What are the different go-to-market career paths and roles in various industries and sectors?

In the home appliance industry, the product manager is the Go-to-Market lead and also the innovation lead, below is what we usually do 1) Ideate and define the jobs to be done for our consumer segment and pain points 2) Refine the product concept and MVP with the technical and Innovation team 3) Lead the product development process in a cross functional team and refine the product requirements to meet our consumer demand 4) Qualify the product for launch in terms of Go-to-Market (Display units, channel management, sales brief, marketing campaign, launch qtys and launch plan) 5) Follow up on product launch in different channels (e-commerce,offline,DTC) 6) Commercial launch war room for first 4 weeks of launch to counter any issues in market

Go-to-market pathways vary by industry like unique hiking trails scaling the same mountain peak. Consumer products need retail strategy. B2B prioritizes corporate sales training. Healthcare values clinical knowledge. Startups hire hustlers to bootstrap. Your skills lead to the summit from different directions! Now grab your industry compass - let’s chart your go-to-market career coordinates! ⛰️

To be successful as a Product Manager, If it is a technical product, then firstly it is essential to understand the product specifications and applications. Then knowledge gained from user experience, covering everything from packaging/first impressions, through install, then serviceability and function. Knowing your competition and markets are also key as a Product Manager. Therefore depending on the Products you are Managing, routes to the role could be best if from a Technical or Commercial background. But willingness to learn and develop is a more important skill.

In the bustling cityscape of careers, you're the savvy navigator charting a path through the GTM district. Whether you're coding marketing strategies in tech or mixing the perfect promotional potion in pharma, your map is drawn with innovation and customer insight. Don the hat of a category curator in retail or orchestrate the launch sequence in manufacturing. Each route is a choose-your-own-adventure, with success as the destination. Ready to plot the next pin? 📍

A product manager plays a pivotal role in conceptualizing, developing, and launching products or services that resonate with the target market while aligning with business objectives, engaging in collaborative efforts with stakeholders to research, validate, and prioritize features, and continuously monitoring performance and feedback to drive adjustments and enhancements, operating across diverse industries including technology, e-commerce, healthcare, education, and media.

In my experience, the Marketing lead must own Demand Generation and Lead Gen. However, I've found far too often that is not the case. Again maybe anecdotal or specific to my industry, but I've found in most cases the Marketing lead does not have the historical muscle memory required to create, automate, and manage scaled Demand Generation programs - and you end up having to repurpose a Sales Engagement Platform as a full-blown Marketing Automation system just to create the kind of awareness and cut-thru that's required out there in a crowded sea of over 11k companies selling B2B SaaS tech to agencies and brands. We need to encourage Marketing leads to own Demand Gen vs create a new title

I think it is almost too myopic to speak of the "marketing manager". Marketing is a vast domain and your role can be substantially different depending on whether your work in Revenue Marketing, Growth Marketing, Content Marketing, Field Marketing, Brand Marketing, etc.

Un Gerente de mercadeo debe activar la demanda de los usuarios finales. Importante que conozca los canales y sea un aliado del área de ventas

A marketing manager spearheads the planning, execution, and evaluation of marketing strategies aimed at promoting products or services to the target audience, overseeing diverse channels including content, social media, email, SEO, paid advertising, webinars, events, and PR, while continuously analyzing results to optimize budget and resources, operating across sectors such as retail, hospitality, entertainment, finance, and non-profit.

The key go-to-market career path and role should be a marketing manager. I mean, the proof should be in the pudding, right? So, you need to have a mastery of marketing in depth, width, height, and length to be a marketing manager delivering great go-to marketing strategies.

The role of the sales manager has changed quite a bit over the last 20 years. At the start of my career I got thrown a phone book and maybe a Thomas Guide whereas today there are an average of 10 tools that all require daily logins. Syndicating and synthesizing data between these disparate systems is more than mental gymnastics. It's AFL (another freakin login) and the context switching required to maneuver between tools is a colossal waste of time. In fact, only 1/3 of a salespersons time is actually spent selling, and over 53% of salespeople are not hitting quota. Over the next 3-5 years my prediction is that the overwhelmingly vast majority of companies are going to consolidate tooling to streamline the workflow.

Sales is a great career to break into go-to-market. But can be easy to get stuck in that track. I highly recommend treating Sales like a college "Major" and finding a "Minor" to expand your perspective. For instance, learning to code can be a superpower (speed up Sales workflows) but also provide perspective on other parts of the org works (product/eng, operations, etc).

