gtm-motions

GTM Motions

Overview

Scores the 7 acquisition motions against your ICP's deal economics and forces a stack decision — one primary motion, at most one secondary, with a named rejection reason for every motion not selected. A motion mix picked because it "sounds right" is a budget guess with a launch attached to it; this skill replaces that guess with gates and scores.

Trigger

• When: Choosing which acquisition motion(s) to invest in for a launch, a segment, or a company-wide GTM model.
• Not for: Launch tier + full GTM brief → go-to-market-strategy (this skill feeds its Channel Strategy section). Choosing the target segment → beachhead-segment, run first. Messaging within a chosen motion → positioning-messaging, run after.
• Example prompts:
• "Which GTM motions should we use for this launch?"
• "Inbound vs outbound — which is right for us?"
• "Should this be PLG or sales-led?"

Inputs

• Args: Initiative/segment, ACV band, target sales-cycle length, current motion if any. Free format — Step 1 fills gaps conversationally.
• Defaults: If ACV and sales-cycle length are both unknown, block scoring and ask for a rough band first — motion fit runs on deal economics, not preference.
• Context keys:
• /foundation/brain.md — optional, sharper with it. Sections 2 (ICP), 3 (Alternatives & Positioning). Without it, Step 0 asks two Quick-Brain questions.
• /context/meta-patterns.md — optional; guardrails from prior motion decisions.
• Brain contract: Reads Sections 2, 3. Writes: a Section 2 stub, only when the Quick-Brain ran and the user says yes in Step 5b. Never the motion stack.

Connectors (Optional)

No connectors? Paste the material and I'll work from that. The output has the same shape. Pulled facts are drafts: each is tagged with category, tool and date, and nothing is written until you confirm.

Pre-flight

• Load /foundation/brain.md Sections 2, 3 if present — see Step 0.
• Load /context/meta-patterns.md if present; surface any guardrail fired 2+ times.
• Brain absent or Section 2 (ICP) empty: continue, don't block. Say once: "No PMM brain found, so I'll score against two quick answers. Run product-marketing-context (a separate plugin) later to build one." Step 0 asks the two questions. Nothing is written to the brain unless the user says yes in Step 5b.

Steps

Step 0 — Load Context & Surface Guardrails

Load brain Sections 2–3, the confirmed beachhead if beachhead-segment already wrote one, and any guardrail from /context/meta-patterns.md that has fired 2+ times.

No brain, or Section 2 empty: ask the two Quick-Brain questions in one message, then continue to Step 1:

"1. Who is your best-fit buyer (title), and what kind and size of company? 2. Can a buyer start and get value on their own (self-serve), or does it take a sales conversation?"

Echo the answers back in one line. Use them as the ICP input for buyer reachability and the self-serve gate. They live in this session only, unless the user chooses to keep them in Step 5b. Label the output "Built from Quick-Brain answers, not a full brain". Deal size and cycle length still come from Step 1.

Step 1 — Intake (One Round)

Ask in one message, never score before it's answered:

"1. Segment or initiative? (uses confirmed beachhead if one exists) 2. ACV / deal size band? 3. Target sales-cycle length? 4. Current motion, if any — working or not?"

Reflect back in one sentence, then score.

Step 2 — Score Each Motion

Score all 7 motions — Inbound, Outbound, Paid Digital, Community, Partner, ABM, PLG — on 4 signals, 1–5 each (five-point, not ten, to force real spread):

Score against real bands, not gut feel: Outbound needs $10K+ ACV to clear cost-per-meeting; ABM needs $25K+ to clear cost-per-account; PLG needs sub-$10K ACV or a self-serve entry tier; Partner needs $5K+ to absorb revenue share. Inbound and Community work at any ACV but compound slowly; Paid compresses fast below ~$1K ACV without a self-serve close.

Step 3 — Apply Blocking Gates

A motion that fails its gate is excluded regardless of score — never average a gate failure away.

• ABM: ACV < $25K → exclude.
• PLG: no self-serve signup/trial (none planned in 90 days) → exclude.
• Outbound: no dedicated SDR/BDR capacity → exclude as primary (secondary still allowed if a founder/PMM runs it part-time — flag the constraint).
• Readiness floor: any motion scoring 1/5 on Team/tool readiness is excluded from primary consideration.

State every gate fired and what it excluded before Step 4.

Step 4 — Select the Stack

Sum each surviving motion's 4 scores (max 20), rank them.

