Sales and go-to-market
How the SaaS reaches the market and turns opportunities into sales.
11 terms
Go-to-market (GTM)
Go-to-market (GTM) is the strategy for how a company takes a product to market: who the target customer is, through which channels, with what message, pricing and sales motion. It is not just the launch, it is the system that connects the product to revenue. The three main motions are product-led, sales-led and marketing-led, almost always combined.
ICP
The ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) describes the type of company that gets the most value from your product and gives the most back in retention, expansion and referrals. It combines firmographics (industry, size, geography), the real need the product solves and fit criteria. Focusing on the ICP lowers CAC and improves retention; targeting outside it inflates cost and churn.
Product-market fit (PMF)
Product-market fit (PMF) is the fit between the product and a strong, real market demand, the point where the product starts to pull on its own. The signals are retention that flattens, organic growth and word of mouth, and a large share of users who would be very disappointed without the product. Without PMF, scaling acquisition only accelerates churn.
TAM / SAM / SOM
TAM, SAM and SOM are three nested market sizes. TAM (Total Addressable Market) is the total demand if you served everyone; SAM (Serviceable Available Market) is the slice your product and model actually serve; SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) is what you can realistically capture in the near to medium term. Together they frame ambition, focus and the valuation narrative.
Sales cycle
The sales cycle is the average time an opportunity takes from first contact to closed deal, moving through qualification, demo, proposal and negotiation. Short cycles enable a low CAC and fast cash; long cycles need a high deal size to justify the effort. Shortening the cycle improves sales efficiency and CAC payback.
Win rate
Win rate is the share of opportunities that turn into closed sales: deals won divided by the total deals closed (won plus lost) in a period. It measures commercial efficiency and the quality of the pipeline and qualification. A low win rate with high volume usually points to poorly qualified leads or weak fit, and raising the rate is one of the most direct ways to lower CAC.
Average selling price (ASP)
ASP (Average Selling Price) is the average value of the new contracts a company closes: total new-business revenue divided by the number of deals in a period. It reflects the segment the company serves (self-serve low, SMB mid, enterprise high) and determines how much CAC and how long a sales cycle the model can bear. A high ASP sustains a human sales motion; a low ASP demands self-serve.
Sales-led growth (SLG)
Sales-led growth (SLG) is the growth model in which a sales team drives customer acquisition and expansion, using demos, proposals and negotiation to guide the buyer to the contract. It is the default for high-ticket, complex sales where the product alone does not close the deal. It contrasts with product-led growth, and many companies combine both models.
Account-based marketing (ABM)
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy that treats specific high-value target accounts as "markets of one", with marketing and sales aligned and messaging personalized per account, instead of generating leads in bulk. It inverts the funnel: it starts from the right accounts, defined by the ICP, and concentrates every effort on them. It fits a narrow ICP and high deal sizes, and is measured by account engagement and revenue, not by lead volume.
Lead scoring
Lead scoring is the practice of assigning points to each lead based on fit (how well they match the ideal customer profile) and engagement (the actions, product usage and interactions they show). The score ranks the queue and separates hot, warm and cold leads, so sales contacts the highest-probability deals first. Done well, it improves MQL-to-SQL conversion and must be calibrated against data on who actually becomes a customer.
Proof of concept (POC)
A proof of concept (POC) is a guided, scoped test that proves, before the contract, that the product delivers the promised value in the customer real environment. Common in enterprise sales and at the end of the cycle, a good POC has clear success criteria and a short timeframe. Without scope it becomes an endless trial that stalls the deal, and it differs from a self-serve free trial precisely by the sales guidance behind it.