22 - Creating Enterprise-Wide Go-To-Market Capabilities

The document discusses the need for companies to develop enterprise-wide go-to-market strategies to improve competitive advantage and revenue growth. It identifies some common roadblocks that prevent effective go-to-market capabilities like lack of focus on skills development. The document recommends companies identify their most critical go-to-market processes, calculate the potential gains from improving capabilities, develop a practical plan to address gaps, and take a long term approach to building capabilities through programs and refinement over time.

Uploaded by

Dlx AreaOne

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

59 views3 pages

22 - Creating Enterprise-Wide Go-To-Market Capabilities

Uploaded by

Dlx AreaOne

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 3

Creating Enterprise-wide Go-To-Market Capabilities

Creating greater competitive advantage and generating revenue growth through

demand generation strategies are two biggest challenges before businesses. While
companies invested heavily in infrastructure development, back-end operations,
product development excellence and supply chain management, a similar level of
focus and intensity are missing in customer-centric strategy, efficient knowledge
management and integration and alignment of sales, marketing and other channel
departments.

The need to develop and execute enterprise-wide go-to-market strategies that align
activities such as branding, marketing communications, product delivery, sales and
marketing alignment, sales force effectiveness and channel management is a pressing
need for corporations to post commendable business performance and stay
competitive. This white paper provides some insights into what it takes to create such
enterprise-wide go-to-market strategies.

Breaking Free of Constraints

Identifying roadblocks that come in the way of developing enterprise-wide go-to-

market capabilities and effectively nullifying them is the first step to achieve market
dominance.

1. A large proportion of senior level management does understand that sales and
marketing capabilities are critical to achieve revenue goals and gain
competitive advantage. And yet, very few of them take the trouble to
implement capability-building initiatives on a sustained basis. Many of the
sales and marketing training exercises stop with few coaching sessions and
learning the latest fad in sales tactics.
2. Enhancing the skills of the sales force is crucial to build go-to-market
capability. But the investments in sales force effectiveness training happen to
woefully less when compared to other talent investments in many
organizations.
3. When the senior management is trapped by the pressing needs of short-term
operational challenges, then long-term capability-building initiatives such as
effective channel management, customer data capture and integration, data
mining and multi-functional sales teams may take backseat adversely affecting
go-to-market capabilities.
4. Too much internal focus on metrics such as revenue growth, margin
improvement and customer retention that overshadows outward focus on areas
such as insights into consumer behavior, analysis of strengths and weaknesses
of competitors and nature of the evolving technological markets is detrimental
to building go-to-market capabilities.
Rethinking Your Go-To-Market Capabilities

Have an honest analysis of the go-to-market capabilities of your organization. What

kind of market advantage do you have with your current go-to-market capabilities?
Considering the rapid changes in the markets, are your go-to-market capabilities
sufficient? If not, have you invested enough in strengthening your marketing and
selling capabilities?

What capabilities are most critical to sustain and increase your competitive
advantage? How do you envision the changes you need to make to those capabilities
to effectively manage the future challenges? How much time and resources have you
allocated to build those go-to-market capabilities? Is your approach a reaction to acute
problems you face in the organization or a proactive and integrated operational
strategy to force the organization to develop go-to-market ability?

5 Critical Capabilities to Create a Go-To-market Advantage

How far is your organization poised to leverage the potential of the following five
critical areas of go-to-market capabilities?

1. Product portfolio management and pricing

2. Brand marketing, opportunity management, customer acquisition and retention
3. Channel value creation and sales force effectiveness
4. Customer relation management
5. Integrated sales and marketing operations, distribution and logistics

How do you rate the effectiveness of the above structures of your organization in
taking a new offering to the market? Are they strong enough to achieve your business
objectives? What can you do to strengthen them?

Your organization probably has a strategy for each of the above mentioned capability.
That is important but trying to change too much on too many fronts can be
counterproductive. You need to pick the areas that are most vital to the strategic
objectives of the organization and allocate your limited resources to improve the
capabilities that matter most.

Failing to identify the right strategic focus, under-investing in the identified strategic
capabilities and misjudging what needs to be done are three reasons why most
companies fail to develop go-to-market capabilities in the long run.

Identify the Right Strategic Go-To-Market Processes

What go-to-market processes are most critical in achieving the strategic objectives of
your organization? What is your current performance in those areas and how do they
need to be built up to accommodate the changing market realities? While every
activity seems important, you need to understand that you can’t be the best in all of
them. So, after a careful review of the company’s long term strategy, choose the ones
that make difference and confer you with the sustainable competitive advantage.

Calculate the gains in terms of market share, revenue growth, value realization and
profits, if these go-to-market capabilities are to be appropriately leveraged. Also,
calculate the loss of value, cost of lost opportunities, revenue and market share if no
investments are made in the identified critical processes. Once you understand the
stakes involved in this exercise, mobilize the organizational resources to create an
enterprise-wide initiative to acquire critical go-to-market capabilities.

Develop a Practical Plan to Build Go-To-Market Capabilities

Honestly identify the gaps in the capabilities and clearly define the critical
improvements that need to be made in them. Estimate the investments that need to be
made to improve the capabilities. Choose the method you would like to adapt (six
sigma, TQM, benchmarking or best-in-class strategies, etc.) to develop your skills and
develop a step-by-step plan.

Do not let it become yet another plan by the management. Convey the importance of
the acquisition of go-to-market capability across the organization and ready it for
change. Identify the key metrics required to measure the progress and ROI on the
resources expended to improve the capabilities. Periodically review progress and
make the necessary changes.

Developing, Redesigning and Refining Your Capabilities

Every change needs a redesign or drastic change in the key elements that constitute
the status-quo. Develop or redesign the core processes and critical elements such as
new organizational structures necessary to support change, improvement in tools and
systems, and the way different units or departments interact.

Take a long term approach and devise multi-year programs. Depending upon the
circumstances, it may be more prudent to design prototypes or pilot projects or
modular improvements in the beginning and then slowly up-scale them across the
organization to create an enterprise-wide change.

Conclusion

Creating enterprise-wide go-to-market capabilities requires a multi-dimensional

approach to plan, implement and acquire critical skills on a long term basis. Having a
sound strategy with strong commitment from top level management is essential to take
such an initiative to its logical conclusion.