How to Build a Strategic Go-To-Market Playbook

“Your content isn’t a differentiator—it’s a commodity.” a $19M CMO asked me: “how do we stand out in a market that’s flooded with content?” my response? “stop producing content. start producing original research.” most companies treat thought leadership like a volume game— 📌 repost industry benchmarks 📌 repackage someone else’s blog 📌 react to trending news or LinkedIn takes but the best GTM teams don’t just publish. they run GTM like a research lab. they investigate. original research isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s your content moat. if your brand isn’t backed by insight, you don’t have a POV—you have opinions. if your sales deck relies on only internal stats, you don’t have authority—you have dependency. if your marketing playbook hasn’t been updated with real customer data, you don’t have strategy—you have guesswork. when GTM is fueled by research, it becomes a competitive engine. so what does a research-driven GTM system look like? 1️⃣ predictable demand generation → how do we earn attention with insight? ✅ create data your buyers can’t find anywhere else ✅ partner with analysts, customers, or communities to co-produce insight ✅ promote research findings across product marketing, brand, sales, and PR 🚀 example: Gong → turned sales call data into viral content + trust-building insights OpenView → SaaS benchmarks that power the GTM of hundreds of startups 2️⃣ seamless pipeline conversion → how do we enable buyers with clarity? ✅ use research to frame the problem and build urgency ✅ arm AEs with industry-specific insights that shift conversations ✅ ground messaging in data, not just value props 🚀 example: Figma → published research on collaboration gaps to drive adoption G2 → used category data to educate buyers and accelerate decisions 3️⃣ revenue retention & expansion → how do we keep leading with insight post-sale? ✅ host insight-driven QBRs that prove value ✅ share ongoing trend reports with current customers ✅ co-create case studies and benchmarks based on actual usage 🚀 example: HubSpot → publishes “State of Marketing” to upserve and re-engage Amplitude → shares product analytics benchmarks to deepen use cases final thoughts 📌 if your content doesn’t lead with insight, it won’t land 📌 if your GTM isn’t learning—you’re falling behind 📌 if your sales team can’t teach, they can’t sell GTM isn’t about chasing trends. it’s about building trust. so i’ll ask you: 👉 is your GTM guessing—or is it grounded in original research? let’s discuss 👇 — love, sangram p.s. we have written over 30 original research notes and actively working with leaders like Gainsight ZoomInfo Demandbase PathFactory PartnerStack Qualified. DM Sangram Vajre to learn how to power your GTM with research and insights. #gotomarket #gtm #originalresearch #b2b #marketing

Lessons learned from the SaaStr talk by Jack Altman 'From $5M to $100M: Founder's Secrets to Scaling a Multi-Product Startup with Lattice's CEO' They’ve built 4 products over 8 years of existence. Going Multi Product is one of the best ways for startups to compete and expand their market. The way to figure out what to build is to understand your customer's workflows. Jack said "Think about the user journey, what else exists chronologically in their day? What else do they need? Walk through that journey." That thinking should guide your roadmap and will lead to a much more holistic solution for your customers. 👉 Taking it to market, the GTM logistics: 1️⃣ Build go-to-market teams for new products: - Set up ARR goals and targets - Who's going to do the selling? Are you going to have new sellers? Or are you going to have your current AEs do the selling? - Prepare to train sales and marketing about the new product - Is it the exact same buyer? Or different personas? 2️⃣ Make customers successful: - Make a plan for implementation - that new product will need its own implementation playbook to help customers adopt it. - Incentivize the team to drive new product adoption - train them on the new product and make sure you allocate resources to drive that adoption. - Land and iterate - continue to invest and improve the product for customers. 3️⃣ Marketing: - Evolve your story and brand. Jack said "the biggest learning we've had is that it's hard to evolve your brand and story to customers. It took us a long time after launching new products to get customers to know that we had those new products. We thought we were beating the drum on it, but we learned that even years after our second product launched people still thought we only did one thing" - Create a marketing momentum around the new product - Do product marketing to make sure your customers know your new story 4️⃣ Distribution to existing customers - Cross selling and bundling is much more effective for the company. It's cheaper to do, it drives better retention, so you want that to be happening. - But it is easier for everybody in your org to not do the new thing. They know how to do the old things and sell the first product, they know how to talk about it, so you have to find ways to design incentives so that individuals want to make it happen. ❓ Question I asked Jack: How do you think about pricing when you have different products? Do you bundle them together? Or is every product an entry point to the funnel and then you expand there? His answer was:  "Yeah, there's different entry points. Then for bundling the overall mindset is to be slightly cheaper than what the combo of products would be in the market. If you have 3 products, and those were $10 each out in the market, I would try to land at a place where if we offer all three it should be $22, not $30. A customer has a lower cost of ownership for bundling." #startups #saas #b2b #saastr2023

