There are many obstacles to building a successful GTM strategy with what’s out there. A GTM strategy software is essential supplementing your planning and research phases, and finding one that works for you is essential.
Whether it be wasting your afternoon chasing software that doesn’t fill your needs and eventually becoming a dead end, filling your GTM woes with temporary inefficient project management tools, or simply not knowing where to start, the time, money, and effort sacrificed is not worth the disappointment gained at the end of your search. Here are some common roadbumps you may run into as you look for efficient GTM software.
QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ASK
Before commencing your search for the right GTM strategy software, there are some questions that you may want answered before committing, such as:
- Can you use the tool for competitor analysis?
- Can the tool identify a product’s entry feasibility?
- Does it have the ability to identify your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)?
- Can it provide ideas on how to expand into new and emerging markets?
- Will it allow for clear communication on a small scale (between employees) and on a larger scale (between departments and different stakeholders in an enterprise)?
- Manage strategies consistently for your entire portfolio of products and services?
- Is the tool you found just a generic planning tool or is it tailored for GTM strategies?
If the answer to most of these questions is no, keep searching. A good GTM platform should establish a good base for you and your team to build ideas off of, as well as having the ability to research with ease.
RESEARCH WITHOUT A POWERFUL GTM PLATFORM CAN BE STRUGGLING
Why even invest your time in finding great GTM strategy software? Well, if you’re going through your business journey alone, it can be hard to know where to begin your research. Having access to GTM planning software is important because it gives you a headstart. If you checked out our previous article on what each type of business needs from their GTM strategy to succeed, you’ll know that there are certain requirements that you need to plan for in order to lead your company to success. Ticking off the boxes on each plan is essential to a healthy and thriving business.
Finding out information on what you need is much easier said than done. How do you even know what information you need, or how in-depth your research needs to go? Perhaps you have a team of employees or co-workers that know how to conduct that research, but they can be weighed down by equally important tasks that leave them with no time to conduct GTM research. Or maybe you don’t have that team, and the onus is on you to investigate GTM planning strategies that address your needs.
In all, it is imperative that you make sure that the questions in the previous section are answered while searching for the right GTM tool. Additionally, the makings of a great GTM software includes the ability to collaborate with your team on the platform– employee cohesion is key to pulling off a successful GTM plan. Finally, ensure that your research is validated, preferably by a tool or team of professionals that will validate the direction you plan to take your business towards. If you’re able to fulfill all those requirements, congratulations; you’re in the process of handling a well-oiled business machine.
INEFFICENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS
A number of companies offer project management tools, allowing you to plan out your next steps and schedule work, compile lists of buyer personas and target markets, and a number of other features. Despite their usefulness, they don’t do a whole lot for you if you’re looking for some aid in regards to GTM strategy. Getting a project management tool without any idea of your next steps is like cooking a new meal with the ingredients but no recipe— most likely ending in a complicated, unsatisfying dish.
Every project management tool should offer specific tools that benefit your company specifically, and if you’re looking to plan out your GTM strategy, have methods specifically for GTM. However, many project management tools are generic, usually not tailored for GTM planning, and therefore useless for GTM.
There are also project management tools that focus on education, teaching you or your employees marketing techniques and other business strategies. These, again, are not very useful, as they are not focused on the execution of GTM strategies, but more so the baby steps, or micro decisions, that someone can make. As a leader of your company, these tools are not what you should focus on, and instead find something that can help you establish a stable base for you to build off of.
INCOMPREHENSIVE SOFTWARE
Finally, after hours or even days of searching, you’ve managed to find actual GTM strategy software that can accomplish some of the tasks that you need from it. The keyword here is some; much software does not offer a holistic range of services, instead keying in on one or two aspects of a GTM strategy.
For example, you may find a GTM planning software that offers a step-by-step guide on what a good GTM plan should include, and what it can do for your company. Or you may try to rely on your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to help identify the customer base of your business.
While useful, it again does not help if you need to lay a solid, complete foundation to build your GTM strategy. It offers no services for identifying competitors, performing market research, or anything else in that vein, only providing assistance for a small portion of a much larger GTM plan. In attempting to cobble together GTM softwares that accomplish different things, you’ll end up with something that doesn’t fit together and is ultimately ineffective.
NO NEED TO LOSE HOPE
From this article, the prospect of finding a GTM strategy software that can truly satisfy all your needs looks bleak. There’s no need to give up, though. As GTM strategy professionals, we’ve been in the same position as you countless times. We know what you’re going through. We’ve repeated the exhausting process above countless times, which is why we’ve built a platform that can accomplish fulfilling all of our criteria.
Haycion offers you GTM strategy software that can offer support at any stage of business, with built in planning tools, competitor analysis, market research, and more. Check out why Haycion is the new, better way of conducting GTM research here.