Product (1st) Marketing (2nd)

Driving High Velocity Pipeline - Experience, Engagement and Delivery

2012-03-12T17:12:00.001-07:00

It's been almost a year since I starting blogging about the role of Experience in the new Cloud Go To Market strategy. In my post on Bridging to SaaS Success; A Basic Blueprint, I said:

Go To Market Tactics: E -> E: Evaluation to Experience. Today's go to market mix, pricing, channel and promotion is built to drive evaluation and transaction. Successful service go to market requires a shift to tactics that drive experience and satisfaction. Successful SaaS organizations shift their go to market tactics and investments and become experience, not product marketers.

I then expanded on these thoughts with my post entitled SaaS Go To Market, Why Experience Rules:

"Today's customer has little patience for White Papers, datasheets, detailed feature function product specs and the like. They may attend a webinar, but the next step is experience. Even for large organizations with complex buying behavior, the expectation of SaaS is easy, accessible and meaningful experience of the service, either through demonstration instances, trial or freemium models."

And while the proof continues to mount that this is the case, each additional post I do on the topic inevitably invites some heated Twitter and or blog comments. I've enjoyed debating the topic at conferences as varying as the Goldman Sachs Cloud Computing Conference and the Silicon Valley Cloud Computing Meet-up Group's Talk Cloudy to Me all day meetup.

Today I want to add another layer of detail into my V3 High Impact Go To Market Model, on how to use Engagement and Experience to drive impact. Velocity is a function of Delivery, Engagement and Experience, simply V=D*Engagement*Experience.

The HIGHEST velocity go to market programs, tailor their delivery to channel of communication and buyers place in the buying cycle. Content Rules, a popular book in marketing circles today, spends a lot of time focused on just this, and for me it is necessary and recommended reading and very good stuff.

However, in my experience, Content Rules fails to take on the other 2 variables in the equation, Engagement and Experience. In order to drive Engagement, a strong Viewpoint and Value position must be staked out and communicated. Then, this must be married with Experience driven delivery.

For a long time, I've been calling most White Papers YAWNERS™, Yet Another White Paper Nobody Ever Reads. The reasons are two fold, first, the White Paper format and typical writing is simply not engaging, because in 99% of the cases it has no compelling viewpoint, it is, usually simply a LONG WINDED DATASHEET.

Secondly, as I've stated ad-nausea, products are evaluated, services are experienced. We have truly moved from a products to services marketplace, and low experience vehicles, even with good engagement are just not enough. If we put these together in a simple 2x2 matrix, we see the emergence of what are truly high velocity programs.

In the upper right we see high velocity programs such as Trials, live demo instances and the like. In the bottom left we see low velocity deliverables such as whitepapers and datasheets. And while there is a role for these low velocity deliverables, high velocity marketing spend will heavily weight high Engagement and high Experience programs and deliverables.

In my upcoming final post in this series, we will tie together Viewpoint, Value and Velocity with the traditional marketing and sales funnel, and see how this framework can create High Impact and growth.

Tilting to Abundance: Using Value to Outsmart Your Competition, And They Won’t Even Know It!

2012-03-02T15:15:00.002-08:00

In his seminal work 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, StevenCovey introduces a concept of an Abundance Mindset, Wikipedia describes it like this:

Covey coined the idea of abundance mentality or abundance mindset, a concept in which a person believes there are enough resources and success to share with others. He contrasts it with the scarcity mindset (i.e., destructive and unnecessary competition), which is founded on the idea that, if someone else wins or is successful in a situation, that means you lose; not considering the possibility of all parties winning (in some way or another) in a given situation.

When we apply this idea to Go To Market Positioning,Messaging and execution, we begin to see our opportunities in a whole new way,and drive an execution that can surprise even our most optimisticexpectations.

In my Viewpoint, Value, Velocity or V3 High Impact Go To MarketModel, Value is the articulation of ourwinning business benefits that we use to move potential customers fromawareness to purchase ready. Once we gettheir attention with our Viewpoint, we need to rapidly move to captivating themwith our communication of our Unique Value.

Valuedefinition: The Business benefits that a solution delivers for which customersare will to pay both real and opportunity costs to acquire. Unique Value is a value which only comes fromus, not other alternatives in the market.

So, what are the 3 steps to articulating Unique Value, andusing it to sneak up on and beat our competitors without them even knowing it

1) Adopt an abundance mindset. The abundance mindset simply says that weview our market not as a competitive dog fight for a finite and scarce amountof business but as a unlimited landscape of opportunity. When we do this, we change our perspectivefrom one of battle to one of maneuver and our focus from better todifferent. (You do need to know that Iam a fiercely competitive person, but the when we adopt an abundance mindset,we compete more like a Judo master than a boxer)

2) Invest the time and energy to do the mechanics ofbuilding out our Value and its articulation in powerful messaging and positioning. We do this by starting with an honestassessment of our uniqueness and our Unique Value. We do this by completing the Venn Diagramhere and then using it to drive well documented and customer validated positioning and messaging.

