Few thoughts on campaigns and crusades. Market campaigns are so underestimated when considering opportunity management. However, they must be implemented in a sensible way.

1. SS
Ten Slides in Ten Minutes:
Client Crusades and Campaigns
[Capturing the Hearts and Minds of Prospects & Clients]
Presented by:
Bill Graham APM.APMP
bill.graham@sales-synthesis.co.za
January, 2014

2. The Sustainable Business Imperative
Making the competitors irrelevant
Absent
Emerging
Pervasive
Dominant
Exclusive
Symbiotic
relationship
with clients
Focus on Client’s
Business Imperatives
Crusades and Campaigns expedite the journey
Sustainability
People
Performing
Pertinent
Projects
Particular
Places
Building mutually beneficial and sustainable long-term client relationships
Source: www.sales-synthesis.co.za
2

3. The Client Value Continuum Needs to be Understood
Identify where Value is Defined and Realised
Value Proposition
Value Definition
Value Derivation
Client
X
Validate Solution
Functionality
Realise the Benefits
Vendor
Understand the
Problem
Architect Solution
X
Focal
Point
Lengthy discourse with the prospects are necessary to identify the problem they
are attempting to resolve [Account Management]
Source: www.sales-synthesis.co.za
3

4. Client-Centric Service Providers ‘Resonate’ with their Clients
Working with clients is a continuous crusade for any service provider organisation
• They repeatedly strive to please their clients
• They design the correct offerings for the correct clients
• They build their organisations around cross-functional & virtual teams
• They make decisions that resonate with clients
• They seek to create positive, memorable experiences for their clients.
‘Many companies have the client focus of a vulture - they pay close attention to
what the clients are up to, but only in order to figure out the right time to
pounce and tear at their flesh!’
- Charles Green
Source: FiServ
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5. Undertake Rigorous Situational Analysis
When developing strategies, analysis of the organisation and its environment - as it is at
the moment and how it may develop in the future - is an imperative.
The analysis has to be executed at an internal level as well as an external level, to
identify all possible opportunities and threats posed by the new strategy.
There are several factors to assess in the external situation analysis:
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Industries & Trends
Markets (customers) & their business imperatives
Competition & their value chain
Technologies & their pedigree
Solutions portfolio
Supplier markets
Labour markets
The economy
The regulatory environment.
Symbiotic
relationship
with clients
Store the munitions for your
journey and craft the plan [Who,
When, Where & How etc.]

6. Select the Applicable Marketing Strategy
A relevant strategy can only be selected/adopted by using a robust Account Plan as primary source of input
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Strategies based on market dominance
Porter generic strategies
Innovation strategies
Growth strategies
Aggressiveness strategies
Warfare based strategies
Each is well documented and
can be implemented with ease
The correct strategy will be required for both clients and Industries
Does your organisation have – and utilise - strategic thinkers
6
Slide:

7. Develop the Campaign Strategy & Implement
•
Facilitate and manage the campaign strategy development process
•
Include the relevant portions of the solutions portfolio (incl. product & service lines)
•
Develop and implement an external/internal communication/s strategy
•
Undertake market research, interpretation and organisational infusion
•
Plan and facilitate strategic marketing interventions
•
Implement professional – and formal - marketing investment management.
Include brand management and
brand value management
Focus on Client’s
Business Imperatives
Ensure correct selection of
portfolio solution/s
Source: Various
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Symbiotic
relationship
with clients
Foster innovation and creativity while
encouraging staff to question
conventional thinking

8. Maintain an Independent Holistic View of the Campaign & Marketplace
Points to Ponder:
1.
Do not allow organisational positional power to compromise a pertinent & workable campaign
2.
Ensure that the marketing department focuses on Strategic Market Development & not just PR
3.
Continue to identify the key operational challenges facing the client & address in the campaign
4.
Leverage all relevant channels to deliver the value derivation message to clients and Industries
5.
Work with Subject Matter Experts/Masters to ensure the build of innovative and relevant solutions
6.
Clients choose to do business with companies that provide the solutions they need
7.
Continuously delivery excellent service, as clients will quickly abandon a business relationship
when service quality does not live up to their expectations
8.
The Service Provider must find ways to satisfy increasingly demanding clients while decreasing
their own operating costs and improving profit margins and retention
9.
All client engagements must support client centricity, client service quality and loyalty
10. An engagement model must be produced to interlock with the client’s business model.
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9. Measure the Outcome: Success or Otherwise
Direct impact of the Campaign: Compare revenue changes against financial investment
Additional value may be derived from intangibles, for example:
• Brand Awareness interventions: Extent to which a brand is recognised by the focused
marketplace and is correctly associated with a particular solution
• Market research that can be infused into Account Plan crafting
• Client feedback that can be shared with the product development department
• Identification of new/emerging markets and solution requirements
• Dwell Time (Internet marketing): The amount of time a website visitor expends on a
specific website.
+
Return on
Marketing
Investment
(ROMI)
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10. Closing:
Strategic Market Development supports the full lifecycle of Opportunity Management
Market
Management
Client
Abundance
of
Solutions
Prompts:
• Global trends
• Industry knowledge
• Unfolding
opportunities
• Emerging risks
Account Managers
should be “Thought
Leaders” in specific
industries
Relationship
Building
Prompts:
• Pedigree/s
• Preferences
• Requirement/s for
advancement
• Resource alignment
• Communication plan/s
Account Managers
need to be articulate &
be the Single Point of
Contact [SPOC]
Selection
of
Solutions
Opportunity
Scouting
Prompts:
• Wants vs. needs
• Resourcing
requirements
• Solutions vs. Risks
• Ability to deliver
• Competition
Account Managers
need to understand
the clients’ needs and
deliver against this
need
Client Crusades and Campaigns support the full lifecycle of Opportunity Management
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Source: www.sales-synthesis.co.za
Mutually
Agreed
Solutions