Agile is the new sales methodology. Go-to-market (GTM) teams can learn a lot from software developers.
Many of us know that modern software development is all about designing, developing, testing, and iterating based on systematic feedback loops.
When executed well, it’s a virtuous cycle that harmonizes user feedback, business goals, an ever-changing environment, and the realities of finite resources.
Go-to-market teams should take note. Why?
Because we also operate in an ever-changing environment, where we balance short-term goals with long-term planning and finite resources.
A deep understanding of our buyers is paramount to our success, but we’re competing with thousands of others for buyers’ time and attention.
Oh, and most of us are working within and across teams that are spread across multiple time zones with agendas and goals that aren’t always perfectly aligned…
So, why remake the wheel? Agile has been tested and proven over 20-plus years since the release of the Agile Manifesto back in 2001. Here’s what it can look like for GTM teams:
Commit to testing and iterating everything: Continuous testing provides critical feedback to enable highest-quality engagement. Prospecting, discovery calls, demos, expansion patterns—all can be continuously monitored and iterated with data.
Develop team level playbooks and frameworks: There is no continuous testing until you have a shared collection of plays, libraries, and guides. Shared playbooks support testing and collecting best practices that emerge from individual team experiences.
Individual practice and ownership: Coders work on their own areas of the codebase with individual code merged by shared frameworks. Individual contributors on a GTM team need to practice so that their own voice connects to shared playbooks.
Cross-team partnership and collaboration: Agile has a number of approaches to cross-team enterprise adoption, e.g., Scaled Agile Framework, Disciplined Agile, and Large Scale Scrum. Similarly, as GTM teams have gotten more specialized, they need daily, weekly, and monthly approaches to staying aligned.
These are just a few ways we can start to apply proven Agile best practices to our GTM market functions. When in doubt, remember: Continuous Testing, Shared Playbooks, Individual Practice, Cross-Team Collaboration.
