Does Your Messaging Work in the Internal “Cocoon” – But Fall Flat with Customers?
I often create customer presentations for clients, and talk to friends and ex-colleagues to see how tech companies are positioning their offerings to customers. What I’ve observed is that staff inside tech organizations get very comfortable with their products and their internal acronyms and tend create messaging in a sort of internal “cocoon”, and as a result, position their products in a way that often does not connect well to customers.
We’ve all heard the term “pull marketing” and know it is a desired marketing outcome where the customer is reaching back to you as the vendor for information about your product. That makes the life of sales easier because customers are saying they want to talk to them – and that can lead to an easier and shorter sales cycle. Think of “Push” marketing as the opposite -– when a vendor broadcasts their message to customers and hopes that something about their message resonates and leads to sales pipeline and closed deals. Declaring that one of your messaging pillars is “accelerate I/O performance” sounds like a good thing, but how does it connect with a problem the customer has? In other words, Why should target customers care?
“Push” marketing is often the result of being internally focused and this is often driven by product-focused org structures, as discussed in my blog earlier this your, “Do Your Product Business Units Lead to (Product) “Push” Marketing (and Missed Revenue)?” (more…)
Struggling with Channel Demand Gen? Escaping “Boxed” Marketing Strategy and Execution (Part 3 of Series)
The last two weeks I’ve discussed common misconceptions about Channel Demand Generation as part of a series called,
“Struggling with Channel Demand Generation?
- Maybe Your Partners Don’t Want the Same Things You Want…
- What Should You Do When Channel Partners Say They Need Leads? Run!
Today we will talk about the root causes of these differences in strategy and execution – and what tech vendors can do about it. This topic is a great example of the “boxed thinking and execution” that stems from long term practices that were developed in the past – but no longer apply or work in the current environment. I’ve detailed “the Four Boxes in previous posts and they are the root causes of many of the challenges the tech industry faces driving revenue for their products and partnerships. (more…)
What Should You Do When Channel Partners Say They Need Leads ? Run!
We’ve all heard the request (even plea) from channel partners, “Give me leads and I can sell more of your product!” It seems like a reasonable request, right? After all, your channel partners have every reason to expect a 2-way street partnership with their vendors.
The problem is that of all the things that the vendor can do to help their partners be successful, providing leads is at the bottom of the list. That seems counterintuitive and today when I “Googled”, “leads for your channel” I did not have to look far to find the conventional wisdom – “You know you have to do it – and they expect it….”
This topic had come up in a number of discussions with partners over the years and I had my “A-Ha” moment on this issue in mid- 2000s. I remember the conversation over late night beers at a Partner Advisory Council. When this topic of leads for the channel, came up, a partner owner leaned over and in a hushed voice said something like: “You know, we all like to get leads, but… (more…)
Struggling with Channel Demand Gen? Maybe Your Partners Don’t Want the Same Things You Want… (Part 1 of Series)
I recently attended a webinar by a consulting firm on how to optimize the lead waterfall and I was interested in seeing how they dealt with the nuances of working with a channel. They discussed the very real issues regarding lead rating, qualification and follow up, system challenges, and the lack of marketing skills in many channel partners, and they outlined some best practices.
What they did not talk about was that for many channel partners, leads just don’t play a very big role in their business model – so it is any surprise that they don’t market the way vendors want…
- Every tech vendor starts from a point of zero penetration and has to build awareness and start customer conversations with accounts that are new. They hire Reps that know the local customer base, but a Rep only has so many accounts and relationships – and they need to continuously add customers to grow.
- On the other hand, a mid-sized channel partner often can build a strong business selling 80% of their business into 5-10 accounts. They try to sell more to these customers and develop profitable services to support product sales.
Do You Have Holes in the “Tire” of Your “GTM Wheel” That Prevent Revenue from Your Products and Partnerships?
The last few weeks I’ve been talking about how to build a GTM Program Wheel, shown in Figure 1 below, that aligns your company to drive revenue for your products and alliances.
- First we defined the layers of a GTM program in “Is Your Channel Program an “Onion”? Leveraging the GTM Wheel to Build a Program that Drives Revenue”
- Then we talked about 2 Common Mistakes in Defining the “Hub” of the “Channel GTM Wheel” that limit revenue for products and channels
- Last week we talked about the program elements, of the GTM Wheel, in “Are the Spokes of Your “GTM Wheel” Aligned to Drive Revenue?”
Figure 1: The “GTM Wheel”
This week we will be talking about the underlying foundation, or “The Tire” of the GTM wheel highlighted in Figure 2 below. The “Tire of the GTM Wheel is the Operations and Infrastructure that take your GTM program and make it a reality for your team and your partners. (more…)
“Climbing Out of the Box”™ 