Turning The Crank - What We Do

Go-to-Market Strategies

Crossing from product development into commercial launch creates the first "gap" for many
companies. Identifying the best channels to reach the target customer and developing the right
selling tools for those channels is crucial. For many companies with a strong technology focus,
the Marketing team often comes from the ranks of the technical groups, may lack strong
marketing skills, and seldom have any sales experience. Not surprisingly then, the approach to
marketing comes from the product's technical perspective. This often results in great upstream
product development but weak implementation and commercialization.

Marketing and Sales Alignment

Gaps in growth plague even experienced companies. Success comes when the Marketing and
Sales organizations have a good understanding of how each contributes to the selling process,
where they overlap, and how and when to pass the baton. Unfortunately, Product Management
often feels their job is done when they have "launched" a product and "trained" the Sales
organization. In my view, Product Marketing is part of Product Management responsibility and
extends beyond launch to help drive sales. Bridging the gap between Marketing and Sales by
knowing how, and for how long, to hold on to customer contact and communication is crucial.
Lack of Marketing involvement usually results in Sales teams claiming a lack of, or poor quality
of, leads. Too much involvment and Sales people get anxious that Marketing is interfering with
their customers.

- Do your sales channels get clear value propositions to position them to make the sale?

- Is your product management team strong on 'upstream marketing' and weak on
'downstream marketing'?

- Does the marketing team provide sales aids that separate you from the competition?

- Is your company and product brand clearly defined and valued by your customers?

TTC helps your Product Marketing team put sales in gear by identifying the best sales
channels and by creating and delivering strong selling messages to the target audience.
Click on the menu bar on the this page to see examples of tools that could help your
Marketing team get it in gear.