Appunti Customer-Based Marketing Strategy

KAM IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Digital and advanced analytics are changing the game for B2B. After an extensive survey made with

150 key accounts, the result revealed 3 specific area of KAM where there was a change in support,

customisation and tools to be used. Thee winning strategy requires a sophisticated digital experience

combined with the human touch where needed, it is a good opportunity for firms to be smart.

Marketers are moving away from broad-based messaging around products to account-based

marketing (ABM). There are 4 clear actions:

1. Define objective explicitly;

2. Define sales and marketing roles;

3. Set up the right tools and infrastructure;

4. Manage performance.

It is important to improve tools and to democratize account strategy, by many decision makers

distributed geographically and functionally, who buy multiple products/services. Hence, large sales

organizations are necessary. These are increasingly sophisticated, through the centralization of

purchasing, with more insights into supplier costs and an enhanced preparations for major

negotiations.

There are 3 general reccomandations. The first one is to male it about growth, not just easy of working.

Existing plans are not delivering insights on customer needs, not using up-to-date data and not sharing

information with other functions. APS institutionalizes information and makes it available to all, it

enabled leader to access the latest information and facilitated robust discussion on cross and up-

selling potential. The second one is to go all out on adoption, since ASP should be integrated into

critical processes and KAMs have to be convinced.

BUILDING NEXT GENERATIONS

McKinsey has been researching by a survey, where B2B sellers say they need to develop 3 top

capabilities:

1. Analytical and quantitative skills;

2. Solution selling;

3. Agile working practices.

Sales leaders will need granular data and AI analytics capabilities to identify the material and

interactions that are most effective, there is a need of a transformative approach implemented through

the following solutions. Sales managers need to be cultural change agents, managing constant changes

in go-to-market and offerings as well as building internal capabilities. Work in agile teams on agile

projects!

A Celebration of Trailblazers - Salesforce

Between companies and customers there are a lot of obstacles: inefficient systems, siloed data, manual

processes, large backlogs (it is not easy to remain at the top of the edge) and skills gap (not a lot of

people have the required skills to approach a job). Prospects are stakeholder who could be customers

for a company, so not current but potential.

CRM is useful to monitor the customers through every touchpoint (both digital and physical), since

it is pervasive in the interaction between companies and customers. It refers to how to help customers,

triggering what to buy. For everything we need an IT system, there are 2 possibilities: either you buy

a service, or you maintain a data center (like Salesforce does by using a could).

“A customer who is really satisfied is the best business strategy of all” and “Think different” are 2

important statements taken from Apple, since Mac Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce and one of the

founders, was working to it. He is considered to be a trailblazer, namely a pioneer, an innovator, a

lifelong leaner, a mover and shaker. He is a leader who leaves a path for others to follow and, most

importantly, who builds a better world for others. Transforming a customer into an evangelist is

important for everyone, also for Salesforce (p.s. Brunello Cuccinelli is one of its biggest customers).

Salesforce manages the “apartment building”, so the security, while each customer may enter in its

own “apartment” and even if they are very close they cannot access on others. His first disruption

was the democratization of the software, namely to provide CRM from the data center. Another one

was the semantic versioning: 1 major, 2 minor, 5 parch. All customers have access to the same

application, by having the same version at the same time. He wanted to put in place a company based

on a philantrophic model, which is “doing wall and doing good together” (Salesforce has achieved

100% renewable energy, it is net 0).

Salesforce was founded in 1999 and now is the fastest growing company between the top 5 enterprise

software companies. At the beginning, Marc invented AppExchange and at the same time Steve Jobs

was thinking about AppStore. With it, the company develops the CRM and customers can instore

apps to run new capabilities. It is guided by core values, namely: trust (it is the first one, since

companies upload the data of their customers there), customer success, innovation (in order to stay

always at the top of the edge), equality and sustainability (just added 3 years ago, by helping customer

to reach net 0).

