companies such as IBM, DEC, Apple, Toshiba, Panasonic, and global services businesses like ATT, BT, CSC, NTT, KDD, and Deutsche Telecom to understand the opportunities for new product and services based on new technologies.
My consultancy services are founded on commercially aligning businesses for success, and I offer them in-person, remotely, and in a hybrid format to clients in the UK and internationally.
Your business is my business, and I'm committed to working with you to help your business scale and grow by developing an aligned commercial-operational strategy.
Don't just take my word for it - let my clients speak to my expertise and approach:
"We discussed our business opportunities with him. He is among the few knowledgeable people about the AEC industry and its needs and is a great guy for marketing questions and processes."
"Andy brought great insight to my business with ideas on improving processes and using technology. We've also had several strategy sessions to examine how we can approach the market more dynamically by offering better”
Accreditations
BA (Hons) Marketing Engineering
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing FCIM
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