Anatomy of a Solutions Marketer

ITSMA/SI Online Survey

Anatomy of a
Solutions Marketer
Julie Schwartz Steve Hurley
Senior Vice President Managing Director
Research and Thought Leadership

ITSMA and Solutions Insights would like to thank the following organizations for their support:

Abbreviated Summary | February 2012
Note: This Abbreviated summary highlights some of the
significant findings from Anatomy of a Solutions Marketer Survey.
A more in-depth analysis can be found in the full report.

Key findings highlighted in
the report include:

• Solutions marketing is more
challenging than either product or
services marketing.

• Solutions marketers are a very
experienced group of individuals knowledgeable
and nearly all have either product
and/or services marketing
experience.
good listener
• Successful solutions marketers are
not born. Interpersonal skills and
the ability to foster relationships effective
across the organization are just as
important as marketing skills.
communicator
• Despite the importance of
solutions to the future of the
organization, the role of solutions
marketer is not well understood.

empathetic

What makes What are the top three challenges you face
in your role as a solutions marketer?

solutions % of Respondents (N=127)

marketing so Enabling the sales force to sell solutions 32

challenging? Working across organizational silos

Identifying market opportunities and
targeting the appropriate audience
23
27

• Internal struggles Communicating the solutions
23
value proposition
 Shifting the culture from Differentiating from competitors and
products/services to solutions 22
creating brand awareness
Coping with budget restrictions and a
 Enabling the sales force to sell 22
challenging economic climate
solutions
Changing the culture to move from
20
 Working across organizational silos products and services to solutions

Pricing and packaging solutions 9
• Need for business oriented value
propositions
Measuring the ROI of solutions 8

Ensuring solutions repeatability 8
through mass customization
Defining solutions internally 6
and with customers
Creating thought leadership content 6
to support solutions approach

Other 41

Note: Up to three responses allowed.
Source: ITSMA/SI Online Survey: Anatomy of a Solutions Marketer, February 2012

Although not unique to solutions,
communicating the solutions value
proposition adds a layer of complexity
Solutions marketing is defined as
developing and delivering
business value

Solutions value propositions require
a deeper understanding
of the customers’ industry
and individual business issues

Solutions marketers’ responsibilities are
divided. Few are dedicated to solutions
marketing. They are also responsible for
marketing products and/or services.
Marketing Responsibilities
% of Respondents Primarily
(N=119) Solutions

18%
Solutions, Solutions
products, and
and 40% 7% products
services

35%
Solutions
and
services


Successful solutions marketers are
not born. It takes experience,
knowledge, and
ability to foster
relationships
across the
organization.

Solutions marketers are a very
experienced group of professionals,
averaging 16 years in marketing
Approximately how long
have you been working
in marketing?
% of Respondents (N=132)
# of Years as a Marketer

Minimum Maximum Mean

1 30 16


Nearly all solutions marketers were
either product or services marketers
(or both!) prior to their stints in solutions
Were you a product and/or Neither product nor services
services marketer before a marketer before solutions
marketing
solutions marketer?
% of Respondents (N=119) Product marketer before
solutions marketing 6%
11%
Product and
services
Services marketer before
marketer 61% solutions
“From VP Marketing to before 23% marketing
CMO, then President and solutions
General Manager then CSO. marketing
The solutions focus was a
natural outcome of trying
to find ways to bring more
value to clients.”
“Moved from traditional
product marketing into
services marketing and “Started in a pure product management
realized the importance of role. I moved to software applications from
integrating the two...into automation systems where the software
solutions marketing.” applications often need to fit particular
Source: ITSMA/SI Online Survey:
needs. So, product management evolved
Anatomy of a Solutions Marketer, into solutions management naturally.”
February 2012

Despite the importance of solutions
to the future of the organization,
the role of solutions marketer
is not well understood

Solutions marketing is relatively
new to most companies
In which year did your company first
introduce the role of solutions marketer?

Mean = 2004
15.3

11.7

9.9

7.2 7.2 7.2
6.3
5.4 5.4 5.4

2.7 2.7 2.7
1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8
0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 7 8 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 2 5 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2


Today, solutions marketing is viewed as
very important to the business…
How important is your
Extremely
solutions business to the Important
40
future of your company?
% of Respondents (N=121) Mean
Very
45 Rating
important
= 4.2

Important 14

Somewhat
important 2

Not at all
important
0

Note: Mean rating based on a 5-point scale where 1=not at all important and 5=extremely important.

…but unfortunately, the role of solutions
marketing is not well understood
outside of the marketing function
Do you believe that people No, only my
peers in
outside of marketing in solutions
your company understand marketing
what the role of a
23%
solutions marketer is?
% of Respondents
42% Yes

(N=124)

35%
No, only my
peers in
marketing


It is time for solutions marketers to put
their skills and experience to work:
• Foster communication
across organizational silos

• Be catalysts for change

• Ensure that the entire
company understands
the importance of solutions

Methodology and Respondent
Demographics
Between January and February 2012, ITSMA and Asia | 5% South America | 1%
Geographic
Solutions Insights conducted an online web-based Location Europe
survey completed by 133 representatives from 92 14%
% of
Respondents North
companies. 80% America
(N=133)
The results were analyzed by:
• Percentage of revenue from solutions
(Less than 40%; 40–79%; 80% or more)
• Type of company (sell primarily services vs. sell
both products and services) Services Primarily
• Size of company (annual revenue: Less than $1B; Offerings services*
20%
% of Both
$1–4.9B; $5–49B; more than $49B)
Respondents products
• Title (“solutions marketing” included in the (N=133) 80%
and
respondent’s title vs. do marketing in a solutions *5% or less services
revenue from
organizational unit) products
• Primary business (technology company vs.
non-technology company) Both B2B and B2C
(business-to-
consumer)
ITSMA A combination of products and/or services Type of
defines Business 14%
with intellectual capital, focused on a % of 100% B2B
solutions Respondents (business-
particular customer problem and driving 86% to-
as: (N=133)
measurable business value. business)


Study respondents held a diverse group of titles and Respondents’ Roles
represented organizations in a variety of technology
and non-technology companies varying in annual 2
12 Other
revenue, from less than $1 billion to over $45 billion.
16 C-level
Which one of the following BEST describes your
company’s primary business? 18 Vice president/senior
% of Respondents (N=133) vice president
Individual contributor
Computer systems and solutions 16 26
Manager/supervisor
Software solutions 16
IT professional services/
15 27 Director
consulting
Telecommunications and
11
network systems and solutions
Management consulting 8
Other technology hardware
8
systems and solutions Size of Company: Annual Revenue
Industrial and commercial % of Respondents (N=111)
5
machinery
Healthcare solutions 5
28.8 29.7
Chemicals and allied products 4 23.4

Other product manufacturing 4
Architecture/engineering/
2 5.4 8.1
construction 4.5
Consumer packaged goods 1
Less than $100– $500– $1–4.9B $5–49B More than
I can’t select just one industry; $100M 499M 999M $49B
5
we are equally in several


Table of Contents for

Slide
Executive Summary 3
Methodology and Respondent Demographics 32
Detailed Results 47
Appendix: What are the top three challenges
90
you face in your role as a solutions marketer?

For More Information
Julie Schwartz
Senior Vice President
Research and Thought Leadership
ITSMA
jschwartz@itsma.com
+1-407-788-8220

Steve Hurley
Managing Director
Solutions Insights
shurley@solutionsinsights.com
+1-781-686-1607

Anatomy of a Solutions Marketer

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