At I had the distinct privilege to interview Meredith Winczewski, CMO for industrial automation at Honeywell. It was an engaging conversation that unpacked the transformation she led: shifting from a product-centric to an audience-focused go-to-market (GTM) approach.
The Breaking Point: When Product-Centric GTM Stops Working
Honeywell’s transformation started with a familiar challenge: a complex portfolio of offerings to support with limited resources. The marketing team was overwhelmed, running hundreds of product-specific campaigns with limited budgets. While operational inefficiency was certainly a concern, the bigger issue was customer impact. Buyers were receiving too many fragmented messages instead of clear, cohesive messaging that addressed their needs.
Meredith recognized that a change was needed. The team had to stop thinking about things from a product perspective and start looking at things from the customer’s viewpoint, a sentiment shared with 22% of B2B marketing decision-makers who selected placing focus on products instead of audience needs as the greatest challenge to achieving their goals over the next 12 months. Our conversation covered the challenges, the solution, and what’s next in Honeywell’s journey. For B2B leaders whose organizations struggle with product-focused GTM efforts, too many campaigns, and limited resources, I’ve captured the key lessons and takeaways here.
1. Start With The Customer, Not The Product
The core shift was a simple but powerful reframing. Instead of promoting individual products, Honeywell focused on the problems customers were trying to solve and the outcomes they were looking to achieve. This led to a GTM strategy anchored in audience needs (such as safety, security, operational efficiency, and workforce challenges) rather than internal product categories.
2. Map Before You Act
A structured GTM mapping exercise aligned stakeholders around verticals, audience needs, portfolios, geographies, and buying groups. This surfaced overlaps, misalignment, and new cross‑portfolio synergies that hadn’t been visible before. The shared map became the foundation for prioritization and decision‑making.
3. Prioritize Segments, Offerings, And Buyers
To operationalize the shift, Honeywell made some bold structural changes. First, the team grouped products into portfolios. Rather than managing thousands of products individually, they developed product families to support a portfolio approach to GTM decision-making. Second, the team replaced broad targeting efforts with a narrowed focus. They prioritized verticals, regions, and countries to target, as well as identified the ideal routes to market. Lastly, the team consolidated campaigns, moving away from individual product campaigns and developing fewer, intentional vertical campaigns supported by portfolio-level and audience-focused messaging.
Final Thoughts
Honeywell’s GTM transformation journey reinforces a universal truth: Growth doesn’t come from doing more; it comes from focusing on what matters most to customers. An audience-centric GTM approach reduces complexity, improves alignment, and delivers clearer value to potential buyers and customers.
If you’re a B2B leader and a Forrester client, get started on your own GTM transformation efforts with an evaluation of your current readiness by taking the Go-To-Market Strategy Maturity Assessment. Consider scheduling a GTM strategy workshop if you want to accelerate the work. Connect with me and Rick Bradberry to keep the GTM conversation going!
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