gtm-pricing

<quick_start> ICP scoring: 80+ = Ideal | 60-79 = Good | 40-59 = Marginal | <40 = Pass

Positioning statement:

For [target] who [need], [product] is a [category] that [benefit].
Unlike [alternative], our product [differentiator].

Value-based pricing: Price at 10-20% of quantified value delivered

Opportunity score: /100 across Market Fit, Technical Fit, GTM Fit, Personal Fit, Economics </quick_start>

<success_criteria> GTM strategy is successful when:

• ICP documented with scoring criteria (firmographics, technographics, psychographics)
• Positioning statement follows April Dunford framework
• Pricing anchored to quantified value (not cost-plus)
• Tier structure follows Good/Better/Best with clear feature gates
• Opportunity scoring identifies red flags and good signals
• Battle cards created for top 3 competitors
• Launch checklist completed (pre-launch, launch, post-launch) </success_criteria>

<core_content> Comprehensive guide for B2B go-to-market strategy, pricing, and opportunity evaluation.

Quick Reference

Part 1: Go-To-Market Strategy

ICP Development Framework

Build your ICP across three dimensions, then score each prospect:

Dimension 1 -- Firmographics (who they are):

• Company size: employee count range, revenue range
• Industry: primary verticals, secondary, and explicitly excluded
• Geography: target regions, excluded regions
• Company type: startup, growth-stage, enterprise, SMB
• Funding stage: bootstrapped, seed, Series A-D, public/PE-backed

Dimension 2 -- Technographics (what they use):

• Required stack: must-have tech, nice-to-have, incompatible
• Tech maturity: early adopter, early majority, late majority, laggard
• Current solutions: CRM, ERP, industry-specific tools
• Integration requirements: what your product must connect to
• Pain indicators: manual processes, disconnected systems, spreadsheet workarounds

Dimension 3 -- Psychographics (how they buy):

• Awareness stage: unaware, problem-aware, solution-aware, product-aware
• Buying committee: economic buyer, technical buyer, user buyer, champion, blocker
• Decision criteria: primary (speed, cost, features) and secondary
• Risk tolerance: budget concerns, implementation risk, change management, vendor stability

ICP Scoring Rubric:

Behavioral Signals to Watch:

• High intent: searched for competitor alternatives, visited pricing page 3+ times, downloaded buyer's guide
• Medium intent: attended webinar, engaged with case study, connected on LinkedIn
• Low intent: blog subscriber, social follower, newsletter open

ICP Validation Checklist:

1. TAM/SAM/SOM calculated with minimum 1,000 companies in ICP
2. Historical win rate against ICP >30%
3. ICP customers have lowest churn and highest NPS
4. Sales team, CS, and product all agree on the profile

See reference/gtm.md for full YAML ICP worksheet templates and an example ICP (MEP contractors).

Positioning (April Dunford Framework)

The 5 Components of Positioning:

1. Competitive alternatives -- What would customers use if you didn't exist? (Not just direct competitors -- include spreadsheets, manual processes, hiring, doing nothing)
2. Unique attributes -- What do you have that alternatives don't? (Features, architecture, team expertise, data, integrations)
3. Value -- What does the unique attribute enable for customers? (Time saved, revenue gained, risk reduced, cost avoided)
4. Target customer -- Who cares most about that value? (The segment where your strengths matter most)
5. Market category -- What market do you position in? (Existing category, subcategory, or create new category)

Positioning Statement Template:

For [target customer segment] who [key need/pain],
[product name] is a [market category]
that [primary value proposition].
Unlike [competitive alternative],
our product [key differentiator tied to unique attribute].

Messaging Hierarchy (3 levels, max 3 differentiators each):

Competitive Battle Card Essentials: For each top-3 competitor, document:

• Overview: founded, HQ, funding, target market, pricing model
• Strengths (acknowledge honestly -- credibility requires it)
• Weaknesses mapped to your advantages
• Common objections with value-based responses
• Win strategy: lead differentiator, proof point, reference story
• Questions to ask the prospect that expose competitor weaknesses

See reference/gtm.md for battle card template, positioning examples, and competitive positioning framework.

GTM Motion and Launch

GTM Motion Selection:

Channel Mix: 60-70% primary motion, 20-30% secondary, 10% experimental.

Launch Checklist Milestones:

• T-30 (Pre-launch): ICP validated, positioning finalized, messaging hierarchy complete, battle cards created, pricing approved, sales team trained, demo environment stable
• T-0 (Launch): Website updated, outbound sequences activated, press release distributed, social campaign live, partner notifications sent
• T+30 (Post-launch): Win/loss analysis started, messaging refined from feedback, pipeline reviewed, competitive response documented, metrics dashboard active

See reference/gtm.md for full launch checklists, channel strategy details, and complexity-to-resource matching.

