1. Christine Crandell
President, New Business Strategies
August 23, 2012
10am PDT
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

2. Agenda…
• Who Are We
• Sellers’ Compass
• Uncovering the Secrets
• Translating into Demand
• Lessons Learned
• Your Next Steps
• Discussion
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

3. Who We Are
New Business Strategies helps companies succeed
by accelerating revenue.
• Deep, proven track record in strategy expertise that
achieves outcomes.
• Proprietary and tested Sellers’ Compass™
methodology for uncovering and aligning to buyers’
Journeys.
• Consistently builds high performance marketing and
sales processes, teams and strategies.
• Unique partnership approach to service delivery that
focused on building internal capabilities.
• Practical advice, tools, and training to sustain success.
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

4. Our Services
FastStart Sellers’ Strategy & Outsourced
Services Compass Planning Services
Sales &
Buyer Journey Focus Competitive
Marketing
GamePlan Framework Intelligence
Assessment
Revenue
Positioning Market Win / Loss
Acceleration
Workshop Strategy Analysis
BluePrint
Product Market Entry
Go-To-Market Market
Launch Growth
Plan Intelligence
Framework Barriers
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

5. We researched Fortune
100 Companies to
determine how they
buy emerging
technology
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

6. Buying Has Changed
“Only after we’ve completed 80% of the evaluation cycle and know all there is
know about the vendor – only then do we contact them.”
- Commercial Bank
“50% of the final selection decision is driven by the experience to date with
vendors.” - Insurance & Managed Healthcare
“If the relationship is negative, it will rule out even the best fit vendor.”
- Insurance
“We expect marketing and sales to clearly articulate their differentiation and
don’t hard sell.” - Aerospace & Defense
“Relationship can overrule price.”
- Diversified Conglomerate
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

7. The Sellers‘ Compass ™
Opportunities
Sales
Purchase
Validate Deliver
The Sellers Compass™
methodology enables, engages
Customer Care
Evaluate Nurture
“Customers”
and establishes
Marketing
Contacts
Sellers enduring, profitable
Compass™ relationships with prospects and
Search Value
customers.
Define Expand
Evangelize
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

8. The Sellers‘ Compass ™
Opportunities
Sales
Purchase Buyer Enablement Stage
Validate Deliver • Define:
Commit to solving the problem
• Search
Customer Care
Evaluate Nurture Understand the approach Peers
“Customers”
Marketing
Contacts
Sellers selected & start business case
Compass™ • Evaluate
Search Value Evaluate alternatives, vendors
and short-list
• Validate
Define Expand Test short-list & end-user
Evangelize benefits & validate selection
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

9. Uncover the Define Step
Trigger
Event
Google
Google various keywords and look for
research, reports, etc.
Tap into Social Graph
Talk to industry peers, social network, etc.
regarding trends, solutions and vendors
• Market Research Reports on trends
Validate with LOB • 3rd Party Blogs
• Social graph & peers
Contact LOB and other IT teams to get • Technical Discussion Papers
support to investigate • Conferences
Industry Analysts
Inquiries to analysts to get information on
trends, problem and guidance on approach
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

10. Uncover the Search Step
Investigate Approach
Research various solution
approachs, and develop master list of
vendors.
1st Short List
Define high level business requirements
and short-list vendors
Initial Business Case
Develop high level business case and • White Papers & technical briefs
socialize internally • Social graph & peers
• Detail Feature/Function comparison
• Customer case studies
Contact Vendors • Videos, videos, videos
Get missing data and ball park pricing for
initial business case
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

11. Uncover the Evaluate Step
Back Channel Vendors
Back channel short listed vendors with
social graph, industry groups and
analysts.
Demos & Information
Web and in-person demo and build
vendor relationships to answer questions
Free Trial
Test solutions to understand
functionality, performance, scalability and
• Benchmark studies & papers
quality of support.
• TCO/ROI tools and studies
• Social graph & peers
2nd Short List to RFI • Customer case studies on adoption
• Videos, videos, videos
Based on trial, experience to date, and
side-by-side comparison, short list to 3 and
request formal RFI to update business
case for approval and funding
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

