Tech Growth Case Studies
Examples that demonstrate how we can help your business.
Market Segmentation, Ideal Client Identification
Pivot to A New Target Market
Background: A software developer had created an exciting new product but was having trouble getting traction with their initial targeted set of customers.
Discovery process: We sat down with the CEO and leadership team to break down the core benefits of the product, and identified target markets that would benefit the most from these attributes. We also assessed the magnitude of need for the product within each segment, and assessed each segment’s ability to pay for the product.
Outcome: The CEO realized the initial target market was attractive, but another market had an even bigger problem that could be solved, and valued the solution much more strongly. By pivoting to this new market and adjusting the messaging to address the needs of that market, the company received positive customer feedback and grew their pipeline to over $1M within 4 months.
Creating A Successful Pricing and Channel Strategy
Price Increase Improves Market Position
Background: A hardware developer had built a successful business selling niche products directly to end-users. After several years of meager growth, he realized in order to scale he needed to engage channel partners to help sell his product. But after several attempts to engage partners, none seem interested or willing to sell his product.
Discovery: We reviewed his pricing and channel strategy, we had two major discoveries. First, his low unit pricing was largely derived from a markup of his cost of goods, not from the value the product delivered in the market. Secondly, the low sales price left no room for partners to make any money on a transaction, without leaving the hardware company without enough profit margin to survive. So we created a new pricing strategy for an upcoming hardware revision being released later that year, with new elevated pricing that better reflected the value being delivered to the customers. Additionally, this higher price point was sufficient to entice partners to engage in selling the product as well, opening up a new channel of distribution for their product.
Outcome: By simply increasing prices to a competitive level in the market, the company dramatically increased their direct-sales profit margins, drove meaningful indirect sales through partners, and enhanced their perceived market position by having a selling price that correlated to the perceived quality of their product. These changes all occurred without increasing headcount or expenses, so every dollar increase dropped to the bottom line.
Validating Product-Market-Fit
Narrowing Focus Pays Off
Background: A service provider in the Hospitality space identified a market gap and assembled a product/service offering to address the need. After successfully piloting with 5-10 clients and receiving good feedback, the firm asked for help with developing a Go-to-Market strategy to fuel significant growth.
Discovery process: While gathering background information to begin to assemble the Go-To-Market plans, a few concerns emerged about details of the offering. To validate the provider’s value proposition, we arranged for in-person interviews with potential prospects to better understand how competitors were solving the problem, and validating the perceived market gap that the provider was trying to solve.
Outcome: During these interviews, we uncovered several companies that were providing adjacent services to the prospects had solved the customer’s problem in a different way. These alternative approaches provided 90% of the benefit of the provider’s offering, with a fraction of the cost. The prospect’s desire to solve the problem was satisfied by this “good enough” solution, and there was little desire to add another product to solve the last 10% of the problem. The service provider gratefully pivoted their efforts to focus on the narrow portion of the market that hadn’t adopted their adjacent competitor’s “good enough” solutions, and avoided spending $100k+ in marketing and selling into a space who didn’t need their offering.
Ideal Client Definition, Using Personas for Messaging
A Message that Hit the Target
Background: A service provider in the computing and security space had deep experience and a loyal customer base but was frustrated by lack of new client growth.
Discovery process: After assessing their offering, their marketing and messaging, and their sales process, we identified a handful of areas for improvement. In their eagerness to close additional sales, they engaged with any and all prospects they could identify, and found their close rate was in the single digits. So we broke down their offering and identified the underlying business benefits for potential customers. Then we mapped these outcomes to the business types that most required these benefits. By identifying an Ideal Client profile, we could then develop messaging that fit the persona of those clients, with both technical and business-oriented messages.
Outcome: By narrowly focusing on their Ideal Client, with messaging that specifically addressed the personas within their Ideal Client, they immediately improved their lead-generation response and close rates. Additionally they found by not wasting time talking with potential customers that had little chance of buying their offering, they were reducing their overall workload yet increased their new customer revenue.