Human Resource Outsource Provider Case Study

Defined approach for effectively pursuing strategic partnership options, diversified go-to-market strategies, and supplemented sales force initiatives.

Situation and Challenge

• The company historically had relied on a field sales team to generate leads and close new customers
• The company had a number of sales force improvement and expansion initiatives underway in order to hit aggressive long-term goals
• We were asked to define the approach for effectively pursuing strategic partnership options to diversify their go-to-market strategies and supplement the sales force initiatives

Approach

• Identified and prioritized options that would complement sales force initiatives and would not require significant participation from the sales force
• Conducted a series of internal interviews to understand the target customer profile, value messages, the company’s previous and existing partnerships, and barriers to growth in the marketplace
• Examined numerous potential organizations that interact with the target customers
• Used our The Nine Voices of the Market® approach to conduct in-depth interviews with  potential partners and industry experts to assess the feasibility of partnership with our client
• Developed a ‘Partner Selection Decision Tree” framework to comprehensively assess potential partnerships

Impact

• Defined 6 common characteristics of high potential partners to pursue
• Refined the company’s value messages and a full explanation for why potential partners should work with the company, not competitors
• Developed internal capabilities required to obtain and properly execute strategic partnerships including the addition of a partnership czar, an internal telesales team, customer service selling capabilities, etc.
• Empowered the sales force to pursue high potential partnerships that require a number of contact points to be nurtured and managed in order to successfully generate a significant amount of new business.