A checklist for GTM leaders and input for CFOs
This is a ready-to-use annual budget template for a company’s go-to-market: Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success.
Numbers are made up for confidentiality reasons, but categories and expenses are what I use with the companies I help come up with a realistic expenditure forecast for the upcoming year.
The template also acts as a checklist for possible Sales and Marketing activities. By reviewing the list, revenue leaders can brainstorm about the possible strategies to market and sell their solutions, ensuring they are considering all possible channels and motions.
The output of the exercise (the total budget), together with the go-to-market staff budget, is an input for the operating expenses section of the broader company business plan.
This template works for companies in any stage of their development and different financial situations. Start-ups may leave more than a few lines empty, and part of the exercise will include defining where to invest and what to park for the future. Companies that reached profitability are likely to invest more across the spectrum of activities.
How the template is used
As a first step sales, marketing, and customer success provide their input. The specific roles involved in this step depend on the company’s situation. Sometimes, VPs of Marketing/Sales/Customer Success provide their input and the CRO/CCO consolidates and finalizes the sheet. In smaller companies, the first Marketing Manager, Account Executives, and Customer Success Managers provide their input directly.
This is an opportunity not only to ask for resources to reach one’s goals but also to strategize on the different ways that teams can engage with customers and prospects.
Once input has been provided, the revenue/commercial leader reviews the budget with the CFO and sometimes the CEO. In this step, decisions are taken as to where to invest in the upcoming period: what to push, and what to put on the backburner. Ultimately, it is a balancing exercise between being able to achieve results and staying within the required constraints in terms of burn rate and runway.
Once signed off, the budget is shared back with GTM teams so they know what they can work with during the period. Setting a budget does not imply they can use it in full, indiscriminately: the leadership team may still want to keep a certain control on expenses.
Download
Excel template for Go-to-market budgeting.