Bryan Brown and I decided to write MOVE: The 4-Question Go-to-Market Framework because we recognized that there was a significant gap in resources for GTM professionals looking to improve their revenue strategies. 

And, boy, were we right. 

MOVE  became (and still is) a WSJ and USA Today bestseller. It continues to be bought in bulk by CEOs, PE firms, and C-suites for their entire Leadership team as a transformation book as they navigate from problem-market fit to product-market fit to platform-market fit.

But it wasn’t just a scarcity of resources that drove the book’s success. As we explain in the opening chapters, it is extremely difficult to know the right moves to take in your company’s growth. MOVE  details a practical path to GTM strategy that aligns all your stakeholders to your vision and navigates your company through the three above-mentioned stages of GTM growth.  

Source: Heinz Marketing

Hundreds if not thousands of GTM pros from all ranks have used our book and the frameworks it documents to succeed. 

And for that, we are humbled and proud. 

But, as is the nature of the beast with writing books, we couldn’t cover everything in one text. The market is always evolving. The tools and data are always getting more refined. To keep up with the constant evolution, we have to rely on our peers to build upon our work—not as competitors, but as thinkers and leaders working in the trenches while keeping their eyes on new, innovative ways to win. 

Bryan and I covered much of the inner workings of GTM, but there was a piece of the puzzle that we left out—one that is becoming increasingly essential as we get deeper into what Jay McBain calls, “The Decade of the Ecosystem”: 

The importance of partners to your GTM strategy. 

In Jared Fuller’s new book, NEARBOUND and the Rise of the Who Economy, we are given another path, one that builds upon the “6 truths” Bryan and I outlined in our text, but through the lens of nearbound—that is, through the lens of surrounding your customers with the voices and influence of their trusted service providers. 

Here’s a brief summary of our 6 truths and how Jared’s book builds upon and amplifies their first principles through the power of partnerships:  

• Truth 1: GTM is like building a new product—and like a product, it will be improved upon over time with customer data and input. However, as Jared explains, customer data and input become supercharged with the intel and influence only partners working with your ICP can provide. 

• Truth 2: Revenue teams have to prioritize customer success alignment. GTM is about creating high-performing revenue teams that connect marketing, sales, and customer success. Nearbound takes this a step further. Jared argues that instead of partnerships being another department that needs to align alongside other revenue teams, it is a strategy to be overlaid onto every department. 
  
  In the “Nearbound Customer Success” chapter, he breaks down how partners influence and nurture customer relationships to increase retention. For example, Microsoft generates 95% of its revenue with partners, but 80% of those partners are non-transacting, meaning that they are focused on awareness, advocacy, and retention rather than direct sales. This is not by accident. 

• Truth 3: Instead of trying to reach everyone in the biggest possible market (total addressable market), focus on the customers most relevant to your product (total relevant market). 
  
  And where should you look to find those most relevant customers? You guessed it. 
  
  According to Jared, the best place to look is your ecosystem. Who are the people already connected with your ICP? They are your golden ticket to higher win rates, bigger deal sizes, and faster sales cycles. 

• Truth 4: Without standardized, accurate, holistic data, from a single source of truth, a company cannot make strategic decisions. Bryan and I explained that this only happens with the help of RevOps, and Jared agrees. However, he also argues that partnership teams should have their own PartnerOps motion, as well—something that partnership teams have been severely lacking for some time now. He explains how this can be executed to match the rhythm of the business, as well as the rhythm of working with partners. 
  
   

• Truth 5: Retention is the new acquisition. Nearbound GTM increases customer lifetime value and grows the value of your existing customers through the specialized expertise of partners, not by adding more to your headcount.  
  
   

• Truth 6: Flywheels are the new funnels. Customers have to be at the center of every GTM activity to succeed in today’s market where it is 5x more expensive to acquire a customer than retain one. Jared explains that this is not only true, but that nearbound and the network it leverages becomes a “force multiplier” to your flywheel, allowing it to spin faster and faster until it eventually creates its own gravity. 

I’m truly excited to see the next evolution of GTM unfold in the market and to witness how Jared’s book will empower the people who make it tick. 

Join me, Jared Fuller, and Shawnie Hamer live from Paris on February 27th at 7 pm CET/ 1 pm ET for the virtual book launch of NEARBOUND and the Rise of the Who Economy.