Let's MOVE! You too can get started now with the MOVE framework. With MOVE, Sangram Varje gives companies a simple work plan that can be applied "on-the-go", so to speak, and finally helps you to achieve sustainable scalable growth.
Photo: Lisa Fotios
For Speed Readers:
Go-to-Market No Longer Has to Be An Abstract Construct
You probably already know that Go-To-Market is about improving the positioning and marketing of your company or product in an ongoing process.
Ideally, a GTM team should take on the role of transmitter between the company strategy and your customers and is successful when the 4 GTM core elements are well integrated:
Process
Market
Revenue
Customer Experience
It is particularly important that you and your team are aware at all times of the level of the GTM baccalaureate you are at.
The Foundation: Evaluate Your GTM Maturity
Many people still think that go-to-market is only an issue when launching new products or for start-ups.
If you think this way too, I would like to try to convince you that you should definitely make Go-To-Market an issue in your company as well.
Terminus founder and best-selling author Sangram Vajre shows in his GTM-Maturity Model where you are in the process, based on the parameters of growth and transformation.
Photo: MOVE The 4-Question Go-To-Market Framework, Sangram Vajre und Bryan Brown
You're in the Ideation Phase
... if you don't yet know what problem, or what problems, you are solving in the market.
You're in the Transition Phase
... if you don't yet know who your competitors are and how your product stands out from the alternatives.
You're in the Execution Phase
... if you don't yet know how and where you can most profitably expand your existing offer.
Of course, this is a very rough allocation and you may not know quite where you are on the Matura level. To find out, you can read more about it in this article on Go-To-Market, or take the test.
The MOVE Framework in Short
The 4-question framework MOVE helps you, no matter what maturity level your company is currently at. Because the questions that you and your GTM team should ask yourself (again and again) always remain the same:
Market: Whom should I sell to?
Operations: What do we need to function effectively?
Velocity: When can we scale our business?
Expansion: Where can we grow the most?
Photo: MOVE The 4-Question Go-To-Market Framework, Sangram Vajre und Bryan Brown
1. Market (Who?)
Many companies and especially marketing departments make a big mistake in their planning. They ask themselves far too late who they are targeting with their products or measures. Addressing all our target groups, or all customers, is not enough here.
As co-founder of Account Based Marketing (ABM for short), Sangram Vajre is a great advocate of a targeted market strategy. Therefore, it is not surprising that the question of the ideal market is asked here, just as the question of the ideal customers is to be answered in ABM.
The aim of this question should be that you have as little wastage as possible. After all, what is the point of addressing everyone if only 20% of the people are really interested?
Admittedly, in the ideation phase you can't be quite so targeted, because you don't yet know where your ideal customers are in the market. But even if you do, you should start identifying your TAM (Total Addressable Market) now and thus do some minimal prioritisation.
If you are already in the transition phase, however, the TAM is no longer sufficient as a standard. You and your GTM team should now define specific segments that you want to address. In order to define relevant accounts or segments, it is advisable to analyse your Ideal Account Profiles, Persona Profiles and the most frequent purchase triggers in order to identify the segments that promise the greatest success.
If you have already reached the execution phase, you have probably already done all this. Now it's your job to look for cohorts, new segments with similar characteristics to those of your customers.
2. Operations (What?)
With the second question of the MOVE framework, everything becomes more tangible. It asks you what you need to do efficiently at this point in the GTM transformation.
During the ideation phase, for example, it is very important that you and your team remain agile and can adapt your plans ad hoc based on the new insights. Thus, you should make sure that you collect data efficiently, have a regular exchange and can thus quickly take necessary steps.
The transition phase is about using the knowledge you have gained to address your segments efficiently. In order to offer your future customers a good customer experience, it is essential at this point that your marketing and sales are well coordinated. Therefore, it is advisable to define processes and sharpen a common understanding. As soon as this is in place, you can then automate better and continuously save time.
For companies in the execution phase, everything simply has to run smoothly. Only when the people, processes and tools in the company are aligned do you have a solid basis for scaling.
3. Velocity (When?)
As you could see from the Maturity Model, the GTM transformation is not linear. There are always short dives before the line moves up again.
No matter what stage you are currently in, there will come a time when the current setup is no longer equally effective and reaches its limits. That is why the third question of the MOVE framework deals precisely with the question of the optimal time to scale your company.
Companies in the ideation phase often have a lot of small divers in their maturity line, as they are mainly expanding reactively. At this level, it is often the hiring of new employees.
As maturity increases, companies can be more and more proactive and have to deal with fewer or no bottlenecks. Companies in the transition phase usually still focus on solving the causes of problems, whereas those in the execution phase act to fuel their growth.
4. Expansion (Where?)
Last but not least, there is the question of where the greatest growth potential lies.
Companies in the ideation phase usually have the greatest potential for growth by expanding specific distribution channels, such as direct, channel or partner.
If you are in the Transition phase, your expansion will no longer be focused on a single point, but increasingly on an entire line of business. For example, you may want to expand your existing distribution channels into new geographic areas or industries.
For companies in the execution phase, a great potential lies increasingly in building an entire ecosystem with which they can control a large part of the value creation and expand in all directions.
Application of the MOVE Framework
With the 4-question framework MOVE you have a simple work plan that you should work through regularly in order to lead your company to sustainable success and through the various transformation stages.
Now answer these 4 questions together with your team and I am sure you will gain valuable insights and derive actions to grow sustainably.
I am happy to repeat myself at this point and would like to call on you to use the 4-question framework regularly. Because GTM is a continuous process and repetition is the only way to be able to celebrate continuous successes along the entire line.
Are you ready to take the next step in business development with MOVE? Then better start today than tomorrow and get the ball rolling. I will be happy to help you!
This article first appeared on 22.02.2022 as a guest post on marketing.ch.
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