think marketing to accelerate shared services or bpo growth
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Think Marketing to Accelerate Shared Services or BPO Growth
Deborah Kops
Deloitte Annual Shared Services and BPO Conference
Barcelona 28-29 September 2011
Accelerating growth is imperative
Mandatory to evolve the business model
Critical to achieve maximum benefit for stakeholders
Gets more executive attention
Creates momentum
Exploits synergies
Delivers ROI
Why is growth difficult to attain…
No executive hammer
Typical “build it and they will come”/order taker approach
No/few formal metrics requiring scale
Organizational focus primarily on solutions, delivery and governance
Lack of marketing strategy
…but not an uncommon challenge
Seen as empire building: perceived by stakeholders as political/power play
Natural plateaus: ability to scale beyond a certain size difficult
“Enough is enough” syndrome: Slower growth natural after 2-3 years
No capability: marketing/sales skills driving growth not common
Goes against the grain: unwelcome structural change for business unit- or geography-led organizations
Solved by Marketing?
Demonstrates visible, aggressive leadership
Influences and enables stakeholders to buy
Pushes consistency in business development
Imposes process, discipline and metrics
Promotes a brand which makes it safe and smart to shift to a new business model
Delivers a return on sourcing investment
Marketing shared services and BPO – easier than you think
Measurable – readily track cause and effect
Value proposition is obvious
Captive market; “hunting license”
Corporate knowledge—know how to play the game
Process – just like any other
Reference-able—can harness internal champions/customers to sell
What’s getting in the way?
Lack of capability: Historic focus on financial, sourcing/process acumen, not marketing/sales savvy
Too soft and squishy: belief that marketing is the domain of lightweights; detracts from value
“Build it and they will come” approach to scale
“What about this don’t you get” attitude—the facts should speak for themselves
Positioning: facilitator rather than driver of growth
Charter: CoEs, not internal commercial service providers
Think marketing to scale
Embed marketing skills within and across your organization
Develop a marketing plan linking growth with delivery and governance
Deploy eight vital marketing techniques
Become a company within a company,: think internal provider
Create Brand
Differentiate a shorthand for stakeholder engagement through logo and tagline
Launch (or relaunch) initiative to create momentum
Position as the “one and only”
Create customer pull
Convey consistent messaging, service promise and value proposition
Preoccupy the shared services organization
Engage before sales
Follow the rule of seven
Invest in education
Structure simple, fact-based messaging
Build relationships
Match buyer and seller
Fund industrial tourism
Keep the catalog on the shelf
Develop tools and techniques
Develop collateral pushed through multiple channels
Train team in strategic marketing and selling techniques
Incorporate marketing techniques throughout the engagement lifecycle
Design and enforce use of one set of messages, interventions and response models
Leverage all Channels
Beat the drum—message at corporate meetings/events
Harness the power of influencers
Co-opt user groups/advisory boards as marketing ambassadors
Go digital!
Climb on others’ bandwagons—link to other corporate initiatives
Aggressively confront fears
Deal with the reality of change of control
Be honest about risks
Don’t oversell-- “better than before”
Defuse the concept of ‘empire building’
Use case studies to debunk operating myths
Share competitors’ experiences as examples
Adapt solutions to eliminate minor risks
Take a consultative approach
Solve problems rather than shoehorn service
Be agnostic to solution
Tailor offerings by adjusting timing, phasing, process
Actively “co-solution”
View stakeholders as partners, not as an enemy to be conquered
Retreat to advance
Promote strategic rather than transactional value
Sell up the food chain – “mid process” or higher
Refuse stakeholder predilection to hive off “onesies and twosies”
Invest in relationships rather than score quick wins; defer low benefit opportunities
Target, not blanket
Track implications of business cycles, personalities and internal events for growth
Walk away from lost causes/one-offs/non accretive growth
Implement a tiered marketing strategy for account management
Focus sales on stakeholders with highest propensity to buy and scale
Parting words
Shared services operations are internal providers; providers must market to grow
Marketing is not being a salesman; it’s working with the stakeholder to develop the right solution in a way he/she can and will buy
By implementing marketing techniques, it is possible to change the game
Scale alone moves the dial; without scale, shared services and BPO have little impact
