Even with a presence in this very wealthy market, the sales staff had failed to maintain close enough contact to understand exactly how users were exploiting their technology. As a result client penetration was slowing, sales beyond the first tier were faltering and there was no plan to extend into other sectors.
Was this just another “better mousetrap”? The truth was somewhat different: along the way they had developed a blind love affair with their own very impressive technology − “the benefits of the product were obvious”. They had also set up an international presence and on their own admission had been “too busy just keeping things going”.
Visiting prospects on a few sales calls revealed they were wonderfully enthusiastic, the personal relationships were excellent, one prospect had even called a meeting because he had wanted to use the technology for several years but hadn’t found the right justification. Here was a big clue about the failing effort to secure more blue chip clients.
Looking through sales presentations and some recent proposals, everything was professionally presented but the arguments lacked a winning ‘bite’. They described the technology but failed to illustrate and quantify the benefits. Neither were they clear in explaining their competitive advantage over apparently similar products. The argument came back: “But ours is quite different”; the retort to this was “do not assume your clients and prospects know as much about the subject as you!” Based on recent sales performance they agreed on the need for a Return on Investment model which had been put off for lack of time. It was also agreed that their product needed positioning more clearly to differentiate it from the competition and some work on developing the best messaging approach to present this.
Following research the way forward was clear:
o Though the market is crowded, there are areas that only their technology can address.
o Their technology could deliver several orders of magnitude greater performance, but was in danger of being confused with lesser products.
o Many of the benefits claimed by competitors could also be used in the ROI model but additional benefits unique to the client would also be reflected.
The reaction to this plan was a combination of mixed emotions: wonderment that the long elusive ROI case could be built so easily and frustration because many of the sales arguments had been used in the past.
The moral is that, while in a perfect world businesses should be able to grow without external help, a fresh and objective view can help a company break out of a stagnating position simply by applying tried and tested sales and marketing techniques. ‘Blinding glimpses of the obvious’ can lead to major step change and performance gains beyond existing expectations. Most executives know these methods but all too often hard pressed management are too busy to conjure up the magic of the independent outsider.
Simon Breese can be contacted through Intramezzo. Please refer to Claire Fisher on 020 7520 9290 or cfisher@intramezzo.co.uk
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