Congratulations! You’ve done your research, you’ve built a product, and decided who to sell it to, and now all that’s left is getting buyers to actually buy it.
Welcome to the Go-To-Market (GTM) plan. The most misunderstood, and yet totally critical piece of your launch puzzle. Without it, your product will float in the digital health void with all the other “transformational platforms” that never made it past pilot.
So let’s break down what it takes to build a GTM plan that doesn’t suck, and doesn’t make you and your team members crazy.
Step 1: Message like you mean it
Before you blast a press release, run a LinkedIn ad, or slide into a CMIO’s inbox, you need to know how to talk about your product. And no, “We leverage AI to streamline workflows and improve outcomes” does not count. That’s just healthcare tech Mad Libs.
Here’s what actually matters:
✅ Positioning
It’s a good thing you did hard work to confirm your ICP—it makes crystallizing the pain points you solve, and how you’re different from every other startup claiming the same thing, a whole lot easier. Are you the fastest? The easiest to implement? Most intuitive? The only one that doesn’t require a 12-month integration cycle and a sacrificial lamb from IT?
Your positioning should be clear, confident, and (this is important) realistic.
Bad example:
“We help healthcare organizations leverage data to improve outcomes.”
Cool. So does Excel.
Better example:
“We help mid-sized community hospitals reduce length of stay by giving care managers real-time, risk-adjusted discharge insights, without requiring an Epic integration.”
Why it’s better:
- Specific audience (mid-sized community hospitals)
- Clear problem (length of stay)
- Tangible benefit (real-time insights)
- Competitive differentiator (no Epic dependency)
✅ Value proposition
This is the big “so what.” Your value prop should make your buyer sit up and think, “Well, damn, we need this.” Focus on tangible business outcomes like saving time, saving money, improving care, reducing readmissions, sparking innovation, or whatever your vibe is. Just make it specific and (this is important, too) believable.
Bad example:
“Our platform accelerates digital transformation.”
Translation: We don’t know what we actually do.
Better example:
“Our tool reduces patient no-show rates by 27% by combining SMS reminders with Medicaid-specific transportation scheduling, so your clinic keeps revenue flowing and patients get care on time.”
Why it’s better:
- Quantified result (27% no-show reduction)
- Mechanism is clear (SMS + transport scheduling)
- Connects value to both revenue and patient care
✅ Messaging pillars
Pick three core themes and stick to them like glue. Because I know you will ask, no it doesn’t have to be three, but I like three because it is enough to tell a full story, but not so many that your story is Moby Dick. I like to think of these of the “chapters” that you will then repeat across sales conversations, marketing campaigns, investor decks, and even your booth graphics at events. If your CEO, your SDR, and your website are all telling a different story, you’re not GTM-ready. You’re just confusing people.
Sample messaging pillars:
- Reduce Nurse Burnout – Predictive scheduling that balances acuity with staff preferences (without 47 spreadsheets).
- Improve Patient Outcomes – Fewer care delays and better continuity by always having the right skill mix on shift.
- Deploy in Weeks, Not Months – Integrates with your existing scheduling system, no IT therapy required.
Why it works:
- Each pillar hits a buyer priority: clinical, financial, operational, and IT.
- Clear benefits, not vague promises.
- Easy to reuse across sales decks, ads, landing pages, and more.
Step 2: Make pricing less complicated than prior auth
Pricing. The part of the GTM plan where dreams go to die, usually somewhere between “we want to be affordable” and “we promised our board 3x growth.”
Healthcare buyers are a unique breed, and your pricing strategy needs to reflect that reality.
✅ Know your buyer
Who holds the purse strings? The CFO wants ROI. The CMO wants better outcomes. The IT team wants a weekend off. Your pricing model has to make sense for all of them (or at least not trigger a full-on revolt).
✅ Choose your model
Per patient, per member, per user, per bed, per outcome? There’s no “right” model, but there are definitely wrong ones. Like the one where no one can figure out what they’re paying for.
See what your competitors are doing, but don’t just copy them blindly. Your value prop should inform your pricing, not the other way around. Test a few options with your customers (if you have them) to see how they respond.
Don’t be afraid to be innovative. I once worked with a client who created virtual front office solutions for providers. They nailed value pricing by charging customers only for the appointments that actually showed up.
✅ Package like a pro
If your offering is so bundled that buyers need a decoder ring, or so à la carte that it feels like they’re assembling a solution from IKEA, you’re doing it wrong.
Group your product features (and services!) into logical packages that align with customer needs and internal segments (think: Starter, Pro, Enterprise, bonus points for being less cringe than that). Keep it simple. Keep it scalable.
Pro tip: If your pricing spreadsheet makes your own sales team cry, start over.
Step 3: Sales enablement Is not just a deck
You’ve got messaging. You’ve got pricing. But if your sales team is out there cold-calling with nothing but good intentions and a vague idea of what the product does, you’ve already lost.
Sales enablement isn’t just about giving your reps some slides and telling them to go get ’em. It’s about equipping them with everything they need to actually sell.
✅ Battlecards
What’s the difference between you and That Other Startup™? If your reps can’t explain it in 30 seconds, your prospects won’t stick around to find out. Build battlecards that are honest, sharp, and infused with the confidence of a founder after their third cold brew.
✅ Objection handling
“We already have Epic for that.”
“We’re not buying anything this quarter.”
“We had a bad experience with a vendor like you.”
“We are going to build that ourselves.”
Good enablement arms your team with thoughtful responses to the pushback you know is coming.
✅ Proof points
This is your chance to show that you’re not just all pitch, no proof. Give your team real examples of customer success, ideally with numbers. Case studies, testimonials, etc.
✅ The basics
Decks. One-pagers. Demo scripts. Implementation timelines. All of it matters, but make sure you check in with the sales team before you start building. I have learned (the hard way) that sales will not use what they haven’t asked for and/or been involved in building.
Hot take: Sales enablement is a GTM superpower. Treat it like one. I will devote a whole post to this at some point.
Final thoughts: Go forth and GTM like a boss
Building a healthcare tech product is hard. Selling it is harder. But with the right GTM plan, you’ll go from “just another demo request” to “please send the contract” faster than a hospital CFO can ask for a discount. (Okay, not that fast, because B2B Healthcare is a tough place to be a hero, but you get the point).
So set your message. Price with purpose. Enable your sales team like you mean it. And please, for the love of HL7, stop trying to disrupt healthcare without a plan to actually sell something.
You’ve got this (but if not hit me up).
JBW Growth 
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