solution mktg - bpma final 2

7/29/2019 Solution Mktg - Bpma Final 2

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2011

www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com 2009-2012Steve Robins, The Solution Marketing Blog

Beyond Products:

Solution Marketing

Steve Robins

February 16, 2012


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2009-2012Steve Robins, The Solution Marketing Blog

C B O N D

limits

competition

company

yourself

services

products


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Beyond

Products:

Solution

Marketing

THE Solution Marketing Blog


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www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com p4 2009-2012Steve Robins, The Solution Marketing Blog

What is it?

Whats Happening Whats Needed

Customers want it Solutions make life easier

Help customers But most customerscant do it on their own

Technology is increasingly complex andcustomers lack in-house resources, time,expertise

Apple, IBM and Chuck eCheese sell it

Each offers complete solutions tocustomers

Apple iPad ecosystem, IBM industrysolutions, Chuck e Cheese birthdaypackage Provide discipline, rigor,

consistency bestpractices Most tech companies

claim to have it Seems like everyone sells solutions today

But none of them knowwhat it is

But theres not a common definition

Sales thinks theyreselling it

Many sales teams use the Solution Sellingmethodology

Help Marketing to workwith Sales

Provide a solutionmethodology forMarketing

but theyre doing itwithout Marketing.

But Solution Selling does not providestrategic guidance for Marketing

It can be confusing Theres little discipline around solutions Solution Marketing Blog,

Group, Consulting

It = Solutions


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Whats Happening Whats Needed

Customers want it Solutions make life easier

Help customers But most customerscant do it on their own

Technology is increasingly complex andcustomers lack in-house resources, time,expertise

Apple, IBM and Chuck eCheese sell it

Each offers complete solutions tocustomers

Apple iPad ecosystem, IBM industrysolutions, Chuck e Cheese birthdaypackage Provide discipline, rigor,

consistency bestpractices Most tech companies

claim to have it Seems like everyone sells solutions today

But none of them knowwhat it is

But theres not a common definition

Sales thinks theyreselling it

Many sales teams use the Solution Sellingmethodology

Help Marketing to workwith Sales

Provide a solutionmethodology forMarketing

but theyre doing itwithout Marketing.

But Solution Selling does not providestrategic guidance for Marketing

It can be confusing Theres little discipline around solutions Solution Marketing Blog,

Group, Consulting

What is it? Solutions is It.


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Provide a solutionmethodology for Marketing

Discipline, rigor,consistency bestpractices

Help Marketing to work with

Sales How:

Solution MarketingBlog

LinkedIn Group

Steve Robins

10+ years in solution marketing Expertise in solution, industry and product

marketing

Experience: FirstBest Systems, SolutionMarketing Strategies, EMC Documentum, KANA,The Yankee Group

Founder, The Solution Marketing Blog,Top-rated solution marketing blog

Inbound Marketing CertifiedProfessional

s.robins [at] SolutionMkt.com

LinkedIn.com/in/SteveRobins1

Twitter.com/SteveRobins

SolutionMarketingBlog.com

Slideshare.net/Steve_Robins
mailto:[email protected]?subject=Solution%20Marketing%20Prez%20-%20BPMAhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/SteveRobins1http://www.twitter.com/SteveRobinshttp://www.solutionmarketingblog.com/http://www.slideshare.net/Steve_Robinshttp://www.slideshare.net/Steve_Robinshttp://www.slideshare.net/Steve_Robinshttp://www.solutionmarketingblog.com/http://www.twitter.com/SteveRobinshttp://www.linkedin.com/in/SteveRobins1mailto:[email protected]?subject=Solution%20Marketing%20Prez%20-%20BPMAmailto:[email protected]?subject=Solution%20Marketing%20Prez%20-%20BPMAmailto:[email protected]?subject=Solution%20Marketing%20Prez%20-%20BPMA


7/48www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com p7 2009-2012Steve Robins, The Solution Marketing Blog

