MarTech Interview with Todd Hallett, SVP, GTM Strategy at Dataiku

Todd Hallett, SVP, GTM Strategy at Dataiku shares a few proven tips and best practices to help you enhance your brand’s go-to market experience:

 

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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat, Todd, tell us about yourself and more about your role at Dataiku…

I’ve spent over 25 years in enterprise software in numerous GTM roles.  The majority of that time was in front of customers helping them see value in the solution I was positioning. In my new role at Dataiku, I will be responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive GTM strategy that maximizes the efficiency and effectiveness of various Dataiku GTM teams.  I like to view my current role as a way to make our teams more effective in all aspects of their jobs.

We’d love to hear more about your GTM processes and what strategies you rely on?

Two words, focus and coordination.  Any successful GTM strategy needs to start with the goal of creating focus across GTM teams.  If everyone understands the strategy the company is deploying, and what role they play in it, then we can hold teams accountable to work together to achieve a successful outcome.  Guiding GTM principles are: establishing an ideal customer profile early, identifying the top 2-3 target buying personas within a customer profile, and making investments to drive demand from those personas.  This will ultimately create a healthier pipeline and increase all aspects of sales productivity.

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When it comes to modern day GTM challenges, what do you feel B2B teams often struggle with and what best practices would you share against this?

Over the past five years,  I have been impressed that buyers, by the time they engage the vendors, are well educated on the solution they are considering.  Part of this comes from the volume of digital information available to them, but I also feel it’s an indication of how much scrutiny is in place before any budget is released for the prospective purchase.  For those reasons, if a vendor is not effective in delivering a compelling value-based message in their demand generation, they will be overlooked.  Or, at the very least, behind the competition once they engage in a sales process.

How can marketers today drive better GTM experiences and what tools/martech do you say can help more?

Customer testimonials are still one of the most effective ways to impact stronger GTM motions, which is a challenge given the increasing difficulty for a customer to get approval to be a reference for a solution provider.  In addition, tools that allow the combination of scalability (re-use) and flexibility (to tailor to a specific prospect), will rise to the top of an investment list.

Embedded analytics and insights are also becoming essential for any tool in consideration.

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A few common misconceptions about the modern state of marketing and GTM you’d like to dispel?

A common misconception is that the buying decision has essentially been made before the selection process begins.  I argue that buyers ultimately invest in something for three reasons:

1) They have aligned on a challenge that requires solving,

2) If they solve that challenge, there will be a measurable and substantial ROI,

3) The solution provider brought forward an unforeseen business opportunity they had not originally considered.  The solution provider that most effectively accomplishes the third one will win the business.

When it comes to the future of go to market in B2B, what are some of your top of mind thoughts?

Companies will invest in solutions that help transform their business and provide a competitive edge.  But they will accelerate that investment when the solution provider operates in a cohesive manner across their GTM teams (marketing, sales, customer success, partners, etc.) to maximize both their time and their outcomes.

Vendors who deploy a GTM strategy which puts the customer at the center of each phase of their journey (initial lands, high-value adoption, frictionless renewals and accelerated expansions) will be the most successful.  It’s hard to think of a solution area that hasn’t been disrupted over the last 20 years.  To that point, transformative solution vendors quickly become the incumbent and find themselves in a defensive position when the renewal period starts.  If their GTM teams are not continually collaborating and innovating, they will be replaced.