Knowledge
Go-to-Market Steering Model
A shared model that shows where a go-to-market initiative stands, what matters in this phase and how the next decisions are steered.
Nine phases · three areas
The Go-to-Market Steering Model is a method developed by Hosang Consulting. It gives everyone involved (Product Management, Marketing, Business Development, Sales, Delivery and Customer Success) a shared mental model and answers seven questions:
- Where does the initiative stand?
- Which phase is it in right now?
- What can realistically be expected in this phase?
- Which questions need to be settled now?
- Who carries which responsibility?
- When does the transition to the next phase make sense?
- Where is the actual cause when something does not work?
Turnover is a result of later phases, but not the core of the method. A problem often only shows up in sales, although it arose earlier: in a problem that was understood only vaguely, in a product that cannot be delivered or in an offer that no two people explain in the same way. The model helps to work on the problem where it arises.
The nine phases
Insight and foundationsPhases 1–4
- 1
Problem and market understanding
A relevant customer problem is clearly understood
“If we have not properly understood the problem, any further discussion is premature.”
Typically driven by: Product, Strategy
- 2
Product definition
The problem can be solved reliably
“We have a solution, but nothing yet that it would make sense to sell.”
Typically driven by: Product, Delivery
- 3
Offer design and positioning
The solution is worded so that it can be sold
“As long as Marketing, Business Development and Sales do not explain the offer identically, the offer does not in fact exist.”
Typically driven by: Marketing, Product
- 4
Demand validation
The offer produces a genuine response
“Here we test the offer, not the performance of the sales team.”
Typically driven by: Business Development
System and turnoverPhases 5–8
- 5
Systematic lead generation
Repeatable demand is created
“Marketing only amplifies what already works in the phases before it.”
Typically driven by: Marketing
- 6
Sales Development
Leads are qualified
“Sales Development does not decide who buys, but whether selling should take place.”
Typically driven by: Sales Development (without a separate Sales Development: Business Development)
- 7
Sales and closing
Decisions lead to turnover
“A forecast is not a target. A forecast is the result of sound preparatory work.”
Typically driven by: Sales
- 8
Delivery and Customer Success
The promised value is realised
“A deal is only good when the customer sees it the same way.”
Typically driven by: Delivery, Customer Success
Nine phases, three areas
Insight and foundations (phases 1–4). This is where it becomes clear which problem is to be solved for whom and whether an offer holds up in the market at all. The aim is clarity, not turnover. Mistakes made in this area can hardly be compensated for later.
System and turnover (phases 5–8). A validated offer is turned repeatably into demand, qualified sales opportunities and realised customer value. Marketing, Sales Development, Sales and Delivery work hand in hand, each with clear responsibility. Lead generation creates interest, Sales Development qualifies and prioritises, and only then does closing begin.
Feedback and learning (phase 9). This phase closes the loop. Insights from the market, sales and Delivery flow back and improve product, offer and process. Without this phase the system stagnates.
Transitions are decisions
Each phase has a precondition with which it begins and results with which it ends. The transition to the next phase is therefore not a question of time but a deliberate decision: are the results in place, or is a phase being skipped whose gap will be expensive later?
The model is applied per initiative, that is, per offer and target segment. From phase 5 onwards, the phases run alongside each other on an ongoing basis. The preconditions of phases 5 to 8 describe when a phase is set up, not when an individual lead or order moves on.
Phase 4 shows particularly clearly that transitions are decisions. It does not begin automatically, but only after the deliberate decision to test the offer actively in the market. What is tested is whether the offer resonates in real conversations, not how capable the sales team is. At the end there is a clear decision: focus, adjust or stop. Scaling only comes into question once the decision is “focus”. Those who adjust return to offer design. Those who stop do not take the initiative any further.
What the model connects
What is meant is the whole path from the product idea to realised customer value, not marketing or sales on their own:
- Product and market understanding: What do we solve for whom?
- Positioning and messages: Why should anyone take an interest in it?
- Demand generation: How does demand arise?
- Sales Development: How does demand become a sales opportunity?
- Sales and closing: How does that become a closed deal?
- Delivery and Customer Success: How is the promised value realised?
- Feedback into product, marketing and sales.