Solutions Everywhere

Device+

Software+

Content

+Cloud

Device+

Software+

Content

+Cloud

Kid food+

Adult food+

Entertainment

+Activities

+Party gifts



Solutions Everywhere



Agenda

Introduction Beyond products

Solution marketing Solution

Education & engagement Value

Access

Building your solution marketing strategy Discovery

Strategies for solutions, education & engagement, value, access

Case studies

A cautionary tale

Next steps, Q&A


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Beyond ProductsThe Solution Imperative



Typical Company Wants

Company

Tech-nology

Customer



What is a Solution Anyways?

solutionnoun \s-l-shn\

General definition:

a: an action or process of solving a

problem

b: an answer to a problem

solutionnoun \s-l-shn\

Business definition:

A complete and integrated

offering that includes everything

required to solve a customer

problem



Services

Typical Customer Wants

Customer---Pain

Points

Tech-nology

User

Process

Content/ Data

Complete SolutionEverything to solve the customers problem



Complete Solution

User User interfaces Training Support

Best practices Domain expertise

Process Process optimization Reengineering Workflow

Integrated experiences

ROI studies

Security

Content/Data ContentDocuments ImagesVideoMusicBooks

Data External data sources Data security, data policies

Technology Hardware/ infrastructure

Software platforms Applications

Complementary technologies

Integrations Custom coding

Services Strategy Project management Risk management Custom coding

Integration services Communications services, hosting Support



Why Solutions?

Increasing complexity of technology

Limited in-house IT to support systems

Avoid in-house/SI build or integration

Business users drive tech decisions but dontunderstand the technology

Mature markets



Why It Matters

Early AdoptersVisionaries

InnovatorsTechnologyEnthusiasts

Early Majority/Pragmatists

Late MajorityConservatives

LaggardsSkeptics

Time

Customers wanttechnologyand performance

Customers wantsolutionsand convenience

Relative%o

fCustomers

End of LifeEarly Life Bowling

Alley

Sources: E.M. Rogers, G. Moore

The Solution Opportunity

Main Street

The Tornado

The Chasm


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Solution MarketingCustomer-Centric

Marketing for Today



What is Solution Marketing?

solutionmarketingnoun \s-l-shn\mr-k-ti\

The process of defining,

educating, and providing access

to complete and integrated

solutions

that deliver value

by helping customers to solvetheir problems.



Solution Marketing Adds Value ToMarketing, Sales and Product Management

Frictionless

SalesSocial Media

FieldEnablement

MarketingSupport

ProductManagement



The 4 Ps All About the Company

Place

Product

Pro-

motion

Price

Company

Build it andthey will come

Outbound,interruptionmarketing

Cost-plus;margin is king

Best channelsfor us to sell

the product



Strategy, Metrics

Place

Product

Pro-

motion

Price

Company

Solution Marketing All About the Customer

Customer---

PainPoints

Solution

AccessEducation

Engagement

Value

End-to-End Marketing for TodayCustomer-Focused Marketing

How can I solve

my problem?

How can Ilearn more

about it?

How will it help me andwhat is my total sacrificetoget this solution?

Where canIfind it?


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Building Your SolutionMarketing Strategy

DiscoveryStrategies for:

Solutions

Education & EngagementValue

Access


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360o Discovery

What markets andsolutions should we

target?

What will each solutiondo and include?

How will we educate and

engage with potential

users and buyers?

How will we incorporateand communicate value?

How would the user/buyerlike to buy and use the

solution?

Internal

Revenue

Current offerings Core competencies

Solution maturity

Sales-readiness

External

Under-solved

challenges Top market, solution

opportunities

Segment size

Market drivers

Competition

SolutionRequirements

Use cases Revenue

Business challenges

Industry/functiontrends

Key components

Buy vs build

Testing

Persona

Titles

Business challenges Career goals

Thought process

How to connect

Hang-outs communication

channels, pubs,trade shows, socialmedia

Industry jargon

Influence levers (excase studies?)

Value

Before/after process

Before/afterchallenge/gain

Customers valuedrivers -dollar impact

ROI

Purchasing habits,budget

Access

Best channels

Optimal role ofVARs, SIs, directsales, buying oncontract

Preferred deliverymodels Software?

SaaS? BusinessProcess

Outsourcing?