Finding Unique Value

3) We then tilt the playing field to our advantageby changing the terrain from the conventional wisdom to our Viewpoint. When ourViewpoint creates the context for the customer and market conversation, the diagram magically changesto look more like this:

Viewpoint Can Tilt the Playing Field

A Quick Case Study:

Palo Alto Networks provides an excellent example of thisUnique Value in action. Security folkshave long recognized that Firewalls were providing less and less protection asmore and more network traffic went over the Web protocol (Nearly all Firewallshave allowed Web traffic through, it's as if you’re door to your office letanyone dressed in a business suit in without regards to their intent). But it took Palo Alto Network's courage tostep out and say, “The Firewall is Broken” (Viewpoint) and we can fix it with these3 key protection features, etc, etc. Did this anger customers who were writing hundreds of millions in checksto Checkpoint, McAfee, Juniper and Cisco, some yes, but others apparently not, as it soonbecomes clear.

At the time of their initial launch, I was running NetworkSecurity marketing for Secure Computing, now part of McAfee. I can remember the product manager telling methat “Palo Alto is nothing but a web filtering box, it’s not a real firewall” Fast forward 4+ years and Palo Alto Networkshas disrupted a stagnant market, grown from nothing to over $500M in revenues,and is expected to be one of the largest tech IPOs of 2012.

So while McAfee, Checkpoint, and others fought over the percentage points of share in the old Firewall market, Palo Alto titled the playing field,articulated their Unique Value and executed with excellence, and as we speak, they are eclipsing the the old market, being chased by the rest. Sure the others have noticed now,but it just may be too late.

As an aside, your best sales reps are usually the "canary inthe coal mine" to tell you if the market is being tilted on you. I vividly remember a sales manager in myoffice saying, “We need an answer to Palo Alto” and me saying, “Really, whatare they, $10M out of $3B right now, let's keep our on on the real competition?” Boy oh boy, I got that one wrong indeed!

Finding Your Viewpoint, It's All a Cash Cow to Me!

2012-02-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

In my recent blog on High Impact Marketing, I said,

Viewpoint is a framing of the market in the context of your uniqueness. The uniqueness of your team, your capabilities, and your vision. Some call viewpoint thought leadership, some vision with a capital V, and some brand.

and I called on providers to set a unique and compelling viewpoint to create breakthrough for their marketing efforts.

While there are many frameworks and techniques to capturing Viewpoint, however defined, one of the simplest and most effective way I have, and one the first I usually pull out of my toolset, is to simple create an X and Y set of axis and coordinate labels for the market. A simple 2x2 matrix which will then set your view firmly in one corner of the world, the best one!

There's a running joke in MBA circles that no presentation is complete without a 2x2 matrix. This dates back at least to 1968 and the classic BCG "Growth Share" matrix, which among other notoriety is the source of the phrase "Cash Cow"! With dimensions of market share and market growth, the BCG matrix provided a powerful way to understand and measure product segment profitability. This example illustrates just how powerful a 2x2 matrix can be in setting a framework in which to view a problem. From a simple idea, sprang a wealth of insight and business for BCG.

So let's try applying the 2x2 matrix to the problem of articulating a market Viewpoint. Setting your market Viewpoint with a 2x2 matrix simple requires these "simple" steps:

1) Identify the X-axis. A good place to start here is with the biggest and simplest piece of your market vision. For Salesforce.com, this was the transition from Software to Service (now called SaaS, then call nothing really). Now that we've identified the endpoints, name the Axis, in this case let's call it "Delivery"

2) Identify the Y-Axis. Here let's try the biggest change in the customer experience. In the Salesforce.com case, it is from Coding to Configuration. Let's name that axis, "Customization".

3) Claim the upper right corner as yours. Here's how this comes together in the Salesforce.com example:

The "End of Software" became Salesforce.com's viewpoint, mantra and vision. All from this "simple" 2x2 framework.

Viewpoint is all about framing the marketplace discussion, so you can then deliver your value to the customers who see through your market viewpoint. Salesforce's value came in the proposition of lower TCO, faster Time to Value, and greater utilization than traditional CRM software packages. And while "the End of Software" viewpoint did not sell any customers, it set a powerful market context for Salesforce to define and own the emerging SaaS CRM category, and create their own cash cow business.

Jim Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape, and one of the most amazing bosses I've ever had once said,

"In the battle the bear and the alligator, the victor is determined by the terrain"

By articulating a compelling and meaningful viewpoint, organizations create the terrain so that they emerge winners.

Never Punt - Winning by Challenging Conventional Wisdom

2012-02-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

Unless you are a hardcore (American) football fan, or happened to just catch the latest episode of HBO Real Sports, you may have never heard of Coach Kevin Kelley of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock Arkansas. But if you are a football fan, I'd imagine you may hear about him soon even if you forget about this blog. You see, Kelley's teams haven't punted since 2006. And in that time he has taken his small 350 kid school into the national top 100 rankings and to 3 state championships while winning well over 90% of his games...

