Pitching nearbound is easier than you think

GTM is evolving.

That’s clear to anyone keeping up with industry news, reading reports like GTM Partners’ Partner Led Research, and tuning into the Nearbound Summit.

In a recent newsletter, Scott Barker (Partner at GTMfund) noted a pivotal moment from Pavilion’s GTM2023 Conference in Nashville.

When asked who is rethinking their go-to-market strategy, around 60% of the room had a hand raised in the air.

That’s big.

It indicates we’ve crossed the chasm.

Read Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm to learn about product and idea adoption.

Go-to-market problems are widespread and 60+% of leaders are looking for a solution.

Without excess capital, companies need to get more efficient and do more with less.

So if you’re a partner leader trying to get buy-in, I’d recommend approaching the conversation from a go-to-market lens.

Address the problem.

Frame the solution.

Back it up with data.

Your leaders are already thinking about efficiency. Make saying yes to nearbound easy!

Learn from the people who have been to the places you want to get to.

These sessions from the Nearbound Summit will help make your pitch stronger:

• Biggest Problem in GTM: Lack of a Unified Operating Model with
  Sam Jacobs and Kathleen Booth

• 5 Easy-to-Use Frameworks That Make GTM Simple with Sangram Vajre and Linsday Cordell

• Collaborative Growth: Building a Fast-Growth, High Margin Business through Partnerships with Peter Caputa

• How Far are We into the ’Decade of Ecosystems?’ with Jay McBain

Use this resource to build your pitch and keep reading for some stats from Jay McBain’s session.

How and why partnerships evolved

In the beginning, partnerships were transactional (resellers). This is how the modern “channel world” was built.

But today, partnerships can be both transactional (resellers) and non-transactional (co-marketing, co-selling, co-servicing).

Jay McBain (Chief Analyst of Channels, Partnerships, and Ecosystems at Canalys) explained it like this during his session at the Nearbound Summit,

We may have built our channel, our partnerships in a transactional mode, but now we’re recognizing that to go after a particular type of buyer, [we have to go to market with non-transactional partners].”

Non-transactional partners can do more than transactional partners. They aren’t limited to reselling and can influence, land, and expand.

Or to explain it using nearbound language, you can co-market, co-sell, and co-service with your non-transacting partners.

This is valuable for a company because it creates efficient growth across the whole revenue engine.

The most important question a GTM leader can answer has always been:

How did my buyer get to me and make his/her purchase decision?

In the past, that answer was simple. There were fewer market segments and sectors, fewer subcategories within an industry, and fewer individuals present in the buyer’s journey.

Now, there are millions of permutations to consider.

So how do you lean into your non-transacting partners?

1. Let go of the misconception that partners are only transacting

2. Map out your TAM, SAM, and SOM

3. Build your surround strategy

Jay is a fan of TAM, SAM, and SOM for determining the market your organization operates in because it’s thorough.

TAM might’ve been enough in the past, but now GTM leaders need to map even more of the buyer’s journey to execute an effective GTM strategy.

Go-to-market leaders have started to get deeper and more invested in conversations about routes to market. There’s more emphasis to break down markets 100+ different ways and to have a very detailed conversation about your customer and how they make decisions.

Listen to Jay’s session or read this article on TAM, SAM, and SOM from HubSpot.

Once you understand your market, it’s time to build and execute on your surround strategy.

Get to know your customer’s watering holes. Identify them. Live in them. Participate in them. Partner with them.

The efficiency of your entire revenue engine relies on how you understand and implement nearbound into your existing GTM strategy.

The partnerships king

According to Jay McBain 73% of our industry flows through and to partners (transactional), and 90% goes with partners (non-transactional).

It really is as though partners help us with everything the light touches!

Thanks Rob Rebholz for the meme!

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• Nearbound Summit 2023 Recordings—The future of GTM is Nearbound. Watch the recordings to hear how B2B leaders across departments unite with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Listen here.

• TODAY—Nov 30, 1 PM - 4 PM EST —The CRO Playbook: How to fix sales in 2024— The old sales playbooks don’t work. Join GTM Partners for their Leadership Summit. CROs, CEOs, and sales leaders will unite to define how to fix sales in time for 2024 SKO. Register here.

Partners aren’t just transacting!

Send this daily to someone who needs the reminder. 😉