Goal Centric


Buyer Centric Insights Case Studies Sales Case Study Issue: Reed Elsevier, a leading publisher of business, legal, and education content, identified a decline in sales performance from one of its divisions. Win ratios on large contracts had declined steadily and their sales cycles were getting longer. What We Did: Goal Centric conducted field studies with existing and prospective customers to develop a comprehensive Buyer Persona Sales Playbook and Ecosystem providing insight into who the decision makers, influencers, and users were by segment. We created Buying Process Scenarios that vividly depicted the interactions that took place in the buying cycle process. Insights revealed that various customer segments had different needs during the buying cycle and operated on different values in their decision making. Buying Process Scenarios revealed that while some customers valued direct sales, others valued online resources more. Results: The company realigned its sales structure and strategy to match the buying cycle processes of several key market segments. Online marketing resources were enhanced and aligned with segments that placed high value on their availability. The company placed sales enablement resources at the sales team’s disposal to support customers’ buying cycle preferences. The sales cycle was shortened from 3 months to 2 months and win ratios were improved by 10% within one year of this Buyer Persona Sales Conversation Playbook initiative. "We have always thought of our customers as just one person. The Buyer Persona Ecosystem gave us a complete view of who is involved in the decision making — of who our customers really are. The insights gave us a better understanding of how to reach the right people within companies and to be more effective in closing sales.” —Vice President, Sales Marketing Case Study Issue: Harcourt, a leading provider of educational products and services, was losing sales revenues in its catalog business. Anecdotal evidence suggested that customers were choosing competitor products. What We Did: In an extensive Buyer Persona Strategy Playbook initiative, we looked at which business roles were involved in the Buyer Persona Ecosystem, how and why they made decisions, and which Buying Process Scenarios were occurring in Harcourt’s catalog and web channels. Our persona-based insights revealed how an expensive, weekly direct marketing campaign was having an unanticipated adverse affect on customer perceptions of Harcourt. Instead of an innovative, research-based developer, customers now perceived Harcourt as a discount distributor that provided little information about its complex products. Results: Our Buyer Persona Ecosystem and Buying Process Scenarios revealed how customers wanted more sophisticated touch points as well as more in-depth information from Harcourt’s marketing materials and web site. Harcourt redirected its marketing dollars to more effective touch points. Using targeted personas and the resulting understanding of customers’ buying cycles, the marketing team developed a new web site and revised all messages to align with customer goals. First year web-based revenues increased by nearly 15%. "The insights we received from the customer experience mapping and buyer persona development you performed for us were eye opening. Thanks for a great job in presenting to the senior management team during our offsite. [It] sure made for lively discussions and I was pleased we were able to settle on who our target buyer personas were for each business segment." —Jeff Galt, President and CEO Product Management Case Study Issue: The Psychological Corporation, the global leader of psychological assessment testing for the medical, clinical, business, and education field, planned to introduce a tablet PC version of its psychological assessment system. Customer adoption and market acceptance was in doubt and needed to be validated. What We Did: Goal Centric conducted field studies with existing and prospective customers in the clinical, medical, business, and education fields to develop comprehensive Buyer Persona Ecosystems that provided insight into who the decision makers, influencers, and users were by segment. We created Buying Process Scenarios that graphically narrated how a decision to adopt new technology would take place. Insights revealed that all segments would have difficulty adapting tablet PC technology because it did not support assessment behavior and workflows. We highlighted alternative technology options and explained why the clinical profession would be the most profitable target segment in which to introduce the new technology. Results: Armed with powerful persona-based insights and clarity about a target customer segment, the team introduced new networked and software technology that met the clinical market personas’ goals by linking assessment technicians with staff psychologists to reduce evaluation time and eliminate risk of errors. This competitive advantage provided a strategy that increased revenues in the clinical profession market by nearly 12%. "You saved us a nearly $3 million investment in a new technology effort that our customers were not ready for yet. Goal Centric clearly prevented us from going down the wrong path and helped us to identify an even more promising alternative.” —Aurelio Prifitera, President


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