• Primary — highest-scoring survivor. Gets the majority of the plan and budget.
• Secondary (max 1) — only if within 3 points of primary AND funnel-distinct from it (e.g. PLG + Community for expansion, not PLG + Paid fighting the same top-of-funnel).
• Rejected — one sentence each: gate failure, or lowest-scoring signal and why it matters here.

## Motion Stack — [Initiative/Segment]
**Primary:** [Motion] — [score]/20 — [why]
**Secondary:** [Motion or "None"] — [score]/20 — [why]
### Rejected
- **[Motion]** — [gate or signal reason]
### Sequencing
[If one motion should precede another, say so and why.]

Step 5 — 90-Day Activation Plan

Selected motion(s) only — a plan covering rejected motions signals the rejection wasn't real.

### 90-Day Activation — [Primary Motion]
| Weeks | Milestone | Owner | Leading indicator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | [Foundation work] | [Function] | N/A |
| 3–6 | [First execution wave] | [Function] | [Earliest signal] |
| 7–10 | [Iterate on signal] | [Function] | [Signal] |
| 11–13 | [Scale or cut] | [Function] | [Decision metric] |
**Kill criteria:** [Number, by week 13, below which this motion is cut.]

If a secondary was selected, repeat at roughly half scope.

Step 5b — Offer to keep the answers (Quick-Brain runs only)

If Step 0 used the Quick-Brain, ask once, after the plan: "Keep these two answers as the start of your brain, so the next skill doesn't ask again? (yes / no)". On no, write nothing. On yes:

• No /foundation/brain.md: create it with the block below.
• A brain exists with no Section 2: add this Section 2 only.
• Section 2 already has content: write nothing and say why. Never overwrite a Section 2.
• Files cannot be written: show the block and tell the user to save it as brain.md. Never say it was saved unless the write succeeded.

# PMM Brain — [product name, or "not set"]
🟡 Cold start — built via gtm-motions on [date]. Run `product-marketing-context` to build the other sections.

## Section 2: ICP Definition
Quick-Brain answers, user-stated, not researched.
- Best-fit buyer: [title]
- Company type and size: [..]
- Buying path: [self-serve / sales conversation]

Step 6 — Learning Close

Append one entry to /context/skill-sessions.md, in the format defined in product-marketing-context/.claude-plugin/skill-sessions-format.md (Type A — execution session):

type: execution
skill: gtm-motions
session_date: [YYYY-MM-DD]
pattern: [one falsifiable statement about this session, or "none"]
source: [surprised / wrong / missing / N/A]

Write directly, no permission needed. Not a brain write — still needs separate confirmation if the user wants the stack saved elsewhere.

Outputs

• Files written: /context/skill-sessions.md — one row per session. N/A otherwise; no brain write except the optional Section 2 stub in Step 5b. Stack goes into go-to-market-strategy's brief if the user wants it saved.
• Chat output format: Motion Stack block, then 90-Day Activation table(s) — always together.
• External side effects: N/A

Verification

• All 7 motions scored on all 4 signals before any gate applied.
• Every fired gate named with what it excluded.
• With no brain, the two Quick-Brain answers were shown back, the output is labeled as built from them, and nothing was written to the brain unless the user said yes in Step 5b.
• Exactly one primary; ≤1 secondary; every rejection has a stated reason.
• 90-day plan covers only selected motion(s) and includes a numeric kill criterion.

Do Not Use For

• `go-to-market-strategy` — tier assignment and full GTM brief. Run this skill first for real Channel Strategy backing.
• `beachhead-segment` — segment selection. Run before this skill if no beachhead is confirmed.
• `positioning-messaging` — messaging within a chosen motion.
• N/A

Operating Rules

• Score all 7 before gating. A motion excluded pre-score gets a guess dressed as a gate.
• Deal-economics gates are hard. ACV < $25K blocks ABM regardless of other scores; no self-serve blocks PLG regardless of enthusiasm. Override only on explicit user request, stated back before proceeding.
• Max one secondary. A 4-motion "portfolio" at partial resourcing funds nothing enough to produce a signal.
• Every rejection gets one sentence. Silence invites relitigating later with no anchor.
• The 90-day plan always carries a numeric kill criterion. Milestones alone are a calendar, not a plan.
• Never write the stack to `/foundation/brain.md`. Only the optional Quick-Brain Section 2 stub (Step 5b) may be written, and only after a yes. Motion choice is initiative-specific and can legitimately change per launch — writing it as a brain fact would drift the brain every time a new motion is tried.

Quality Gate