Accelerated End Market Share of Wallet

A Case Study: The Future Requires Platform Selling Strategy

A high-growth cloud computing company sought to identify future growth vectors and define prioritized, executable marketing and sales plays.

While the organization was rapidly growing in the small business and mid-market segments, the firm was challenged with undocumented growth processes and market targeting oriented solely around technical focus and alignment with the sales team.

The organization desired to develop a plan for its longer-term growth strategy by expanding outside of its legacy customer base (technical buyers) and increase its share of wallet. The company has been growing at ~60% annually and has a goal to sustain the current growth trajectory and corresponding investment profile.

Firm executives engaged Alexander Group to undertake a transformational shift in the company’s core value proposition from being a best-in-class product to being an “end-to-end” platform.

Approach: Market-Led Growth Assessment and Transformation

As a first step, Alexander Group performed a detailed current state analysis of the market landscape and product/market fit. The project team reviewed existing market research, conducted interviews and voice of customer research, which identified areas for improvement.

Alexander Group assessed the firm’s coverage model and prioritization of end markets and account segments based on the propensity to buy and growth prospects. A point of view on account prioritization and buying group profiling for their customer base was then developed. This included the identification of opportunity-controlling buying stacks within buying groups and establishing buyer group pain points and use cases. Alexander Group then defined the portion of the market that would result in the greatest right to win based on the ability to develop an ideal customer profile.

Key Findings: Significant Greenfield and Whitespace Growth Opportunity

The analysis identified the best approach for the tech firm to grow market share. It was determined that the accounts within target verticals were 30% larger than non-target vertical accounts, and the top ten accounts in each sales representative’s book of business equaled 69% of all whitespace. This made it imperative that whitespace accounts were to be given top prioritization. The results led to the determination that the organization should target the greenfield and whitespace in the upper mid-market to lower enterprise segments (1,000-5,000 FTEs).

In addition to the market assessment, it was noted that the firm lacked integration of an operational workload model among colleagues to ensure that high-potential accounts were properly covered by sales and marketing. Alexander Group provided 1,300+ net new accounts to leverage account potential for targeting using a CRM system.

Recommendations and Results: The Right Market Entry with the Right Plays

After determining the firm’s growth opportunities and areas for improvement, Alexander Group took the following course of action:

• Market assessment—Located market opportunity, both in terms of “greenfield” and “whitespace”, building vertical profiles, geographic coverage maps and product-market fit assessments.
• Right to win and ideal customer profile—Defined the portion of the market of the greatest right to win based on the ability to develop an ideal customer profile, source new logos and use whitespace to prioritize install base engagement.
• Gaps in coverage—Ensured that key accounts are receiving adequate sales touches by appropriate resources. Formed a plan to fill gaps, either by hiring more headcount or transitioning roles.
• Buying stack and play alignment—Implemented a series of actionable, repeatable and aligned steps, used by both sales and marketing, that incorporate levers of the commercial engine to sell a product to a specific group of customers during a specific period in time.
• Buyer analyses and plays—Designed plays to address the pain points of highest-value buyer groups and event-driven opportunities. Created a process for play submission and approval.
• Account coverage model—Built a workload model to ensure high-potential accounts are properly covered and established a contact cadence for sales and marketing to fulfill that workload in a coordinated manner.
• Evaluation process—Established a consistent process for play review execution and optimization approval. Upon approval, sales representatives were aligned to go-to-market goals and are to conduct periodic play efficacy reviews.

By implementing Alexander Group’s recommendations, the tech firm is in place to sustain its growth trajectory and exhibit its new value proposition of an “end-to-end” solution through market segmentation, targeted coverage models and enhanced organizational design.

Learn more about Alexander Group’s Technology practices.