Market Core · Sales Channels · Module
Route to market
Which routes the organisation uses — direct, partner, reseller, marketplace, self-serve — and what each buys in reach, margin and control.
The idea
How it works
Every route trades three things against each other: how many customers it reaches, how much margin survives, and how much the organisation controls and learns. No route is good on all three.
The knowledge cost of indirect routes is the one consistently underestimated. A partner returns revenue; what the customer wanted, why they chose and what nearly stopped them stays with the partner.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
State what each route buys and costs
Reach, margin, control and learning. Writing all four makes the trade explicit.
- 02
Decide the coverage per segment
Which route serves which segment. Leaving it unassigned is what produces conflict.
- 03
Cost the knowledge loss
An indirect route that keeps the customer relationship costs more than its margin share suggests.
- 04
Reopen the decision periodically
Route decisions are usually made once at founding and never revisited as the business changes.
One level in
The components of route to market
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
A partner returns revenue and keeps the knowledge. That cost is real and appears in no margin calculation.
The other modules in sales channels
Channel conflict
Where routes compete for the same customer, and the rule that settles it — written before the collision rather than during it.
LearnEnablement
What each route needs to be able to sell: what the offer is, who it is for, what it costs, and what to say when asked something difficult.
LearnChannel performance
What each route delivers against what it costs, including the cost of managing it and the margin it takes.
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