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭-𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐭, 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭! 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭? Finding PMF is just the beginning. The next challenge? Building a Go-To-Market strategy that scales. Without a clear plan, growth stalls, sales cycles drag, and customers hesitate. Here’s how to structure your GTM strategy for sustainable, repeatable success: 1️⃣ Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Not all customers are the right fit. Who gets the most value? Who buys with urgency? Who renews? Focus there. 2️⃣ Craft a Clear Value Proposition Customers don’t buy features—they buy outcomes. How does your product solve their problem better than anyone else? 3️⃣ Choose the Right Sales Strategy Enterprise Sales (direct sales teams for big deals) Inside Sales (scalable for mid-market & SMBs) Product-Led Growth (PLG) (free trials/self-serve adoption) Channel & Partnerships (MGAs, resellers, other core platforms providers) 4️⃣ Align Sales & Marketing Your marketing attracts the right customers. Your sales team converts them. Misalignment = wasted leads and missed revenue. 5️⃣ KPI’s - Track, Optimize, and Iterate GTM is NOT “set it and forget it.” Refine what works. Drop what doesn’t. What’s your biggest GTM challenge right now? Let’s discuss in the comments! #GoToMarket #SalesStrategy #InsurTech #Growth #Founders

$100,000 wasted on marketing that didn't work. That's what Chris told me before we rebuilt their go-to-market strategy. For five years, his company had been stuck in the "everything for everyone" trap. Every project was custom. Margins were terrible. The team was overwhelmed. "It felt like we were wading upstream," Chris said. "Taking one slow, painful step at a time, fighting against the current." Sound familiar? In 4 months, everything changed: → Gross margins jumped from under 50% to over 60% → Hired 2 additional engineers with improved cash flow → Built an independent sales engine beyond referrals → Crystal clear positioning that converts prospects We didn't start with tactics. We started with foundations. → Month 1: Deep customer interviews to identify their best-fit segment → Month 2: Messaging overhaul using actual buyer language → Month 3: Channel strategy based on how customers actually buy → Month 4+: Execution through local SEO, trade shows, partnerships The breakthrough came when Chris stopped trying to serve everyone and focused on a specific customer type: independent manufacturing companies in the Midwest needing ongoing software support. "Now, instead of bubbling over my words, throwing everything at them to see what sticks, I'm crystal clear on exactly what we do," Chris explained. "Without question, partnering with Garrett has been one of the best business decisions we've ever made." Want the full breakdown? I'm publishing it in tomorrow's newsletter—complete process, deliverables, and what moved the needle. Subscribe using the link under my name to get it in your inbox. If your revenue feels stuck and your marketing sounds like noise, don't chase more tactics. Fix your GTM foundations first.