Solution UsersValue

DriversAccessNeeds

Oppor-tunity


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360o Discovery

What markets andsolutions should we

target?

What will each solutiondo and include?

How will we educate and

engage with potential

users and buyers?

How will we incorporateand communicate value?

How would the user/buyerlike to buy and use the

solution?

Internal

Revenue

Current offerings Core competencies

Solution maturity

Sales-readiness

External

Under-solved

challenges Top market, solution

opportunities

Segment size

Market drivers

Competition

SolutionRequirements

Use cases Revenue

Business challenges

Industry/functiontrends

Key components

Buy vs build

Testing

Persona

Titles

Business challenges Career goals

Thought process

How to connect

Hang-outs communication

channels, pubs,trade shows, socialmedia

Industry jargon

Influence levers (excase studies?)

Value

Before/after process

Before/afterchallenge/gain

Customers valuedrivers -dollar impact

ROI

Purchasing habits,budget

Access

Best channels

Optimal role ofVARs, SIs, directsales, buying oncontract

Preferred deliverymodels Software?

SaaS? BusinessProcess

Outsourcing?

User

Personas

Customer

Value

Solution

Access

Portfolio

Strategy

Solution

Development


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Solution Needs Hierarchy

Components &integrations

Businessvalue

Solution description

what it does

Target audience andbusiness problem

Intelligence:templates,

rules etc

Mature

LessMature

2

3

5

1

4


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Solution Strategy

General strategy: Target markets/functions, solutions

Solution maturity

Partner

Buy vs build

Completeness: Platform > Framework > Templates > Application

Portfolio management Revenue goals

Cross-functional team

Metrics for success

Cross-functional alignment, organizational support Development/engineering/product management

Channel/SI partners

Marketing

Sales

Support

Services


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BIZ CHALLENGE SOLUTION

PowerAdvocate Offers Complete Solutions

Business challenge:Optimize procurement in the energy

sector (power plants)Company challenge:

Differentiate the company from larger

players like Ariba


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BIZ CHALLENGE SOLUTION

PowerAdvocate Offers Complete Solutions

Products: SaaS solutions forprocurementspend, cost, market, sourcing

Services: Industry expertsprovide services to lowercosts

Data: Market-specificprocurement data andanalysis

Differentiator: industry-specific data

Solution Assessment

User

Process

Content/Data

Technology

Services


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Education & Engagement: Message

TargetedConsistent/

True

$

Value-Driven JargonRelevant

InsuredAgent

CarrierLoss ratio


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Education & Engagement: Strategy

MarketEducation

MarketEngagement

FieldEnablement/

Sales

Challenge

& How to

FrictionlessSales

DemandGen

Buy

Now!


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Value = Benefit - Cost

Benefits (Improvement) Profit, expense, revenue drivers

New business

Time savings

Productivity improvement

Headcount reduction

Soft benefits

Total Cost of Ownership

External Software

Hardware Services

Internal Training

Change management

Desktop upgrades

IT management

$Dollars

Value

2011 www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com


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Value = Benefit - TCO

Value-Based Pricing

BusinessBe

nefit($)

CBAPoor ValueUnneededfeatures

Fair ValuePrice matchesbenefit

High ValueLost softwarerevenue

Assume that vendor charges fair price

for features provided

D

CustomerBenefit

Fair ValuePrice matchesbenefit

Lost revenue

Unneeded features

CustomerBenefit

CustomerBenefit

CustomerBenefit

Price

Solution use-case drives benefit and value

Mi ft Sh P i t D li V l


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BIZ CHALLENGE SOLUTION RESULT

Microsoft SharePoint Delivers Valuewith 50% of the features

Share information with otherpeople in the enterprise



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BIZ CHALLENGE RESULTSOLUTION


We dont claim we do everything.

If we do 50 percent of the

functions that these othercompanies do, buttheyre the ones

customers really want, thats fine.The magic is that end users

actually like to use the software.

