The Ultimate Checklist for Your SaaS Go To Market Strategy
SaaS Go to Market has evolved almost as often as software products themselves have been updated.
One of the biggest shifts we’ve seen is that concepts from B2C are getting adapted and adopted into B2B way faster than before. This includes things like a renewed focus on freemium models, influencer marketing, partner marketing strategies, and more.
With so many different approaches, sticking to traditional go-to-market (GTM) strategies is no longer enough to drive sustainable growth.
In response, SaaS GTM should adapt to the most important concept from B2C: placing customers and people at the core of their GTM approach.
Regardless of the state of your GTM, use this checklist to shift toward a people-first approach and empower your SaaS organization to thrive in this customer-centric era.
Let’s get started.
Table of contents
- Why is People-first GTM Integral for Success in SaaS?
- The Ultimate Checklist for Your SaaS GTM Strategy
- Key Takeaways
- Conclusion
- Additional resources
Why is People-first GTM Integral for Success in SaaS?
Back in the 2010s, growth at all costs reigned supreme in SaaS.
If you wanted to drive more revenue, the approach usually involved more ad investment, additional SDRs, and more sales headcount. The result hurt every single person involved in the process.
Buyers were angry about not getting the promised value, revenue teams became ultra-competitive and mercenary in their approach, and stakeholders were left holding the bag.
While this approach is now prohibitively expensive and can lead to burning through your entire TAM, some aspects have remained. It’s time for a new approach in SaaS, and that means putting the customer at the heart of everything you do—from your messaging to your product roadmap.
If you do that, you'll foster deeper connections, build invaluable trust, and ultimately drive lasting sustainable growth. This checklist will show you exactly how to do that.
The Ultimate Checklist for Your SaaS GTM Strategy
Shifting your go-to-market strategy isn’t just presenting a slide deck to your revenue teams about the new way of operating and calling it a day. It’s a process. As such, we’ve broken the process down into four different phases.
Whether you're a pre-seed startup or an established enterprise SaaS company, revisiting and refreshing your vision, mission, principles, values, and unique point of view regularly is essential. It’s especially important as you change your whole approach to driving revenue.
Ironically, the place to start with People-first GTM isn’t with your audience. It’s looking internally at your employees, culture, and purpose.
As one of the founders of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher said “Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees, and the rest will follow from that.”
Tasks to be done:
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Define or refine your company's vision and mission
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Establish or review your principles and values
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Craft or update your brand story and point of view
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Evaluate and restructure your team for optimal
customer-centricity -
Implement or revise your operating rituals and cadences
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Set or realign your annual goals to prioritize customer needs
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Conduct research to identify evolving customer problems
A deep understanding of your ideal customer is the cornerstone of any effective GTM strategy, and our People-first approach is no exception.
Even if you’ve already got a good idea, it’s worth revisiting as the market is constantly shifting. Analyze your total addressable market (TAM) and serviceable addressable market (SAM) to pinpoint the accounts and buyers who best suit your offerings. Clearly identify the problems that your solution solves.
This way, you can develop detailed account and buyer personas backed by data-driven insights and direct customer feedback. This up-to-date understanding of your ICP will inform your segmentation strategy, enabling you to tailor your messaging and tactics for maximum results.
Tasks to be done:
- Reassess your total and serviceable addressable markets
- Redefine your account and buyer fit criteria
- Update your account segment and buyer persona definitions
- Revisit your segmentation strategy based on fit and intent data
- Develop a compelling strategic narrative and thought leadership positioning
Any update to your GTM should include revisiting every aspect of your revenue strategy.
This includes building a comprehensive financial model that accounts for critical factors such as funnel metrics (volume, velocity, conversion rates, value, and costs), potential headwinds and tailwinds, and underlying assumptions.
Likewise, any modern SaaS go-to-market strategy necessitates examining both new business and existing customer revenue streams.
Using this information, map out the entire customer journey and allocate resources across the entire revenue team, including sales, marketing, and customer success. Equipping them with the right tools, training, and technology they need is key to ensuring a seamless, customer-centric experience at every stage.
Tasks to be done:
- Refine your category/solution and product messaging
- Highlight value-based use cases and customer success stories
- Evaluate and optimize your pricing and packaging models
- Align your product
roadmap with customer feedback and needs - Analyze your financial model, funnel metrics, and revenue assumptions
- Map out the updated customer journey and sales methodology
- Assess and enable your revenue teams with the right tools and training
This is where all the hard work done thus far turns into results.
It's time to execute those meticulously planned integrated revenue campaigns. And integrated is the key word. You need your marketing, sales, customer success teams, and external partners working together like a well-oiled machine.
Only when you've got your foundational beliefs, customer insights, on-point messaging, irresistible offers, activated channels, and enabled teams are rowing in the same direction that the ship will move as intended. No silos. No mixed messages.
A united front through the customer
lifecycle is what helps you get those people-first wins.
Tasks to be done:
- Identify and cultivate strategic internal and external partnerships
- Revisit your offer mix and channel activation across the customer
lifecycle - Monitor results and revisit every 90 days
Key Takeaways about SaaS go to market strategy
- Fostering deeper connections, building trust, and achieving long-term success means putting people at the core of each decision and interaction.
- SaaS organizations can benefit from having a holistic GTM approach that spans team and people alignment, strategic planning, revenue drivers, and strategic execution.
- Following this comprehensive four-phase checklist will help your SaaS brand shift toward a People-first GTM approach.
Forget Company-first GTM. People-first is the Future
Putting people-first isn't an option in the age of the empowered buyer. It's the cornerstone to driving serious, sustainable growth (and leaving the competition in the dust).
Make people the heart of every decision and interaction, whether that’s employees or customers.
You’ll forge deeper connections that last. You’ll build unshakable trust. And you cultivate brand evangelists who'll be shouting your praises from the rooftops or, at the very least, their Slack communities.
This checklist is everything you need to do to harness this transformative approach.
More People-first Content is Waiting for you
Ready to learn more about people-first
GTM? Our free Influencer Marketing Guide and People-First GTM Playbook and Workbook are waiting for you inside of the TACK Network.
