At Vixul, we emphasize the importance of focusing on the value you provide to the customer. This...
In our series on Account-Based Marketing (You can read these here: ABM 1, ABM 2, ABM 3, ABM 4, ABM 5), we discussed the value of a narrower, more targeted sales and marketing strategy aligned with specific accounts. Underlying the idea of a targeted outreach effort is a more important concept that is more critical for an early-stage IT services company. And that is the idea of strategic positioning. Your positioning is the value your customers perceive for you. It encapsulates how your customers are, why they’re coming to you, what you’re doing for them, and how you are doing it. Your entire go-to-market strategy will hinge on your positioning.
Your positioning is critical to how you handle each stage of your customer’s journey as they travel through the marketing funnel. We’re not saying that you won’t be successful in selling without a tight positioning. Indeed, we believe you need to make your first few sales before you fully develop your positioning because until you try to sell something, you don’t know what people are buying. Rather, positioning will improve your chances of success at every stage of the marketing funnel.
Positioning In Raising Market Awareness
At this stage, you are working with strangers. They are working on their own business and trying to solve their problems. Your goal is to get their attention so you can start to nurture your relationship with them until they are ready to buy tech services from you.
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Where Your Prospect Is |
Why Your Positioning is Critical |
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They are interested in specific areas. |
You target your marketing content to their specific area. |
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They network with their peers to learn from them. |
You have a known set of places where you can find them. |
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They are facing problems and are trying to find help for those problems. |
You make targeted marketing content specific to the problems they face. |
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They are busy and may not notice you on one notice. |
You are more memorable to them because of your focus. In addition, by concentrating your efforts, it will be easier for you to hit the “6 touches before a sale” rule of thumb. This includes the network effects of deeply penetrating their network. |
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They share their problems with peers. |
A strong positioning makes your expertise clearer and increases referrals. |
Positioning in Consideration
Congratulations, the prospect has noticed you. But that does not mean you can sell to them. They may be feeling some pains but not understand the problem or its solution. They also don’t trust you enough. Tech services are expensive. They’ll need to see the value and budget for it before they are ready to buy. Nurturing that relationship takes time and effort. The table shows how positioning for your tech services helps you nurture those relationships till the prospect is ready to buy.
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Where Your Prospect Is |
Why Your Positioning is Critical |
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They don’t understand their problem well enough. |
You have a deep understanding of the problem from your focus and are able to create targeted marketing content to make them aware of the problem and the solution. |
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They only have so much time to spend on education. |
By being focused on their area, they’ll decide to give their limited attention to you. |
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They don’t have the time to respond to every outreach. |
Since they respect you as an expert in their area that has provided them value, they are more open to talk to you, since they believe they’re likely to receive value. |
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They may find the information useful, but don’t consider bringing you on. |
You can have very targeted trigger events and content, like whitepapers and case studies, to prompt them to take action. |
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They are asking platform vendors for recommendations to implement the platforms. |
You will have a strong relationship with your choice of technology platform that will lead to them referring you to ready-to-buy customers. |
Positioning in Conversion
At this point the customer knows they want to solve the problem and are considering buying tech services from you. They may be looking at other vendors,internal teams, or deferring action but you are at least in the running. A focused positioning greatly increases your chances of winning the deal.
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Where Your Prospect Is |
Why Your Positioning is Critical |
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They have many existing vendors that they can work with and don’t need to take the risk of someone new or onboard someone. |
You are an expert in the problem they are trying to solve. You are seen as a lower risk than taking on a generalist. |
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They are used to working with large companies. |
With tight positioning, they don’t worry as much about your size since you’re only solving a specific problem for them. |
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They have everyone at their doorstep claiming they are the best option. |
Your claims of your area of expertise are more credible because you disclaim ability in areas outside your expertise. |
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They need to understand the solution they are buying. |
Your content can provide them with education on the problem and the solution, and since you’ve done the education they believe you are likely to be successful. |
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They need to find someone who will tell them what to do since the problem is new to them. |
Your expertise will allow you to go deeper into the problem so you will demonstrate to them frequently how you can tell that what they need to do. |
Positioning in Loyalty
Your positioning is important even after the customer signs on. The most important part of loyalty is from your delivery team. We’ll discuss how your delivery team performs better with tight positioning in a future article. However, the narrow focus helps account managers and solutions architects better sell tech services to existing customers.
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Where Your Prospect Is |
Why Your Positioning is Critical |
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The initial problem they came to you for is solved. |
You have a deep understanding of the problem and can build a roadmap for the customer |
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Their other vendors have an eye on the business going to you |
You can easily fend off the assaults because you are the expert in your area |
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They see you as a trusted source on the topic |
Continue to educate them and their team by showcasing your expertise and giving them ideas for additional improvements. |
Wrapping Up: Beyond Sales & Marketing
In this article, we discussed how positioning is a superpower, making everything easier and more effective as the customer advances through their journey. But the value of positioning goes beyond that. In the coming weeks, we’ll discuss how positioning affects different aspects of your emerging tech services business as a whole. To stay updated on the latest news, subscribe to the Vixul Blog.
