The Friction-to-Revenue Method for B2B GTM
Turn GTM friction into revenue, step by step.
The Friction-to-Revenue Method is Jeroen Ederveen's four-step go-to-market method for B2B tech and SaaS companies: diagnose the constraint behind the growth symptoms, align leadership on one commercial direction, build the engine with the team, and optimise it into a repeatable operating rhythm.
Growth rarely stalls for lack of effort. It stalls in one of three places: unclear direction, activity that does not create qualified pipeline, or friction in how the team works. The method finds which one, fixes it and keeps it fixed. Every engagement follows the same four steps, at a different depth: a GTM strategy sprint covers Diagnose and Align, a build-out project adds Build, and a fractional head of growth retainer runs all four.
Step 1: Diagnose
Find the constraint behind the symptoms.
Diagnose is an outside-in look at your market, funnel, team and systems to find the constraint behind the symptoms. Growth usually stalls in one of three ways: unclear direction, activity without qualified pipeline, or friction in the operating model. The step ends with a shared view of the problem and a baseline scorecard.
Key questions
- ↗ Can everyone name your best-fit customer?
- ↗ Do you know what creates qualified demand?
- ↗ Is your operating model helping or holding you back?
- ↗ Where does qualified pipeline leak?
Typical outputs
- ↗ A shared view of the problem
- ↗ A funnel audit
- ↗ A baseline scorecard
Duration
Week 1 of a GTM strategy sprint; weeks 1–3 of a fractional head of growth engagement.
Step 2: Align
Decide what to do, and what not to do.
Align turns the diagnosis into decisions. Leadership agrees the commercial outcome, the priorities and who owns what, and decides what not to do. In practice that means one ICP, one positioning and one definition of a qualified lead that marketing, sales and product all work to. The step ends with a focused, practical roadmap.
Key questions
- ↗ Which commercial outcome matters most in the next 90 days?
- ↗ Which accounts and segments come first?
- ↗ What will we stop doing?
- ↗ Who owns each priority?
Typical outputs
- ↗ An agreed ICP and positioning
- ↗ One definition of a qualified lead
- ↗ A 90-day roadmap with clear owners
Duration
Week 2 of a GTM strategy sprint; weeks 4–6 of a fractional engagement.
Step 3: Build
Execution, not just a slide deck.
Build puts the strategy into motion with your team: campaigns, workflows and infrastructure. Depending on the constraint, that means target accounts and plays, CRM and automation, or AI-native workflows with human review. The work happens inside your business and your stack, so it keeps running afterwards. The result is execution, not just a slide deck.
Key questions
- ↗ Which plays reach the target accounts first?
- ↗ What does sales do when an account engages?
- ↗ Which manual work should automation take over?
- ↗ What does the team need to run this without outside help?
Typical outputs
- ↗ Plays per account tier
- ↗ CRM, automation and AI workflows that fit your stack
- ↗ Redesigned roles and handoffs
Duration
Weeks 3–5 of an ABM build-out; weeks 4–8 of an AI-native operations project; weeks 7–12 of a fractional engagement.
Step 4: Optimise
A repeatable operating rhythm.
Optimise makes the system repeatable. Review the evidence, learn from the market and improve what works, on a fixed cadence. Pipeline is measured by tier and play, so budget decisions rest on evidence rather than opinion, and the scorecard is rescored to show progress. The result is a repeatable operating rhythm.
Key questions
- ↗ Which plays create qualified demand, and which do not?
- ↗ What has moved on the scorecard since the baseline?
- ↗ What changes in the next cycle?
Typical outputs
- ↗ Pipeline measurement and attribution
- ↗ An operating cadence and performance review
- ↗ A rescored scorecard
Duration
Ongoing, for example as part of a monthly retainer.
The Friction-to-Revenue scorecard
Where is your growth getting stuck?
Score each criterion from 1 to 5 with your leadership team. Low scores show where the constraint is. The three areas match the three ways growth stalls. Start where your lowest area scores.
| Area | Criterion | 1: what it looks like | 5: what it looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategydirection | Best-fit customer | Every team describes the best-fit customer differently. | One written ICP that marketing, sales and product use to make decisions. |
| Positioning | The proposition changes per deck and per person. | One agreed positioning, used in every channel. | |
| Commercial priorities | Priorities shift week to week; nothing is explicitly stopped. | A 90-day roadmap with owners and an agreed list of what not to do. | |
| Demandpipeline | Target accounts | No agreed account list. | Tiered target accounts, shared by marketing and sales. |
| Qualified lead definition | Marketing and sales disagree on what a good lead is. | One written definition, used in the CRM and in reporting. | |
| Spend-to-pipeline visibility | No line from budget to pipeline. | Pipeline measured by tier and play, trusted by leadership. | |
| Operating modelfriction | Handoffs | Leads and accounts move by chat and email. | One agreed flow between marketing, sales and operations, inside the CRM. |
| CRM and data | Data is incomplete; reporting needs manual exports. | A trusted CRM; pipeline reporting runs without exports. | |
| AI and automation | Scattered individual AI experiments. | Prioritised AI and automation built into the workflows, with human review. | |
| Operating cadence | No regular performance review. | A weekly priorities and monthly review rhythm the team keeps running. |
Download the scorecard
A printable version to score with your leadership team. Free, no form.
Frequently asked questions
Before you start.
What is the Friction-to-Revenue Method?
It is Jeroen Ederveen's four-step go-to-market method for B2B tech and SaaS companies: Diagnose, Align, Build and Optimise. It finds the constraint behind the growth symptoms and turns it into a repeatable operating rhythm.
Is it a one-off project or ongoing?
Both. A GTM strategy sprint covers Diagnose and Align in one to two weeks. Build follows as a project, and Optimise runs as an ongoing rhythm, for example within a fractional head of growth retainer.
Can we use the scorecard ourselves?
Yes. The printable scorecard is free, with no form to fill in. Score each criterion from 1 to 5 with your leadership team and compare the answers: the gaps between people are often as telling as the scores.
Does it work across a portfolio?
Yes. The portfolio marketing diagnostic uses the same scorecard for every company, so results compare across the portfolio. It starts with a fixed-fee diagnostic for one company. See For Investors.
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