You can Google him and easily learn more...here's a couple of quotes from a Sept 09 Sports Illustrated Article on Kelley:

"The average punt in high school nets you 30 yards, but we convert around half our fourth downs, so it doesn't make sense to give up the ball," Kelley says. "Besides, if your offense knows it has four downs instead of three, it totally changes the game. I don't believe in punting and really can't ever see doing it again.

and

He means ever. Consider the most extreme scenario, say, fourth-and-long near your own end zone. According to Kelley's data (much of which came from a documentary he saw), when a team punts from that deep, the opponents will take possession inside the 40-yard line and will then score a touchdown 77% of the time. If they recover on downs inside the 10, they'll score a touchdown 92% of the time. "So [forsaking] a punt, you give your offense a chance to stay on the field. And if you miss, the odds of the other team scoring only increase 15 percent. It's like someone said, '[Punting] is what you do on fourth down,' and everyone did it without asking why."

So what's going on here and what's it got to do with this blog, SaaS and Product Marketing? I think quite a bit. Here's why...

Despite the overwhelming evidence and success of his strategy (he also onside kicks on every kickoff and lets opposing punts roll un-fielded) and his growing popularity at coaches clinics and the like, it is not apparent that Kelley has attracted many disciples. He's probably OK with that as he is amassing huge competitive advantage over his opponents. As the SI article continues:

Which is to say that most football coaches aren't simply averse to risk—no shock, there—but that they make choices at odds with statistical probability, akin to blackjack players standing on 11. The explanation: Subject as they are to scrutiny, coaches have incentive to err on the side of conservatism.

This brings me full circle to one of my favorite topics and soapboxes, Experience Marketing. While conventional B2B marketing wisdom is that only very well qualified and vetted buyers should see demos or receive trials, without fail, in every scenario I have seen, the number one predictor of sales cycle success is the presence of a trial/POC or other real hands on experience.

Yet I see time and time again, sales and marketing teams in SaaS organizations, that could easily move the trial or experience to the front of the marketing and sales cycle, hang on to conventional wisdom, hiding or gating the actual product experience. Whether this is because of fear of failure or simple rejection of the new, or concern over investor or CEO second guessing, those in the old product mindset are punting away opportunity every day.

I have one thing to say to them: "DON'T PUNT - JUST GO FOR IT ". Whether that means a try and buy, freemium model or live demo instances, put EXPERIENCE front and center in your go to market strategy and tactics. IT WILL give you the Kelley No Punt advantage.

It's no surprise that Kelley is out on the corporate speaking circuit talking about thinking outside of the box. It's a simple recipe for winning. Look at the data. See it in a new way. Change your mindset. Have the courage to ask. Where else can cloud providers get a Kelley advantage...if you know, act now and win!

Join Me at SaaS U in Austin

2012-01-31T15:59:00.000-08:00

I'm extremely honored to have been chosen to serve on the faculty for this event. I sure hope some of my Silicon Valley colleagues can join me and the rest of the SoftLetter Faculty and Staff in Austin for this incredible 3 days... Enjoy SaaS U for the first 2 days, and then join me for my positioning workshop. Use the code below for additional savings...

Softletter's SaaS University: Marketing, Selling,
Infrastructure and Financing Conferences, 2012

Since 2007, Softletter has hosted the industry's mostcomprehensive series of conferences on SaaS. Conferences have been held inAtlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Washington,DC. New markets, opportunities, and obstacles are opening up as the softwareindustry shifts towards the Cloud and a computing environment that provides24/7/52 availability, communities of customers, and customer service andsupport issues that transcend anything ever seen by firms in the on premise,client/server markets!

SPECIAL SAVINGS FOR KJR Friends and Associates : Now SaaS University comes to Austin, Texas,February 28/29th, March 1^st. Register to attend at www.softletter.com. Save $100 off the Early Bird pricing with coupon: KJRSAVE100. Coupon courtesy of KJR Associates.

MY saas product positioning workshop - March 1st

Poking Through theClouds: A Workshop That Builds Powerful, Sustainable, Breakthrough Positioning

This workshop will unlockyour hidden positioning strengths, free you from your preconceived notions and putyou on the path to accelerated revenue and market success. Using methods that have been proven to deliverresults for SaaS and software providers in multiple market segments, wewill rapidly develop powerful customer centric positioning. With your offeringsand market challenges as our canvas, we will paint the picture of yourbreakthrough, market winning proposition. Facilitated by Ken Rutsky

SaaS University Program Overview Feb 27 and 28

· 28 Sessions

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· Kevin O'Brien, Senior Director, ISV & SaaSStrategy for Worldwide Alliances and Channels, Oracle Corporation