Dreamforce is the yearly convention that it runs in San Francisco every year, it is the biggest business

event except for medichal events. The headquarter is the Salesforce Tower, which is the highest

building in San Francisco. Let’s start module 2 now…

MARKETING STRATEGY

As the seller, in the field of marketing strategy you have to understand how to solve a specific problem

for your customer in a way that makes him happy and you gaining money. The provider’s goals are:

survival, financial, social, etc.; the customer’s goals are solutions, well-being, benefits, etc. Hence,

the core of these mutually beneficial exchanges are both the customer and provider satisfaction. You

have to figure out what the customer wants and how to transform it in demand, where you have the

buying power (i.e., money) to back up. After a customer has bought a product, the interest of firms is

to have repeated purchases.

The evolution of marketing philosophy (and orientation)

There are different marketing philosophies, or orientations, that were develop as time passed by.

The first focus was on the production, by trying to minimise costs of the process, some companies

adopt the “low-cost and low-quality” strategy (e.g., private labels and Fiat). The second one is the

market philosophy, namely on product, but the risk here is that we are not meeting the needs of

customers. Apple is an example of a very product-oriented company, where sometimes customers are

not so happy about the new product’s features. The issue of innovation is that it pushes the whole

market forward, the fashion industry is a good example where firms create trends and customers adapt

to them. Sales and promotion orientation was used at a certain time by insurance companies, in order

to increase the monetary value of sales. The marketing orientation is different from the market one,

where we focus on customers and their problems that need to be solved. in this case, the attention

shifted from the product to understand customers’ wants. An example of companies in this case is

Lego or those cosmetic, while low-cost airlines are examples of companies that mix the production

and the market orientation. The last one is the societal orientation, where it adds a layer of social

benefits for society (i.e., equality, fair treatment, sustainable sources of materials, etc.). These

orientations make more sense in specific industries and less for some companies, there is not one

better then another. The most fitting for firms and industries, which of course may change over time.

For instance, IKEA.

Components and context of market orientation

The market-led organisational culture is characterised by several aspects. We start by a customer

orientation by continuously focus on them and by also collecting data about them, but it is not all.

The, we need to spread those info to other functions (e.g., PR, production department, sales, R&D,

etc.) with an inter-functional coordination. The focus must be on the long-term, which is necessary

for having in mind the end-goal, at the same time by having a competitor orientation, by considering

what other are doing. Marketing has been defined as “Marketing Intelligence”, due to the several

available data present and the opportunity of tracking/targeting well customers.

It is necessary to measure and manage customer expectations, which is done purely through

communication that is a very slippery slope. Lowering expectations just a little bit, in order to exceed

them in the end.

Antecedents and consequences of market orientation

The antecedents are: top management, which is characterized by emphasis and risk aversion; then

there is the interdepartmental dynamics, with the conflict and connections; lastly, the organizational

systems with the formalization, centralization, departmentalization and reward system. The market

orientation is formed by responsiveness, intelligence generation and dissemination. This will impact

employees, with the esprits de corp (i.e., company culture) and the organizational commitment, as

well as the business performance and the environment (market turbulence, competitive intensity,

technological turbulence).

It is not good to be very customer-led and market led, because we might drain resources too much

(perhaps, to be on the verge of bankruptcy). If you only focus on the organisational capabilities by

not paying attention to the market and not extending yourself so much, you might invest on an

innovation that does not back up (e.g., Nokia) and then you will be nowhere.

Organisational stakeholders

There is a number of crucial stakeholders for every firm, in addition to customers. Especially for

product-oriented companies that want to stand out from competitors, distributors and suppliers are

fundamental. Employees are hugely important, specifically when delivering services. All the loyalty

will come down to managers, since people do not leave companies but managers and they determine

the company culture. Finally, there are the shareholders who are divided in 2 groups: speculators,

who are going buy shares at the lowest price (short-term focus), and those who are more engaged

because they want the success of the company. Stakeholders shape, to a degree, some decisions that

the organization is going to take.

Marketing and performance outcomes

Starting from the market-oriented culture, the marketing resources are assets and capabilities; then,

the market performance is given by the customer satisfaction/loyalty and sales volume/market share.

Finally, the financial performance will be good if the previous one is also good. The cost aspect is not

exclusively under the control of the market department, it is more the revenue side but not the

operational costs.

The role of marketing in the organization

It is about identifying and communicating customer wants and needs throughtout the organisation, to

determine the competitive positioning to match the needs of customers with company capabilities, as

well as to marshal all relevant organisational resources to deliver customer satisfaction.

STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING

This is done differently depending on the type and size