Discover Your Distinctive Competencies with Buyer Interviews
Discover Your Distinctive Competencies with Buyer Interviews Alan Armstrong: Founder, Eigenworks Paul Young: Instructor, Pragmatic Marketing
About the Presenters Alan Armstrong • Veteran VP of Product Management, Business Development, Sales,
Marketing; 3 startups, 2 public companies • Founder of Toronto Product Management Association (tpma.ca) • Founder and Principal of Eigenworks Inc. (eigenworks.com)
Paul Young • 15 years Executive-level experience in product management and marketing; managed teams in startups and Fortune 50 companies • Founder of ProductCamp Austin (productcampaustin.org) • Pragmatic Marketing Instructor since 2010
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Agenda Webinar Objectives • Define and understand distinctive competencies • Understand how your distinctive competencies affect
your strategy • Outline a method to discover your distinctive
competencies through the eyes of your buyers
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Distinctive Competencies Your “unique” ability to create value • To your customers • To your owners
Good distinctive competencies • Create leverage • Differentiate you • Raise barriers to entry
Distinctive Competencies vs. Technology Assessment
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Distinctive Competency Types Innovation • Making complex simple – Stripe, Slack • Innovation via acquisition – Cisco
Operational Excellence • Worldwide fulfillment and shipping – Amazon • Negative inventory – Wal-Mart • Standardization – Southwest Airlines
Customer Intimacy • “White glove” treatment – Zappos, Nordstroms, BMW • Consciousness – Toms, Warby Parker
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Ignoring Distinctive Competencies Takes you away from what makes you great Forces you to build new competencies You may be fighting the competition on their strength Can create a disconnect in your positioning
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Which is Your Market Like?
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Can a Storage Company Differentiate?
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Qumulo
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Every company has a genius…
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Typical Development Cycle
Distinctive Competencies
Product
Marketing
Sales
Market
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Leveraging Buyers to Direct Genius Distinctive Competencies
Pervasive Unsolved Problem
Product
Marketing
Sales
Market
Buyer
16
By Leveraging Buyer Interviews, Qumulo Found a Unique Position The world’s first (and only) Data-Aware NAS
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What if you can’t start from scratch?
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Step 1: Nail it, Today Use Win interviews to curate your current unique strengths, capitalize on competitive weaknesses Use Loss interviews to mitigate weaknesses Start with 20-30 interviews; then continue sampling every quarter
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What You Will Discover…
You can win on usability if you focus sales and demos on buyer-centric use cases.
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What You Will Discover…
Listening for use cases will help you discover clear market segmentation.
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What You Will Discover…
Differentiated offerings command a 20% price premium.
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Step 2: Differentiate for Tomorrow Distinctive Competencies
Differentiated Product
Buyer
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Go Deeper with “The Five Why’s”
Tell me…
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Digging deeper into Win/Loss This is what buyer tells the seller
Actual sticking points are below the surface
Buyer Stance
• Price • Not moving forward • Account stops responding • Waiting for platform upgrade
Context & Politics
Value
• Strength of champion • Stakeholder buy-in • Financial environment • Visibility of the problem/solution • How does product accomplish goals? • What changes would be required? • Does product undermine other interests?
You Can Pull Ahead
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More Information Contacts: • Alan Armstrong
[email protected] @AWArmstrong
• Paul Young
[email protected] @ptyoung
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Thank you for attending! Download this webinar and sign up for more at
pragmaticmarketing.com/live
About the Presenters Alan Armstrong • Veteran VP of Product Management, Business Development, Sales,
Marketing; 3 startups, 2 public companies • Founder of Toronto Product Management Association (tpma.ca) • Founder and Principal of Eigenworks Inc. (eigenworks.com)
Paul Young • 15 years Executive-level experience in product management and marketing; managed teams in startups and Fortune 50 companies • Founder of ProductCamp Austin (productcampaustin.org) • Pragmatic Marketing Instructor since 2010
2
Agenda Webinar Objectives • Define and understand distinctive competencies • Understand how your distinctive competencies affect
your strategy • Outline a method to discover your distinctive
competencies through the eyes of your buyers
3
Distinctive Competencies Your “unique” ability to create value • To your customers • To your owners
Good distinctive competencies • Create leverage • Differentiate you • Raise barriers to entry
Distinctive Competencies vs. Technology Assessment
4
Distinctive Competency Types Innovation • Making complex simple – Stripe, Slack • Innovation via acquisition – Cisco
Operational Excellence • Worldwide fulfillment and shipping – Amazon • Negative inventory – Wal-Mart • Standardization – Southwest Airlines
Customer Intimacy • “White glove” treatment – Zappos, Nordstroms, BMW • Consciousness – Toms, Warby Parker
5
Ignoring Distinctive Competencies Takes you away from what makes you great Forces you to build new competencies You may be fighting the competition on their strength Can create a disconnect in your positioning
6
7
8
9
10
Which is Your Market Like?
11
Can a Storage Company Differentiate?
12
Qumulo
13
Every company has a genius…
14
Typical Development Cycle
Distinctive Competencies
Product
Marketing
Sales
Market
15
Leveraging Buyers to Direct Genius Distinctive Competencies
Pervasive Unsolved Problem
Product
Marketing
Sales
Market
Buyer
16
By Leveraging Buyer Interviews, Qumulo Found a Unique Position The world’s first (and only) Data-Aware NAS
17
What if you can’t start from scratch?
18
Step 1: Nail it, Today Use Win interviews to curate your current unique strengths, capitalize on competitive weaknesses Use Loss interviews to mitigate weaknesses Start with 20-30 interviews; then continue sampling every quarter
19
What You Will Discover…
You can win on usability if you focus sales and demos on buyer-centric use cases.
20
What You Will Discover…
Listening for use cases will help you discover clear market segmentation.
21
What You Will Discover…
Differentiated offerings command a 20% price premium.
22
Step 2: Differentiate for Tomorrow Distinctive Competencies
Differentiated Product
Buyer
23
Go Deeper with “The Five Why’s”
Tell me…
24
Digging deeper into Win/Loss This is what buyer tells the seller
Actual sticking points are below the surface
Buyer Stance
• Price • Not moving forward • Account stops responding • Waiting for platform upgrade
Context & Politics
Value
• Strength of champion • Stakeholder buy-in • Financial environment • Visibility of the problem/solution • How does product accomplish goals? • What changes would be required? • Does product undermine other interests?
You Can Pull Ahead
26
More Information Contacts: • Alan Armstrong
[email protected] @AWArmstrong
• Paul Young
[email protected] @ptyoung
27
Thank you for attending! Download this webinar and sign up for more at
pragmaticmarketing.com/live
