How do you support Your Analyst Team

Supplying References for Sales is Top Priority, Right?

WRONG.  Yes, supporting sales to shorten the sales cycle and assist in closing deals by providing customer references is important.  It should be a part of any reference-type program.  But, did you realize that most customers have found references to speak with BEFORE the sales person asks you for a reference?  Customers are very savvy.  They have many channels they use to gather information including social media, peer interactions and industry analyst conversations / reports.  So, if you look at the value of providing a reference for a sales deal which is a one to one activity and then look at providing a reference to an analyst which is a one to many, the latter can be much more effective.  Whether you are aware of it or not, your customers are reading and speaking with analysts every day.  If you are not feeding the analysts information about how current customers are using your solutions and allowing them to speak directly to those customers, they will go with the information they have.

Let me give you an example.  I just went through an exercise with my team where we were providing references to one of our Tier 1 analysts.  In preparation of that we spoke with 27 customers to hear about their use cases and satisfaction with our solutions.  During those calls, we asked them if they used analyst reports / conversations when making the decision to purchase our solutions.  Of the 27, 89% said they used the information to narrow the vendors down to the top 2 – 3.  7% said they used the information to select their vendor based on who was the leader in the report.  Only 1 said they were not sure if they used it.  That is pretty powerful. 

Bottom Line:  Don’t Ignore one of the most critical decision-making tools your customers use when selecting a vendor! Your Analysts!