Part 2: Pricing Strategy

Value-Based Pricing Method

Step 1 -- Quantify customer value:

Total Value = Time Savings + Revenue Impact + Cost Avoidance

Time Savings:   Hours saved/month x Hourly rate x 12
Revenue Impact: Additional revenue enabled per year
Cost Avoidance: Costs eliminated or reduced per year

Step 2 -- Set price at 10-20% of quantified value:

• 10% = conservative (easy sell, high perceived value)
• 15% = balanced (standard B2B SaaS)
• 20% = aggressive (strong differentiation required)

Step 3 -- Validate against willingness-to-pay:

• Van Westendorp price sensitivity: ask "too cheap / cheap / expensive / too expensive"
• Competitive benchmarking: where do alternatives price?
• Customer interviews: "Would you pay $X for Y outcome?"

Pricing Models

Tier Design (Good/Better/Best)

Tier structure principles:

• 3-4 tiers optimal (more creates decision paralysis)
• Middle tier should be your target -- it gets the "Most Popular" badge
• Top tier makes middle tier look reasonable (price anchoring)
• Free tier only if PLG motion (land, qualify, viral growth)

Feature Gating Rules:

Never gate: Security features, data export, basic integrations. Gating these breeds resentment and churn.

Discounting Strategy

Protect your pricing -- never discount when:

• Customer hasn't articulated the value they'll receive
• No competitive pressure exists
• You're early in negotiation (discount later, not first)
• Customer is purely price-shopping (they'll churn anyway)

Alternatives to discounting: Extended payment terms, additional training/onboarding, extended trial period, success-milestone feature unlocks, multi-year lock-in at current rate.

Key SaaS Pricing Metrics

See reference/pricing.md for per-model deep dives, price increase playbook, services pricing, productized service model, and revenue model templates.

Part 3: Opportunity Evaluation

Quick Score (/100)

Score Interpretation and Action

Red Flags (Automatic Deductions)

Any of these should subtract 10-20 points from your score:

• Unclear payment terms: "We'll figure out compensation later"
• Expanding scope pre-start: Requirements growing before contract signed
• Pressure to decide fast: "We need an answer by Friday" on a major commitment
• Misaligned incentives: Their success doesn't require your success
• Economics don't work even optimistically: If best-case math doesn't pencil, walk away
• Single-threaded champion: Only one person wants this; no organizational buy-in
• No budget allocated: Interested but no approved spend

GTM Complexity Levels

Match complexity to your resources:

• Solo / side project: target Level 1-2 max
• Small team: target Level 2-3
• Funded startup: target Level 2-4
• Enterprise sales org: target Level 3-5

5-Minute Viability Test

Before deep-diving any opportunity, answer four questions:

1. How much will one customer pay? $____/month
2. How many customers can I realistically get in 6 months? ____
3. What does it cost to serve one customer? $____/month
4. How many hours/week will this take? ____

Quick math:

• Monthly revenue at 6 months: #2 x #1
• Monthly costs: #2 x #3
• Monthly margin: Revenue - Costs
• Effective hourly rate: Margin / (hours x 4.33)
• If hourly rate < $100 --> needs rethinking

Build vs Partner vs Buy Decision

See reference/opportunity.md for detailed scoring rubrics per dimension, full scorecard YAML templates, unit economics worksheets, cost structure analysis, break-even calculations, and build-vs-partner decision trees.

Reference Files

• reference/gtm.md - ICP YAML templates, behavioral signals, validation checklist, channel strategy, launch playbooks, battle card template, positioning examples
• reference/pricing.md - Model deep dives, tier design, price increase playbook, services pricing, discount framework, SaaS metrics dashboard
• reference/opportunity.md - Full scoring rubrics (5 sections), scorecard YAML, unit economics, cost analysis, break-even formulas, build/partner/buy decision trees </core_content>

Emit Outcome Sidecar

As the final step, write to ~/.claude/skill-analytics/last-outcome-gtm-pricing.json:

{"ts":"[UTC ISO8601]","skill":"gtm-pricing","version":"1.0.0","variant":"default",
 "status":"[success|partial|error]","runtime_ms":[estimated ms from start],
 "metrics":{"pricing_models_evaluated":[n],"tiers_designed":[n],"gtm_channels_mapped":[n]},
 "error":null,"session_id":"[YYYY-MM-DD]"}

Use status "partial" if some stages failed but results were produced. Use "error" only if no output was generated.