Tom Heaton outlines three essentials for a successful go-to-market strategy: client focus, value delivery, and competition analysis. Successful execution involves understanding client needs, demonstrating measurable value, and staying informed about competitors to identify opportunities. Continuous assessment and effective client engagement are critical for achieving increased sales and client retention.

1. 3 ESSENTIALS OF A SUCCESSFUL GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGY
By Tom Heaton, President, TrueCore Advisors
Presented By

2. How you communicate with clients, anticipate
their needs, share insights of value, and keep
enlightening them along the way — these
elements require go-to-market execution just as
much as introducing a new digital banking
solution.

3. While the scope of a successful go-to-market
execution strategy will vary, the following three
essentials are critical:

4. Here are 10 ideas to try:

5. Client Focus – Which clients and prospects,
industries and regions are you targeting, and
why?

6. Value – Do your products demonstrate
measurable and direct value to meet clients'
critical needs?

7. Competition – Are your products, people and
value proposition best in class?

8. Client Focus

9. The successful go-to-market strategy requires
constant monitoring of the changing needs and
market demands of your corporate clients and
their trading partners.

10. This includes reviewing your target client size,
wallet share, industry, geography and product
mix, and assessing your competitive advantages
and gaps.

11. You want to wrap this insight into your
communication and targeting campaigns while,
for instance, tailoring your digital loan document
submission and approval process to meet the
different needs of each borrower size or product
type.

12. The process and needs of a fleet auto-lending
borrower are very different from those of a title
insurance company's real estate closing team,
which needs to process, approve, fund and pay
down a commercial or residential loan in
minutes, not days.

13. Value

14. Do your products deliver value as your clients
define it?
Does your sales team help clients identify how
best to harness and attain value from cost
savings, by optimizing the use of capital, or in
driving new business growth?

15. Your content could be a departure point for a
live event.

16. Uncovering meaningful benefits for a client is
accomplished by identifying the unique drivers
of value specific to each client, while presenting
your solutions in the context of a quantitative
return on investment.
(See accompanying article: "Digital Interactive
ROI sales tool that compels decision makers to
buy.")

17. Competition

18. Have you recently done an in-depth assessment
of your top competitors, particularly the new and
non-traditional ones?

19. Many companies are missing out on unique
insights into their competition. Such insights can
affirm your strategy or identify gaps to close or
advantages you can exploit.

20. Perhaps your competitors are more effectively
positioning value in ways you have not
considered.

21. As a solution deployment expert, you need to
assess whether competitors are more effective in
building new products, tapping new
technologies, accessing new channels, or perhaps
offering better insight because of their
knowledge of the customer and the customer's
industry and target markets.

22. What Will Success Look Like?

23. Success is manifested best through increased
spend and multiproduct adoption by new and
existing clients.

24. It is further reflected by expanded share of
market, mind and wallet.

25. Successful go-to-market programs include:
• Continuous assessment
• Knowledge of clients, markets and competition
• A focus on guiding clients to uncover the
drivers of value
• Delivering products and services with
meaningful solutions
• Engaging your clients at every stage along the
way, always communicating and soliciting
feedback

26. Everyone hopes clients and prospects come to
the table ready to buy and with a clear
understanding of value.

27. Unfortunately, recent studies have determined
that more than 40% of lost sales are the result of
a "no decision”.

28. Said differently, most clients simply do not
recognize, understand or share your view of the
value proposition.

29. Why? Often this is because your bank's sales
professionals and consultants have not
adequately identified, quantified and confirmed
the drivers of value with these lost-sale
customers.

30. Consider again the digital banking analogy —
transformational value derived from new digital
or mobile solutions can be mind-blowingly
awesome when the experience marvels and
delights customers.

31. Without a doubt, your go-to-market strategy
must constantly adapt for customers to have such
an experience.

32. Without it, new business, relationship retention
and increased share of mind and wallet are
unlikely.

33. Best-in-class companies have go-to-market
programs that help clients to identify, quantify,
prioritize and harness unrealized value.

34. The most successful banks do so by rolling down
the windows, taking in fresh air and harnessing a
few new ideas from industry experts outside the
bank.

35. What does your go-to-market test track look
like? Is it time to recalibrate?

36. About the author
Tom Heaton is president of TrueCore Advisors, a firm specializing in go-to-
market strategy and execution programs that drive revenue growth for banks and
fintech, insurance and health care companies.

37. About FPS: We help commercial bank marketers develop compelling, brand-
relevant thought leadership that goes beyond enhancing brand awareness; we
move our clients from strategy to demand creation to drive real business results.
For more information, contact: FPS President Vince DiPaolo at 847-858-9566 or
vince@fpsc.com or FPS Operations Director Ventsi Petrova at 847-501-4120 x2
or ventsi@fpsc.com