Go-To-Market Troubleshooting:  Let’s Take It From The Top

Key takeaway

• For entrepreneurs: Focus on understanding and optimizing your sales funnel by asking the right questions and analyzing data objectively to improve go-to-market performance.
• For investors: Assess a company's ability to troubleshoot and adapt its go-to-market strategy, as this reflects its potential for sustainable growth and resilience.

Summary

In this blog post, Dave Kellogg discusses a systematic approach to troubleshooting go-to-market performance, particularly when missing revenue growth targets. He emphasizes the importance of avoiding knee-jerk reactions, such as blaming the plan, and instead focusing on two key questions: 1) Is the company providing sales with sufficient pipeline coverage to hit the target? 2) Is sales converting enough of the pipeline to achieve the goal? By analyzing historical pipeline coverage and conversion rates, companies can identify the root causes of underperformance and develop targeted action plans to address them.

Insights

• Avoid Blame: Start with data-driven analysis rather than blaming the plan.
• Key Questions: Focus on whether sales has the opportunity and capability to meet targets.
• Pipeline Analysis: Use metrics like week-3 pipeline coverage and conversion rates to diagnose issues.
• Pipeline Quality: Ensure high-quality opportunities enter the pipeline to avoid misleading metrics.
• Conversion Factors: Consider factors like sales cycle length, average sales price, and competitive landscape when analyzing conversion rates.
• Pipeline Composition: Be aware of changes in pipeline mix that can affect conversion rates.

Implications

• For Entrepreneurs: Develop a disciplined approach to pipeline management and ensure alignment between sales targets and pipeline quality.
• For Investors: Evaluate a company's ability to adapt its go-to-market strategies and maintain pipeline discipline as indicators of future success.
• Organizational Culture: Foster a culture of objective analysis and continuous improvement to enhance sales performance.
• Resource Allocation: Reallocate resources strategically to balance sales efforts and pipeline generation.