Four Steps for Solutions Growth in the Downturn

In the midst of the economic downturn, a number of companies are looking to solutions to retain key customers, open up new revenue streams, and support higher margin deals. New research from Solutions Insights, conducted in partnership with ITSMA, suggests four types of initiatives that hold the most promise for companies seeking to improve performance with solutions:

• Improving the solutions development process. Companies are looking to develop more packaged and “mass-customized” solutions rather than relying mostly on fully customized, one-off solutions. Only 16% of the companies in our survey are looking to increase the number of highly customized solutions. In today’s buyer’s market, we lean toward a mass-customized approach rather than offering just fully packaged solutions-buyers are looking for the best possible fit for their individual situations.
• Reorienting value propositions and messaging. Marketers have long focused their messaging on describing what they do (i.e., features and functions). Our survey shows that they may finally be making the shift to demonstrating business benefits. Some 84% of survey respondents suggested that they are now putting more emphasis on the business benefits their solutions can bring to customers, and almost two thirds said they are similarly putting more emphasis on customer references, testimonials, case studies, and proof points.
• Enhancing customer connections. About half of survey respondents are stepping up their efforts around executive-level communications and thought leadership research and promotion to demonstrate their mastery of the critical business issues facing their customers and prospects. They are also making more personal outreach efforts, such as getting top executives and salespeople with customers more often and creating more narrowly targeted marketing campaigns. Far fewer are investing more in events, even virtual ones. But social media continues its forward march, with more than half the respondents investing more in Web 2.0-type marketing initiatives. And more than 40% are investing more in customer councils or communities. These two-way efforts to increase intimacy with customers can help marketing and sales move more quickly from problem identification to measurable results.
• Better equipping the sales force to sell solutions. Though most survey respondents say they are investing more money, focus, and training to help their sales forces focus more on selling solutions, fewer than a quarter of respondents are actually changing compensation plans to provide more incentives to sell solutions or reorganizing the sales force to create different kinds of teams to sell solutions. This begs the question of ultimate impact: Salespeople respond most of all to compensation plans, and we know that many sales organizations are not structured in optimal ways to sell solutions. Will encouragement and new (often modest) training be enough to move the needle?

Hope in Solutions
Despite the current economic situation, companies have faith that solutions will strike the right chords with customers. Some 30% expect their solutions revenue to increase more than 10% in 2009, which would represent a great accomplishment in a flat (at best) economy. Another 50% project “slight” growth in solutions revenue (less than 10%). Only 20% project no growth at all or slight decreases in solutions. As one executive noted, “Being able to position new technology initiatives in a manner that addresses a CXO-level ‘compelling business event’ is the only chance for triggering sales” in today’s economy.

Rob Leavitt is a principal at Solutions Insights, a Boston-based consulting and training firm, and former vice president of Marketing and Member Community at ITSMA. You can reach Rob at rleavitt@solutionsinsights.com. For more information on the survey, go here.

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ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. We work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA annual program clients include business leaders such as AT&T, Cisco, Deloitte, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing℠, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.