When Moving to Solutions, Marketing Must Lead the Way

Sometimes where theres smoke there really is fire. "Solutions" has become quite the cliché in technology over the last few years. Everyone says they are selling solutions and buyer skepticism runs rampant. Beneath the hype, though, many companies are legitimately making progress in shifting from a product- to a customer-driven approach. Rather than touting servers, software, and services, companies are beginning to develop integrated offers that provide measurable business value.

The transition is far from easy. Moving to solutions affects virtually every aspect of the company, from R&D and product development to marketing, sales, and HR. Even finance is involved; traditional product-based accounting systems provide no easy way to track revenue from integrated solutions.

Most commentators emphasize the importance of top-down executive commitment to the solutions transformation. Clearly that is critical for any major change. Yet marketing has to play a leading role as well. Only marketing can create the necessary connections among customers, partners, and dispersed company resources to create solutions success.

Where are our best opportunities? Marketing has to generate the market and customer insight that provides a basis for solutions development, promotion, and sales. Marketing is the right place to aggregate and analyze the information coming from its own research, customers, sales and delivery organizations, partners, and external sources.

Which capabilities should we bring to bear? Marketing is best suited to lead the offer development process, which should involve customers, partners, and multiple internal organizations to shape the right offers for the right target segments. As solutions become more central to the business, marketing should take a stronger role in product and services development, too, to help ensure the creation of the right solutions components.

How do we build awareness and interest for new solutions? Obviously this is marketing’s job, but the challenge is to refine the program mix. Promoting solutions requires deeper business insight, higher-level prospects, and narrower segments to target. Promotion activities must follow suit with greater emphasis on communicating to business executives, developing thought leadership, influencing the influencers, and making the business case in specific industry environments.

How can we move sales to solutions selling? The transition from box pushing to consultative selling is never easy, but marketing can play a key role by paving the way with qualified leads and providing the right kinds of information and tools to move the discussion along the sales cycle.

What is required to ensure quality delivery? Marketing doesn’t play much (or any) role in delivery, but it can certainly influence the process. For example, customer references and success stories are critical to building your solutions business. Building a robust reference program gives marketing a powerful tool to track delivery success and enhance accountability for results.

How can we measure solutions success? Revenue is always the first measure and this can be a struggle, depending on existing financial systems. Marketing should push ahead with add-on and experimental tracking initiatives to get the accounting ball rolling toward solutions. Equally important is tracking key account development, competitive positioning, new market penetration, and other strategic metrics.

How do we get the whole company on board? Marketing should be front and center in developing the vision and programs that generate excitement about the transition. This means sharing insight on the changing market reality and the growing solutions opportunity as well as highlighting strategic wins and competitive differentiation.

Customers and collaboration lie at the heart of the move to solutions. Becoming a true solutions provider means turning your company inside out and putting customers’ business problems at the center of the organization. This is only possible with a substantial commitment to collaboration, first of all with customers and second across all parts of your own organization. Both of these, in turn, require a yeoman effort from marketing to lead the way. The CEO can mandate the change. Only marketing can make it happen.

Is marketing up to the task? Is this even the right vision? Or is it too aggressive and self-serving? What do you think?

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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.