ITSMA Newsletter Add-Ins 2009-12-10
ITSMA Featured Research: Make the Right Choices in the Recovery
By Katie Espinola, ITSMA
At the beginning of 2009, ITSMA advised marketers that to survive the downturn, they had to make the right choices. One of ITSMA’s recommendations was to reduce costs by not only increasing marketing efficiency but also increasing sales efficiency.
Did marketers make the right choices this year? According to recent ITSMA research, some marketers did. In ITSMA’s Market Pulse Survey , we asked members what actions they took in the downturn that have put them in a better position to succeed in the recovery. Sales enablement, Account-Based Marketing, and cost management and efficiencies came out on top.
This data is from ITSMA’s Market Pulse survey. For more information, click here.
Ask ITSMA: Should Purchasing Services Be Mandatory?
By Julie Schwartz, Senior Vice President of Research and Thought Leadership, ITSMA
Each month, ITSMA receives a number of queries through Ask ITSMA, a resource designed to give members a quick and easy way to get insight on important services and solutions marketing questions they face. In this column, we will publish some of our favorite questions, along with excerpts from our replies.
Do many technology companies make it mandatory to purchase services with their equipment?
Very few hardware companies make purchase of services on their equipment mandatory. This practice went out of favor as the market got more competitive and price sensitive. Manufacturers unbundled their services contracts to make their pricing more competitive. They then offered different levels of service (e.g., customer replaces parts themselves, or customer pays for onsite, full-time engineers) to appeal to customers based on price sensitivity and the mission-critical nature of their environments.
However, there are quite a few software companies, especially ERP and other enterprise software vendors, that require purchase of the first year of maintenance and support.
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| Do you have a sales or marketing question? Visit Ask ITSMA to access our experience, insight, and research results. |
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Upcoming ITSMA Events
To view all events, please go here.
New Routes to Marketing Innovation: ITSMA’s 2010 State of the Profession Address
Online Briefing
January 26, 2009
8:00 a.m. Pacific – 11:00 a.m. Eastern – 16:00 London (Duration: One hour)
(Free for ITSMA members)
With marketing budgets set to rebound only slightly—if at all—in 2010, leading marketing organizations are exploring new ways to innovate and stand apart, such as partnering with other organizations, accelerating the move online and with social media, and getting out in front of the move to cloud computing. In this Online Briefing, Dave Munn and Julie Schwartz will share data from ITSMA’s 2010 Marketing Budgets & Trends Survey, to give marketers practical insight on how to take advantage of the changes that await in the year ahead.
Get more information and register
ITSMA Featured Research
How Customers Choose Solution Providers, 2009:
The Importance of Personalization, Epiphanies, and Social Media
Heightened scrutiny and lengthy decision cycles are changing the effectiveness of various marketing and sales tactics. The key to success lies in understanding changing buyer behavior at each stage of the sales cycle and using that knowledge to craft the right marketing programs and vehicles to deliver better results. These are some of the insights from the 2009 ITSMA How Customers Choose research, conducted in partnership with Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC).
Get more information
Recent ITSMA Thought Leadership
How to Format White Papers for Readability
Formatting is critical for pulling readers in and imparting value, even when they don’t read every word of your white paper. Here’s how to do it right.
Read it now
Leveraging Reference Programmes to Help Customers Choose You
An effective client reference is one of the most influential factors in the sales cycle. In this Online Briefing, Paul Smitherman explores how to enhance the sales and marketing life cycle of value-based case studies and create strong propositions and programmes using client referral to drive sales. In addition, Patrick O’Halloran from Orange Business Services offers a case study examining Orange’s approach to reference management.
Listen now
Lawson Global Support: How to Use Research to Develop Improved Offerings
If research is to serve as a reliable guide for making major changes to offerings, companies need to consider all the pieces of the business that will be affected by the decision and factor them into the research. In this ITSMA Case Study, we outline the research process that software provider Lawson used to ensure that there would be no doubts about the future direction of its support and maintenance offerings.
Read it now
Getting Closer to Customers: Winning Strategies for Engaging Senior Executives
In this tough economic climate, we could be seeing the demise of high-end hospitability programs. Consequently, marketers need to rethink their client relationship-building programs, from user group meetings to advisory councils to reference programs to hospitality and senior-level events. In this Online Briefing, ITSMA’s Julie Schwartz and Katie Espinola address the questions that get at the heart of how to improve relationships with senior executives at your most important accounts.
Listen now
