Today's buyer is more empowered, skeptical and frugal than ever before – a tougher audience to say the least. With Frugalnomics in full effect, how do you best connect, engage and sell to this new breed of buyer? Research has proven that using the right topics, sources and formats can help you break through the current buyer malaise to uncover more opportunities, un-stick stalled sales, and drive significant sales growth. This important webinar discusses the results of the IDC's 2011 Buyer Experience Survey, highlighting key buying preferences distilled from over 300 buyers, and revealing the hottest topics, sources and formats you can use today to grow sales. A must attend for marketing executives, content marketers, sales executives and sales enablement professionals, you will learn: Why and how buyers are evolving How your sales & marketing departments must change to keep pace What topics, sources and formats your customers rely on to make the right investment decisions What new provocative and value-focused content and tools are proving most effective The Top 5 things you can do today to better connect, engage and sell

1. Randy Perry Tom Pisello
IDC VP Business Value Alinean Chairman &
Strategy Founder
http://www.idc.com http://www.alinean.com
The Right Topics, Sources and Formats –
5 Ways to Drive Sales & Marketing Success
© 2011 IDC Oct-11

2. Agenda
1) Latest IDC Research on Today’s IT Buyers
2) What the research reveals about Sales & Marketing
Success
3) Top 5 Tips for Sales & Marketing Success
4) Next Step Recommendations
© 2011 IDC Oct-11 2

3. Source and Relevancy Are Important!
Q. For your technology buying process, which of the following is more important to you? The
source of the information, the topic of information, or the format in which you receive the
information?
Source
Topic
Format
0 10 20 30 40 50
Distribution of a pool of 100 points
n=339
Source: e.g., Vendor , press, independent authority, peers
Topic: e.g., Vendor assessment, ROI data, industry trends, product functionality, case study, white paper you might read
Delivery format: e.g., a webcast you might listen to or a conference you might attend
© 2011 IDC WWW.IDC.COM/GMS 3

4. Tip #1: The Right Source
Q. How valuable are each of the following sources of information in assisting you with your
information technology purchase decisions?
Peers
Independent Analysts/Researchers
IT and Business Consultants
All are strong –
Vendors
a mix is best
Journalists/Press/Media
0 2 4 6 8 10
Scale of 1 to 10
(1=“not at all valuable”; 10=“very valuable”.
Source: e.g., Vendor , press, independent authority, peers
Topic: e.g., Vendor assessment, ROI data, industry trends, product functionality, case study, white paper you might read
Delivery format: e.g., a webcast you might listen to or a conference you might attend
© 2011 IDC WWW.IDC.COM/GMS 4

5. Tip #2: Relevant Vendor Content Is Valued
Q. As part of your pre-purchase IT product or solution-related activities, please indicate the
relative importance of the following on your decision-making process by using a pool of 100
points.
Consumption of vendor content*
Interaction with vendors' technical teams
(e.g., engineers, CTO)
Interaction with sales representatives
Interaction with vendors' corporate executives
(e.g., CEO, COO)
Other
0 10 20 30 40
Distribution of a pool of 100 points
n=339
* Vendor Content: e.g., Collateral, white papers, case studies, webcasts, product information, other information available on their
web site
© 2011 IDC WWW.IDC.COM/GMS 5

6. Tip #3: Right Topic at Right Time
60% Format
Podcasts
55% (Downloadable)
Audio
50% (Listen Online)
Percentage of Respondents
Video
45% (View Online)
Webcast
40% (Participate Online)
Documents
35%
(View Online)
30% Documents
(Downloadable)
25% Interactive Tools
(Calculators Etc.)
20% Interactive Games
(Competitions, Contests)
15%
General Business Case Implementation Shortlist Final Decisions Post Purchase
Education Developmen Scenarios Creation Source: 2011
© 2011 IDC WWW.IDC.COM/GMS 6

7. Tip #3: Right Topic at Right Time
Source: Alinean
© 2011 IDC Oct-11 7

8. Tip #4: Right Delivery Medium
© 2011 IDC WWW.IDC.COM/GMS 8

9. Tip #5: Business Value Messaging Essential
Bridges the Sales Effectiveness Divide
…Enhancing
Show me
the value
your existing
Assessment Tools
Sales
Processes
ROI white papers
Customer 3.0 Sales Rep 3.0
90% of businesses require a
business case
Best solution
81% expect their vendors to
ROI Tools value to meet
supply the case; but…
your IT & business
85% doubt vendor claims
objectives with
unless there is a 3rd party
fastest ROI
Case studies
© 2011 IDC Oct-11 9

10. When Does Business Value Messaging
Influence Technology Purchase Decisions
Provides an objective assessment of specific IT investment
options to help buyers decide…
 When to buy new technology
 Which technology to buy
 Standardized vs. Best of breed
 Outsourcing
 Prioritization of IT initiatives
 IT Convergence
 Cloud
 Big Data
 Social Business
 Green Technology
© 2011 IDC Oct-11 10

11. © 2011 IDC Oct-11

12. Why Dynamic White Papers?
Infuse white papers with relevance, personalization and one to
one communication
Multiplies the value of a white paper – now it is valuable in both the
discovery phase and decision phase of the buying decision cycle
Pivot points make a white paper personalized and interactive
 In addition to financial factors..
 Industry, location, size, maturity, pain points etc. which
means…
Integrate with Lead Management systems such as Eloqua,
MarketFirst and Salesforce.com, collecting and passing key contact
and profile information on to your sales team
© 2011 IDC Oct-11 12

13. Dynamic White Papers:
How they work
1. Users read an abstract of the whitepaper online and click to
“Personalize the Whitepaper”
2. Users complete 5-10 personalization questions
3. Answers are used to customize the white paper
 industry or location-specific content, financial/ROI type variables,
benefit statements, and/or other dynamic analysis results
4. Users click the “Download” button and complete registration
to download their personalized White Paper
5. The “Return” access feature allows users to revisit their
White Paper at a later date and modify their input and as
needed
© 2011 IDC Oct-11 13

14. Dynamic White Paper
Allow your customers and prospects to create their own
customized version of your IDC White Paper, tailored to their
inputs.
Ask a few questions up front…
© 2011 IDC Oct-11 14

15. Dynamic White Paper
And turn this…
Into this!
© 2011 IDC Oct-11 15

16. Top 5 Ways to Drive Sales & Marketing
Success
1. Relevant Vendor Content is Highly Valued
2. Right Source
3. Right Topic and Timing
4. Right Medium
5. Business Value Messaging Essential
© 2011 IDC Oct-11 16

17. Questions?
© 2011 IDC Oct-11

18. Next Steps
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId
=IDC_P6958
http://www.fightfrugalnomics.com
Ask the ROI Guy FAQ
http://www.alinean.com/faq/
© 2011 IDC Oct-11

19. Thank You!
© 2011 IDC Oct-11