Breaking with Tradition in the Quest for Clients

15 June 2004—Maybe you've noticed—there's a quiet revolution going on in European marketing. Innovative and creative marketers are breaking from tradition and challenging the assumptions about "the way we do things around here" across our industry. Signs of the revolution were evident at ITSMA's recent 2004 European Forum, where challenges to ingrained thinking and presentation of new ways of going to market pervaded the discussions among forum speakers and delegates.

It starts with the way marketers gain insight into increasingly complex markets. Dave Snowden from IBM's Canolfyn Cynefin Centre claimed that traditional market research techniques no longer provide sufficient insight; marketers should instead turn to stories and narratives, extracted via naïve interviewing techniques, to really understand what is happening in their markets. Dave's goal is to spot patterns in increasingly complex environments, often for governments concerned with identifying terrorist threats. The same techniques can be applied to complex markets to spot opportunities that will drive business growth.

Once we've identified an opportunity, we need to think creatively about how to capture value from it. This could mean working with competitors, as Ellyn Raftery from Unisys noted in describing that firm's 3D Visible Enterprise solution. Unisys worked with two of its biggest competitors, IBM and Microsoft, to conceive, research, and bring the new solution to market to capture value for the organization and aid its transformation into a services company. Vega and BT similarly discussed the importance of changing assumptions about how to do business; both firms have greatly increased their investments in partners to capture more value from clients.

Closing the traditional gap between sales and marketing was another dominant theme at the event. Marketers from Unisys, HP, CGI-AMS, Wipro, and PricewaterhouseCoopers all stressed the improved results that can be achieved when clients are approached with a unified voice. Forum delegates identified many methods to close the gap, but all agreed that increasing account-based marketing programs is one of the most effective approaches.

Doug Haynes from McKinsey highlighted the importance of a principled approach to clients as companies move from a transaction-based business model to one that relies on relationships. With principles in place to say no to work that other firms could do better and to always act in the best interest of the client, even if that means walking away from a job before the contract ends but when most of the value has been delivered, McKinsey demonstrates a commitment to relationships that exceeds that of most firms. According to Haynes, that commitment is essential to the firm's stellar reputation and continued growth.

Most of all, according to ITSMA's Dave Munn, breaking with tradition requires rethinking the very roles and responsibilities of the marketing team itself. Driving change successfully rests on marketing's ability to deliver value for their company in five key areas, said Munn:

• Business strategy
• Portfolio management
• Thought leadership
• Go-to-market strategy and programs
• Customer and partner relationships

None of these roles is entirely new, but continuing the quiet revolution in marketing means placing a much greater emphasis on the skills, competencies, and processes that can bring them to center stage.

—Bev Burgess, info@itsma.com

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About ITSMA
ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. As a membership organization, we provide research, consulting, and training to the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.