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Polishing reputation Let's look at some results from the client's latest customer dialog. We discovered a number of valuable insights that amplified our efforts to augment the client's reputation. While the client's software costs less than its chief competitors', its customers value the product's unified design environment more than price. This is a much better position than price to take in the company's messaging. Other dialog questions exposed strengths and weaknesses of those competitors, giving the message even better positioning. We also asked questions about specific proof points, such as the level of productivity boost from using the client's software. The result: 84% said 2X or better. That is a powerful statistic now in use in the client's website and media communications. 
We took this and other dialog results to the blogosphere and trade media and received extensive coverage: inclusion in a cover story in EDN magazine and articles in major blogs and periodicals. In fact, if you look at the Chip Design magazine example, you'll even see a graph pulled directly from our dialog reports.In these and other ways, an intelligent dialog contributes directly to corporate reputation. Building revenue Now let's focus on the revenue side of the equation. Through careful questioning, we are able to identify the best evangelists in the customer pool and what they care about most. Their opinions are critical to refining the strategy to build revenue. For example, we ask them if they would serve as a reference. Fully 30% of the group said yes, representing hundreds of opportunities to pursue case studies for specific industries and job titles. In software, case studies are critical sales tools. We have found that these evangelists, if asked politely, are often willing to engage with prospects through social media. As the client's social media marketing agency, we monitor customer and prospect conversations around the world. Sometimes we find individuals who are evaluating the client's products and asking for opinions. On more than one occasion, we've been able to invite an evangelist to respond to such an individual. This technique takes a great deal of finesse and respect, but pays off directly in both reputation and eventual sales. We also take the intelligent dialog responses to fine tune the sales process itself. For example, we have much better intelligence about the size and responsiveness of various market segments. We find out how long the sales cycle is and at what level sales decisions are made. We learn the average size of the customers' designs. All this information and more comes right out of the dialog reporting and is immediately useful in refining the sales process. The whats and whys, in weeks Many of these questions could be answered by listening to customers over time—through traditional means like customer visits and trade shows, and using social media monitoring tools as McBru does. But an intelligent dialog is a better choice when you need answers to specific questions fast. Under the right circumstances, you can engage hundreds or thousands of individuals and derive actionable answers—the whats and the whys—in a couple of weeks. So, any questions? Thanks, David Smith Creative Director | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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