12. Uncover the Validate Step
Detailed Requirements
Finalize detailed requirements and
socialize with LOB. Finalize business
case for submission.
Long Running POC
Test solutions in a production
environment with end-users, internal
processes and standards
Bake-Off and “Selection”
Develop plan to operate final solution at
target scale, discuss pricing in more detail • Sample Business Cases
and any areas of concern. • Financial / Viability Information
• Vertical Customer case studies
RFP/RFQ • Industry analysts
• Vendor references
Issues RFQ/RFP and initiates formal
selection/sourcing process.
Hand Off to Procurement
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

13. Demand Generation …
Purchase
• Search
• TCO / ROI
• Business Case Campaign Planning
• Social Graph 1. Campaign waterfalls should
2nd
Evaluate 1st Disrupter
follow the Seller’s Compass.
Disrupter 2. Calls to actions should match
• Search
• White Papers & Briefs each steps’ target end state.
• Social Graph 3. Invest ONLY in assets &
• Case Studies social media activities on
• Feature Comparison ZMOT your Sellers’ Compass.
4. Freely share technical
information; your
competitors have it anyway.
5. Avoid using “one-size-fits-
Define all” assets.
• Search 6. Verticalize your campaigns
• 3rd Party Blogs
beginning at Search step.
• Market Research
• Peers / Social Graph 7. Involve Sales in ‘Evaluate’ for
• Case Studies Trigger consistency in experience
Event
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

14. Social Media Role
POWER OF INFLUENCERS VALUABLE INFORMATION
Engage credible, trusted Don’t be stingy with
influencers to discuss the technical, research and
merits of your vision and market information . Make it
solutions. easy to find and access.
VOICE OF THE BUYER
Unsolicited customer
feedback and open dialog RESPONSIVENESS
around consistency of Consistency, speed and
experience, trust, and accuracy are critical to
value. credibility. Empower all
employers to respond and
enable buyers.
Use social media to
inform, engage, and enable
buyers (and sales) to
participate along the
campaign waterfall
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

15. Experience Expectations
• Have a long-term partner orientation
• Act like a trusted business advisor
• Always have a sense of urgency & care
• Be relevant & credible
• Set realistic expectations
• Be transparent & forthright
• Honor your word
• Be fair & flexible
• Maintain a positive & broad reputation
• Be consistent & predictable
• Products perform ‘as advertised’
• Focus on overall success vs. a
transaction

16. Lessons Learned from F100 …
• A “selection” decision doesn’t mean you’ve ‘won’.
• Transaction-oriented sales are considered niche vendors;
relationship-oriented sales are considered strategic vendors.
• Long running POCs/Trials/POVs are hedging strategies to
realize benefits without making a long term commitment.
• Internal research groups are persistent, funded and quietly
influential; don’t ignore them.
• They hate “solution selling”, follow insight selling - you’ll win
if aligned to their journey.
• Make the “Buyer” successful because their jobs and
reputations are at stake – as are yours.
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

17. Path to Buyer Alignment …
3. Socialize, 4. Operationalize
Share, Cross Teams and
Educate 3
Functions
4 7. Mobilize
Educate, train &
2
empower
employees
2. Pilot
5 5. Measure
Experiment with a
Identify
1 slice of Sellers’ 7
Metrics &
Compass
ROI
6
6. Full Sellers’ Compass
Marketing and Support
1. Discover define the end-to-end
Start with a detailed buyers’ experience then
investigation of your buyers’ align it with business
journey (who, what, when, why) objectives.
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

18. Summary …
Things to do today:
• Evaluate how consistent marketing, sales and
support behave
– It’s your key to credibility
• Solution Marketing/Selling is dead
– Retool everyone for Insight Selling
• Launch your Sellers’ Compass study
– In-depth knowledge is actionable
• Align Marketing and Sales to your Sellers’ Compass
– It drives pipeline velocity and size
© 2012 NBS Consulting Group, Inc. | Tel: 415.309.7017

19. Thank You
and
Questions?
Christine.crandell@newbizs.com
+1.415.309.7017
www.christinecrandell.com
Forbes Blog:
blogs.forbes.com/christinecrandell
LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/christinecrandell
Twitter: @chriscrandell