Responsibility and expectations
The roles in the model describe functions, not positions. One person can hold several roles at the same time. What matters is that in each phase it is clear who is accountable for the result, who drives the work, who is consulted for their expertise and who is informed. The model describes nine functional roles and uses six designations for overall responsibility in each phase. The two perspectives overlap: a functional role and overall responsibility can be held by the same person. In each phase, exactly one function is accountable for the result. Unclear responsibility leads to conflicting expectations, stalled decisions or responsibility that is taken on tacitly.
The overview shows, for each phase, who is accountable for the result and who drives the work. Who is consulted for their expertise and who is informed is set out on the relevant phase page.
1 Problem and market understanding
- Accountable for the result
- Executive management
- Drives the work
- Product management, founders or strategy
- Accountable for the result
- Product management
- Drives the work
- Product management and Delivery, in early initiatives often with the founders
3 Offer design and positioning
- Accountable for the result
- The person responsible for the offer
- Drives the work
- Marketing and product management, in many initiatives with Business Development
- Accountable for the result
- The person responsible for the offer
- Drives the work
- Business Development, in many initiatives supported by Sales Development
- Accountable for the result
- The person responsible for Marketing as a whole
- Drives the work
- Marketing
- Accountable for the result
- The person responsible for Sales as a whole
- Drives the work
- Sales Development (without a separate Sales Development: Business Development)
- Accountable for the result
- The person responsible for Sales as a whole, who is also accountable for turnover
- Drives the work
- Sales
8 Delivery and Customer Success
- Accountable for the result
- The head of Delivery
- Drives the work
- Delivery, the project team and Customer Success
- Accountable for the result
- Executive management
- Drives the work
- Product management, strategy and the people responsible for Marketing and Sales as a whole; in early initiatives often the founders
| Phase | Accountable for the result | Drives the work |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Problem and market understanding | Executive management | Product management, founders or strategy |
| 2 Product definition | Product management | Product management and Delivery, in early initiatives often with the founders |
| 3 Offer design and positioning | The person responsible for the offer | Marketing and product management, in many initiatives with Business Development |
| 4 Demand validation | The person responsible for the offer | Business Development, in many initiatives supported by Sales Development |
| 5 Systematic lead generation | The person responsible for Marketing as a whole | Marketing |
| 6 Sales Development | The person responsible for Sales as a whole | Sales Development (without a separate Sales Development: Business Development) |
| 7 Sales and closing | The person responsible for Sales as a whole, who is also accountable for turnover | Sales |
| 8 Delivery and Customer Success | The head of Delivery | Delivery, the project team and Customer Success |
| 9 Feedback and optimisation | Executive management | Product management, strategy and the people responsible for Marketing and Sales as a whole; in early initiatives often the founders |
Roles and overall responsibility in the model
What can realistically be expected of a role depends on the maturity level of the process phase concerned, not primarily on the person. Anyone who already expects a pipeline and a forecast in phase 1 is setting an expectation that this phase cannot meet.
Maturity level per process phase (0–4)
What is meant is the maturity level per process phase, not a general maturity model for the whole company. Each of the nine phases is assessed individually. A company can thus already work repeatably in offer design and still be at the stage of first hypotheses in lead generation.
| Level | Description | Typical evidence |
|---|---|---|
| 0 Hypotheses | assumptions, no reliable signals yet | assumed target group, untested value proposition |
| 1 First signals | individual successes, highly manual | first conversations, first prospects for a pilot |
| 2 Repeatable | the approach works repeatedly | recurring patterns, a defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), simple playbooks |
| 3 Measurable | the process is backed by key figures | key figures, clean handovers, consistently maintained customer data |
| 4 Scalable | growth without a linear increase in staff | channels scale, clear responsibilities |
The examples of evidence given for levels 3 and 4 relate mainly to phases 5 to 8.
What the model is for
- It shows where an initiative stands in the overall sequence.
- It prevents problems from being looked for where they become visible instead of where they arise, for example turnover problems in sales.
- It creates a shared language between executive management, product management, marketing, sales and Delivery.
- It separates cleanly between understanding, validating, scaling and delivering.
The model is a shared mental model, not a methods manual and not a linear checklist. Insights from later phases flow back into earlier ones, for example from demand validation back into the offer.
The photos in this publication were generated with AI.