Chris Capossela

Senior Vice PresidentInformation Worker Product Management Group , Microsoft

NY Times 8/2/2009



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Significant growth at expenseof mainstream ECM vendors

Lesson: Customers gain value bybuying only the features they need

E


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Access

Be flexible

Provide seamless experience

Enable frictionless sales

Complete/close the sale quickly

Ensure success thru the last mile


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A Cautionary Tale


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Solution Marketing Failure

Solution

Dont give customers what they want

Education/Engagement Blame your offerings failure on communication instead of admitting it was

just a really bad idea

Value Base your pricing on what works for you, not for customers

Nearly double prices for your best customers

Decrease customers perceived value of your solution

Access Make it more difficult to do business with you split your offering into 2

websites

Dis-incent customers from buying both of your services


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Convenient, inexpensiveaccess to entertainment


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BIZ CHALLENGE RESULTSOLUTION


Inexpensive

All-you-can-eat

Video by mail

New: streaming

New pricing plans, July 2011:streaming vs. video by mail

Focus on whats good for Netflix,not the customer


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$494

$544

$594

$644

$694

$744

$794

$844

$894

$944

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

3/2010 6/2010 9/2010 12/2010 3/2011 6/2011 9/2011 12/2011

Revenue($Millions

)

Subscribers(Millions)

Unique subcribers Revenue

Subscriber trend Revenue trend

$75

$107

$155

$176

$238

$263

$113

$69

Stock priceSources: NetFlix, Google

New pricing planJuly 2011


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Netflix Dictates Customer Access


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Next Steps


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Getting Started

1. Begin internal discovery

2. Know the customer

3. Define the business problem

4. Move from feature/benefit businessvalue

5. Think about solution completeness6. Bonus: how are market/tech forces

changing solution requirements?


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Strategy, Metrics

Place

Product

Pro-motion

Price

Company

Q & A

Customer

---Pain

Points

Solution

AccessEducation

Engagement

Value

Solution Marketing

Services

Customer

---Pain

Points

Tech-nology

User

Process

Content/ Data

Complete Solution


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Thank You

Steve RobinsFounderThe Solution Marketing Blog

www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com

s.robins [at] SolutionMkt.com

LinkedIn.com/in/SteveRobins1

Twitter.com/SteveRobins

SolutionMarketingBlog.com

Slideshare.net/Steve_Robins
http://www.solutionmarketingstrategies.com/mailto:[email protected]?subject=Solution%20Marketing%20Prez%20-%20BPMAhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/SteveRobins1http://www.twitter.com/SteveRobinshttp://www.solutionmarketingblog.com/http://www.slideshare.net/Steve_Robinshttp://www.slideshare.net/Steve_Robinshttp://www.slideshare.net/Steve_Robinshttp://www.solutionmarketingblog.com/http://www.twitter.com/SteveRobinshttp://www.linkedin.com/in/SteveRobins1mailto:[email protected]?subject=Solution%20Marketing%20Prez%20-%20BPMAmailto:[email protected]?subject=Solution%20Marketing%20Prez%20-%20BPMAmailto:[email protected]?subject=Solution%20Marketing%20Prez%20-%20BPMAhttp://www.solutionmarketingstrategies.com/http://www.solutionmarketingblog.com/


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Take the Next Step

SaturdayJune 9, 2012Microsoft NERD

Cambridge

www.ProductCampBoston.org

Were hiring!firstbest.com/

company-careers.htm

Solution Marketing ProsLinkedIn Group

linkedin.com/groups?gid=1826720

THESolution Marketing

Blog

www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com
http://www.productcampboston.org/http://www.firstbest.com/company-careers.htmhttp://www.firstbest.com/company-careers.htmhttp://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1826720http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1826720http://www.solutionmarketingblog.com/http://www.solutionmarketingblog.com/http://www.solutionmarketingblog.com/http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1826720http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1826720http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1826720http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1826720http://www.firstbest.com/company-careers.htmhttp://www.firstbest.com/company-careers.htmhttp://www.firstbest.com/company-careers.htmhttp://www.firstbest.com/company-careers.htmhttp://www.firstbest.com/company-careers.htmhttp://www.productcampboston.org/


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Beyond

Products:

Solution

Marketing

THE Solution Marketing Blog