Rule 32

Get Ready, Set, Juggle!

Ignoring any one area could prevent the solution from reaching its full potential

Companies often underestimate the investment and challenges of launching solution offerings. Initially, some view a solution as simply a different marketing approach to existing products. While this may get some traction at first, customers quickly recognize that there are missing pieces, and that the company is overpromising on results. A vendor that markets a solution while still offering a product will find that previously satisfied customers turn to larger, more horizontally integrated vendors to meet raised expectations.

To deliver a complete solution, be ready to balance many internal requirements. Complement marketing efforts with investment in sales skills, new alliances, and product enhancements and integration. Ignoring any one area could prevent the solution from reaching its full potential for revenue and even lead to customer defections.

  1. Select the use cases where the solution can provide the greatest value, and which customers see as critical to their success. (See rule 21 for more on use cases.)
  2. Identify all the audiences that influence solution purchases. They are likely to be different from the people who made decisions about individual product purchases. For each decision maker, pinpoint the objectives that you can influence directly. (See rules 15, 17, and 18.)
  3. Determine what functionality is critical, and how to make the solution most readily usable by customers. Start with core solution components, but develop a road map for the capabilities and partners that you will want to add as the solution evolves. (See rule 28 for a model of how solutions evolve.)
  4. Gain agreement from and/or educate all key solution participants— marketing, sales, support, services, and partners—on the contribution they will be making to selling and delivering solutions. (See rules 3 and 4 about cross-functional execution.)
  5. Assess the capabilities and skills of your salespeople and channel partners. They will need education and tools to enhance existing skills. To drive early sales and continue the transfer of skills and expertise to the sales force, you may need specialists or a “deal support offce” with in-depth solution and domain expertise. Specialists must have two objectives: help close solution deals, and educate sales reps to be capable of selling the solution independently. (See rules 37 through 41 on channel empowerment.)
  6. Articulate the concrete value of the complete solution, and back it up with customer success stories. Talk to customers about the measurable impact they seek from a complete solution, and closely track the business impact of pilots and early deployments. Test your reasoning about benefit and ROI claims with customers to ensure it’s credible. (See rules 19 through 23 about discovering and proving value.)
  7. Go to market in phases to balance investment and return. Begin with a well-defined small group of accounts. Rushing to a broad market too quickly, and without adequate references, experience, and processes in place, can frustrate both your sales organization and customers. (See rule 36 on stages of industry specialization, which are similar for horizontal solutions as well.)
  8. Expect a learning curve and actively manage the solution’s evolution. (See rule 6 about uncertainty.) Assembling or participating in a solution can elevate a company’s visibility within target accounts and raise average sales prices. Solutions gain the attention of new, often more powerful, decision makers. When the discussion is focused on value, solutions command higher average sale price and raise average deal size. Solutions turn that ecosystem into a virtual expanded sales force by cultivating an ecosystem of partners. Most importantly, solutions give companies the opportunity to address the buyer’s most essential needs, transforming their relationship with customers from tactical product vendor to trusted problem solver.