A sales manager leads, coaches, and inspires the sales team to drive revenue by selling products or services to the target market, overseeing goal setting, sales processes, and training, while managing the pipeline, negotiating deals, and cultivating relationships with customers and partners across industries like manufacturing, transportation, energy, and consulting.

A sales manager oversees and guides the sales team in selling products or services, driving revenue by setting goals, implementing sales processes, and providing training and feedback, while managing the sales pipeline, negotiating deals, and fostering relationships with customers and partners across industries like manufacturing, transportation, energy, and consulting.

Rather than focusing solely on quotas and aggressive selling, Sales Managers should adopt a customer-centric approach emphasizing relationship-building and value creation. By understanding customer needs and nurturing long-lasting relationships, Sales Managers can drive sustainable revenue growth and foster customer loyalty.

A Customer Success Manager (CSM) seamlessly integrates elements from Sales, Account Management, Customer Support, and often, Professional Services. They're essentially the lifeline for customers, cultivating relationships and steering growth and expansion strategies. Individuals entering a CSM role should have solid skills in customer service, account management, and project management, and a refined ability to develop strategies based on insightful data. Typically, a CSM’s performance pivots around key indicators such as revenue creation, customer retention and renewal rates, and overall customer satisfaction.

A customer success manager ensures customers attain their desired outcomes and value from a product or service, offering onboarding, support, guidance, and advocacy throughout their lifecycle, addressing issues, and driving upsells while collecting feedback to enhance satisfaction and minimize churn, operating across industries like SaaS, EdTech, HealthTech, and fintech.

Rather than focusing solely on customer satisfaction, Customer Success Managers should adopt a value-based approach that balances customer success with business success. By aligning customer success efforts with organizational objectives and driving value for customers and the business, long-term outcomes can be improved for all parties.

Customer Success is a very important component to an organization's growth and success. It is your job to ensure customers are getting the most out of your products to ensure retention and expansion. In the subscription tech model - where revenue is spread over time, it provides critical support to more costly sales, marketing, and product functions. An unhappy or indifferent customer is a former customer.

Start by mastering critical aspects of customer success, like onboarding and retention. Dive deep into specific industries like SaaS or fintech to customize your approach to their unique challenges. Prioritize delivering tangible value to customers, ensuring their satisfaction and loyalty. Use data to refine customer success strategies, making informed decisions that enhance outcomes. Broaden your network and learn from varied industry professionals to enrich your skill set. Continuously seek growth through mentorship and professional development, staying ahead in customer success management.

Business Development Managers (BDMs) are tricky roles to hire for; even trickier to consider as potential go-to-market (GTM) career. Why? Like Marketing Managers, BDM roles can be ambiguous by design or unintentionally. To some leaders BDMs mean Account Executive, sometimes it means Demand Generation Leader, sometimes Strategic Partnerships leader, etc. The biggest distinction in each of these uses of the role is in compensation and expectation. Either you will be explicitly expected to influence revenue via particular channels, means, & by a specified date or not. I use BDMs as Demand Generation Managers and/or Strategic Partnership Managers. It is particularly fun to put these two on the same team, specifying their sub-focus of course.

A business development manager is tasked with identifying and fostering new opportunities and partnerships to expand market presence and business growth, involving market research, outreach, pitching value propositions, negotiating deals, and nurturing relationships across diverse industries like biotechnology, media, gaming, and social impact.

Instead of relying solely on aggressive sales tactics, Business Development Managers should adopt a relationship-based approach that prioritizes trust, mutual benefit, and strategic alignment. Building solid relationships with partners and customers can create sustainable growth opportunities that align with the company's values and objectives.

Revenue operations. That is the glue that holds it all together. As a matter of fact, every person in marketing, sales, product, customer experience, and so on, should be operational to some level. The old GTM paths do not apply today. As someone who started in PR, went to CMO, and now runs all GTM as a COO, I firmly believe that the GTM path can be what you make of it. And being open minded and not using any of these buckets at all is the first start. Oh yeah, and revenue operations, which I first mentioned.

I definitely agree with the need to identify the appropriate internal stakeholders. We often encourage Product Owners/Managers to engage Risk early and often with questions or concerns. Failure to engage certain stakeholders can put a product change or launch at risk, even at the 11th hour.