Background
CustomerSure are a SaaS firm, selling a Voice of the Customer platform to large midmarket firms.
They are recognised internationally by firms offering a ‘premium’ customer experience, both for their unusually easy-to-use product and true ‘partnership’ approach to improving CX, but lack broad market recognition due to under-investment in sales and marketing.
Problem
CustomerSure’s leadership team identified that to grow the business beyond its existing niche, they needed a strong commercial strategy, a clearer understanding of their existing ideal customers, stronger positioning of the business to more-clearly demonstrate CustomerSure’s unique value to these customers, and proven, repeatable tactics to present the repositioned business to these ideal customers.
Solution
Dan assumed full responsibility for the project, outlining a prioritised plan that detailed the necessary steps, their projected completion times, and the expected outcomes.
At the outset of the 12-week engagement, Dan devoted several hours to discussions with key team members, aiming to deeply understand our core values and operational methods. Additionally, he conducted interviews with a select group of our 'ideal' customers. These preliminary actions were designed to bridge the gap between our articulated value proposition and the real benefits perceived by our clients.
Following these initial steps, Dan produced a comprehensive report that highlighted his findings and offered strategic recommendations. He facilitated collaborative workshops to refine our business's approach to description, positioning, and marketing. The new strategy that emerged was the game-changer we knew we had been waiting for and signified a pivotal shift in our methodology for communicating our value and targeting our audience. Importantly, Dan then played an instrumental role in embedding these strategies into our business operations, which included:
Developing a new slide deck to enhance our sales process.
Assisting in the creation of a 12-month marketing plan, improving our website content, generating new lead magnets, and other marketing materials.
Introducing a variety of valuable, practical best practices across lead generation, marketing, sales, and customer success.
A key insight from Dan's analysis was the realisation that we had underrepresented the value of our Customer Success services—a vital component that had been previously overlooked or only vaguely mentioned, thus failing to connect with the specific challenges our clients encountered.
In response, Dan guided us in more formally structuring our Customer Success service, making it more systematic and an integral part of our standard process with every customer. He led efforts to refine how we describe and visually represent this service, enhancing its communicability to potential clients. This newfound clarity regarding our Customer Success services was crucial to the project's success, transforming an area of significant value from being nearly invisible to prospects into a pivotal element of discussions at every stage of the sales and marketing process.
Outcome
We are now significantly better positioned for expansion beyond our successful niche into a broader market. Our understanding of our target customers has deepened, as has our grasp of the reasons they choose our services. Equipped with more effective language and tools, we can more convincingly showcase our expertise in customer success. This preparation enhances our confidence in engaging with potential customers, enabling us to communicate the value they will derive from our services in a manner that resonates with them.
In the latter stages of Dan's consultancy, we achieved a milestone by closing our second-largest client deal ever, a testament to the effectiveness of the strategies honed through our recent collaboration with Dan. This accomplishment was especially noteworthy as the client exemplified the "ideal customer profile" we had delineated and aimed for with our updated business strategy, an endeavour directly influenced by our work with Dan. This initial triumph acts as a solid confirmation of the strategic path we embarked on with Dan, highlighting its significant potential to catalyse our future growth.
“... opening up a whole new world of upselling and expansion opportunities. Everyone in the business has embraced working with Dan, and we hope to engage more with him in future.”