How to build a bad*ss outbound playbook (in 5 steps) - To get your AEs self-sourcing more pipe - To get SDRs landing higher-quality meetings - To get your team off the sales roller coaster Already have a playbook? Use this checklist to beef it up. ✅ 1) Assemble the team Enablement should facilitate this process, but they shouldn't create the playbook in a silo. - Two best self-sourcing AEs. - Two best outbound SDRs - Best marketing copywriter - Product specialist (if applicable) - Sales leaders(s) actively working deals The team shouldn't be more than 10 in total. Bonus: Find a consultant who's worked in the role of your persona (e.g. an ex-CISO if you sell to CISOs). ✅ 2) Pick the medium I've seen playbooks built into enablement tools like Seismic. On Google Docs/Sheets. On PowerPoints. And everything in-between. What's most important: the playbook is built in a medium that's easily transferrable into a rep's existing workflow. The more clicks away the playbook is, the less likely it gets used. Example: Playbook is in Notion, and the talk tracks are copied into the dialer. ✅ 3) Gather examples of what good looks like Reverse-engineer examples of success. Gather cold emails that landed meetings. Recordings of cold calls that landed meetings. etc. And then go a step deeper. Provide a quick background and analysis. Example: Rep sent a cold email that landed a meeting with a CISO. Get the background on the account. Why the rep chose that account. Research they leveraged. etc. ✅ 4) Build these core components An outbound playbook should contain the following + answer these questions: - ICP & targeting strategy: How do I prioritize and tier my accounts to find low-hanging fruit? - Messaging: What do each of my core personas care about? - Triggers/signals: What 3-5 triggers align most with our personas? - Talk tracks: How do I approach the cold call conversation? - Email copy: How do I approach the email? (the provided email copy should get reps 80% of the way there) - Sequencing recommendations: What does my contact strategy look like? - Objection handling: What objections am I most likely to get? How do I handle them? - Time management: How should I think about structuring my week for optimal success? - Sales math: How should I calculate the required outbound activity to hit my desired sales target? - Plays: What are the most common plays that work? - Tech enablement: How can I best utilize the tools in our tech stack? ✅ 5) Ongoing refinement Last but not least: A playbook is a living, breathing document. Enablement should own the ongoing refinement. Every quarter: - Add more examples of what good looks like - Update messaging as necessary - Fill in gaps where reps are struggling ~~~ These are the core elements we build into outbound playbooks for our clients. What's missing? Comment and let me know. #sales #outbound

I've helped 12 companies break the $1M+ ARR barrier (and counting), 5 companies break the $3M ARR barrier, and this is in addition to my own companies. The key to winning in AI and SaaS continues to be Distribution. Here are 6 steps you can follow to build your Go-To-Market Plan for 2025: Step 1: Define Your Market The first step in your GTM plan is to clearly define the market you are entering. Understanding your market is crucial as it sets the foundation for all subsequent steps. Start by identifying the urgent and important problem that your product addresses. Whether you've built a CRM tool, an email marketing solution, or an AI application, pinpointing the specific problem you solve is essential. Step 2: Understand the 'Why' Once you've defined your market, the next step is to understand why this market exists and why the problem you're solving is urgent. This involves exploring macro trends that impact your potential customers. Step 3: Positioning Your Product Positioning is about determining how you will introduce your product into the market and to which specific segments. Markets can be segmented into various categories, such as small businesses, mid-market companies, and enterprises. Understanding your target audience in detail is critical as it informs your sales approach. Step 4: Analyze Your Competition Once you've established your position in the market, it's essential to analyze your competition. There are usually competitors for any SaaS product, ranging from established companies to simple alternatives like spreadsheets. Identifying who your competitors are will help you understand the landscape and find potential white space—areas with unmet needs that you can target. Step 5: Craft Your Messaging With a solid understanding of your market, your positioning, and your competition, the next step is to develop your messaging. This includes creating a clear value proposition that succinctly communicates the problem you solve and why customers should choose your product. Your messaging should be compelling enough to resonate with your target audience and encourage them to act. Step 6: Execute Your Plan Now comes the execution phase of your GTM plan. This is where you put your messaging into action through various marketing and sales strategies. You can choose to focus on inbound marketing—using social media, content marketing, and ads to attract customers—or outbound efforts, such as cold outreach and partnerships. Final Thoughts If you're a SaaS Founder and you'd like to learn more on how to implement these steps, then grab a complimentary copy of my 5-Point SaaS Growth Strategy Guide (link in the comments below) 👇