The New Go-To-Market Blueprint with Adam B. Needles - Ep. 36
Plus, how big of a problem is the CMO's role?
Hey, welcome back to The Transaction!
It’s the last episode before Christmas and oh boy, this one is a real present!
Here’s what’s on deck this week:
What Craig’s Reading
Latest Episode: The New Go-To-Market Blueprint with Adam B. Needles
Did someone forward you this newsletter? I’m sorry about that, but since you’re here you might as well subscribe…
What Craig’s Reading
This is rare, but I thought I would share an interesting tweet from Ben Schaechter @bensign via Matt Harney (
). Are buyers more wiling to pay more than deal with sales? We gotta fix this.Latest Episode: The New Go-To-Market Blueprint with Adam B. Needles
What is your GTM strategy built on? The cool new motion that’s popular this minute? Tons of research on users? Well, it should be built from a blueprint and this guest just so happens to know how to create said blueprint.
Adam B. Needles, the CEO of ANNUITAS, joins Craig and Matt for a barn burner of an episode that starts off with Adam’s seriously spicy take that the CMO’s role is a major part of the problem in the current B2B buying experience (Sounds like someone got into the Commsor hot sauces). After unpacking that hot tamale, Adam shares some great insights on the three parts to setting up and monitoring your Go-To-Market Blueprint, why you need to educate your board on how you go to market, and what buyers actually want from sellers during their buying journey. As if that wasn’t enough to include in this edition, Adam also drops a great nugget that AI can’t cover up your poor GTM Strategy. Pretty sure the B. in Adam’s name stands for B2B Badass or something like that based on this episode. (Yes, that was corny and stupid and yes, a human, albeit not a very bright one, wrote that)
Also, Craig reminisces about his viral, rebellious past and Matt sits in a corner and cries at the downfall of his fiefdom.
Critical Takeaways
The three core components of a go-to-market blueprint are understanding the buyer's journey, identifying all relevant decision-making stakeholders, and grasping their content consumption habits. This helps in synchronizing marketing and sales efforts to ensure value-add interactions at every touchpoint.
Every touchpoint should focus on adding value to the prospect's journey. That means every email, meeting, and piece of content prospects receive serves a purpose and helps them arrive at a quality decision faster.
Don’t treat your gtm blueprint as if it’s set in stone. You should regularly meet with crossfunctional leaders to review the blueprint, examine your performance against that blueprint, and update it based on new data and insights.
Epic Quotes
“ I don't think that AI is the solution to your bad go to market.” - Adam B. Needles
“It's not about funnel management. It's really about just understanding where someone is in the journey.” - Adam B. Needles
“If you don't have a clear sense of who owns what by stage, then nobody owns it.” - Adam B. Needles
“ The new playbook is to have a playbook.” - Matt Amundson
“ We talked about the CEO and COO, actually, now, the biggest education point for this change is board level.” - Craig Rosenberg
Connect with Adam
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abneedles/
Website: https://www.annuitas.com/
Shoutouts
Carlos Hidalgo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosahidalgo/
Jason Stewart: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonhstewart/
Monotype
Ninan Chacko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninan-chacko-54b527/
Bob Seiler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertjseiler/
Schneider Electric
Procter and Gamble
QA Symphony
Forrester
Gartner
Evan Kent: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evankent/
Sales loft
Outreach
HubSpot
Sponsored Segment
Ringmaster Conversational Marketing - The Transaction is sponsored by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through Branded podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/
Interested in becoming a sponsor of The Transaction? Contact thetransaction@samguertin.com
Follow the Hosts
Craig’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigrosenberg/
Matt’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-amundson-91657236/
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Happy Holidays everyone!