[GTM glossary](/glossary.md) TAM, SAM, and SOM

Market & Targeting

# TAM, SAM, and SOM

Also known as: TAM SAM SOM, SAM, SOM

In short

TAM, SAM, and SOM describe a market at three levels. Total addressable market (TAM) is everyone who could buy. Serviceable addressable market (SAM) is the slice your product and sales model can actually reach. Serviceable obtainable market (SOM) is the share you can realistically capture soon.

Each is smaller than the one before it, which is why they are usually drawn as concentric circles.

## TAM, SAM, and SOM explained

### Total addressable market (TAM)

The full revenue opportunity if you won every potential customer in the category.

### Serviceable addressable market (SAM)

The part of TAM that fits your product, pricing, regions, and sales channels. A product sold only in North America to mid-market companies excludes everything else from SAM.

### Serviceable obtainable market (SOM)

The share of SAM you can win in a defined period, based on sales capacity, competition, and brand strength. This is the number your plan should be built on.

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## TAM SAM SOM example

Say 50,000 B2B software companies could use your product at $10,000 a year. TAM is $500 million.

You sell only to companies with 50–500 employees in the US and UK, which is 8,000 companies. SAM is $80 million.

With your current team you expect to win 2% of SAM in the next year. SOM is $1.6 million.

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## Common mistakes

* **Using TAM as a target:** It is a ceiling. Plans should be built on SOM.
* **Confusing SAM with TAM:** If your SAM is nearly your TAM, you probably have not defined your ICP tightly enough.
* **Stale inputs:** Refresh account counts and pricing assumptions at least yearly.

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## TAM, SAM, and SOM FAQs

**What do TAM, SAM, and SOM stand for?**

TAM is total addressable market, SAM is serviceable addressable market, and SOM is serviceable obtainable market. They estimate the whole market, the part you can serve, and the part you can realistically win.

**How do you calculate SAM from TAM?**

Narrow TAM using the limits of your business: the segments, regions, company sizes, and channels you actually serve. In B2B, this usually means filtering your account universe by your ideal customer profile.

**What is a good SOM?**

A good SOM is one you can defend with capacity. Base it on how many deals your team can work, historical win rates, and sales cycle length, rather than a flat percentage of the market.

Share term

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## More related phrases

* [Top-down market sizing](/glossary/top-down-market-sizing.md)
* [Serviceable addressable market](/glossary/serviceable-addressable-market.md)
* [TAM analysis](/glossary/tam-analysis.md)

## Similar phrases

* [Total addressable market (TAM)](/glossary/total-addressable-market.md)  
Total addressable market (TAM) is the total revenue available if every possible customer for your product bought it.
* [Serviceable obtainable market (SOM)](/glossary/serviceable-obtainable-market.md)  
Serviceable obtainable market (SOM) is the share of your serviceable market you can realistically win in a set period, given your team, budget, competition, and sales capacity.
* [Ideal customer profile (ICP)](/glossary/ideal-customer-profile.md)  
An ideal customer profile (ICP) describes the type of company that gets the most value from your product and brings you the most revenue.
* [Market sizing](/glossary/market-sizing.md)  
Market sizing is the process of estimating how many potential customers exist for your product and how much revenue they represent, so you can choose where to focus.
* [TAM calculator](/glossary/tam-calculator.md)  
A TAM calculator is a tool or spreadsheet that estimates total addressable market by multiplying the number of target accounts by an expected annual revenue per account.