Narrowing where a software company sells, and to whom

The question

A B2B software company had two products, its first customers and a growth plan to resource. The plan depended on putting sales, marketing and partnerships in the right places.

It wanted to know which markets mattered most, which kinds of company were most open to buying, and who inside them would make the decision. Each answer shaped the next: the right companies depend on the market, and the right people on the company.

Our approach

We narrowed the field in stages, so the work went deepest where it mattered most, and the company’s team agreed the markets taken forward before any survey ran.

Desk research and expert interviews compared the candidates first, with a research partner covering part of that review alongside us; a survey then compared the three taken forward, the US, the UK and Germany, so every one was judged on the same measures.

Depth interviews with decision makers traced how a purchase like this moves through a company, so each persona would describe a decision as well as the person making it.

What the team came away with

Where to put resources became a choice between markets judged on common measures, set out in a market prioritization.

Alongside it came an ideal customer profile for each product in each market, so the two products could have their own targets, and buyer personas built for targeting, each with the role, priorities and decision drivers of the person behind it.

The size of the opportunity in each market sat beside the profiles, so the team could see where volume and openness to buying were greatest.

Where to go, which companies to approach and whom to talk to inside them now came from one body of evidence. Sales, marketing, partnerships and product could plan from the same picture.