Case Studies - ɫ�� Institute

Indirect Tax Compliance Software Provider

Jim Kraus — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 18:11:20 +0000

Builds Growth Strategies on Foundation of Buyer Knowledge

Challenge: Rapid growth results in disconnected teams and activities

Avalara is a leading developer of indirect tax compliance SaaS software. When General Manager of Avalara Tax
Research, Sanjay Puri, arrived at the company in 2017, he was employed as Vice President of Product Marketing
with a mission: build a disciplined approach to marketing and sales.

“The first thing I noticed,” says Puri, “is that we didn’t have any foundation we could build upon.”
Understanding of the customer was “tribal knowledge” based on the founder’s vision. While his ideas were
strong, and he had successfully led the company until it had reached 1,200 employees, the lack of a
common, shared understanding of the customer inhibited further growth. “As we grew,” Puris says, “we
weren’t all as attuned to the founder’s thinking.” Avalara needed a formal foundation of customer insight,
Puri says, “that had a structure and framework we could communicate at scale.”

Solution: Pursue unbiased insights the whole organization could leverage

Puri’s objective was simple: “How can I build a view of target customers that would help marketing and sales?”
He read the book, ɫ��s: How to Gain Insight into your Customer’s Expectations, Align your Marketing
Strategies, and Win More Business, written by Adele Revella, the ɫ�� Institute’s (BPI’s) founder.
Inspired, he conducted interviews with around twenty of Avalara’s current customers. Although the insights
were rewarding, Puri found them limited. “I needed a proven framework to capture what I was hearing to make it
relevant to the entire company.”

As a result, Avalara commissioned multiple rounds of buyer interviews with BPI to confirm their targets and
determine their most urgent needs. Subsequent survey research confirmed the statistical validity of the initial
study, and the BPI work became the platform for relevant marketing messaging throughout the company.
Avalara went public a year later. Within two years, Avalara nearly quadrupled in revenues and overall size, and
the regulatory landscape had changed, particularly for eCommerce. To ensure the relevancy of their marketing,
Puri commissioned additional research that confirmed that they were on the right path.

Results: A common ground that eliminates arguments, sustains forward momentum

“Without research,” Puri notes, “you’re basing your marketing on conjecture, your guesses about what buyers
want. With the BPI research, we got confidence that we had the right targets. We knew we were on the right
track with the right triggers and problems.”
The research did more than inform content and campaigns. “It moved our internal conversations forward,” says
Puri. “People used to blame failures on ‘wrong’ targets; our research eliminated that argument. We know the
truth because we talked to real buyers.”

“Most importantly, the BPI work gave Avalara a common language across the entire organization. “We can talk to each other beyond product marketing, to bring in prospecting, sales, and executive leadership. Today, our buyer insights are not something that lives in product marketing but are communicated broadly in Avalara and leveraged to drive meaningful actions.”

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Talent Acquisition Platform Provider

Jim Kraus — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 18:07:14 +0000

Leverages ɫ��s to Target a New Type of Buyer

Challenge: Ensure our messaging is clear and relevant to a new buyer persona

PandoLogic is an AI-enabled recruiting platform expanding into a familiar market category – HR recruiting –
with a new and unfamiliar technology. According to Michelle Meehan, Director of Brand Marketing, before
turning to the ɫ�� Institute (BPI), “the company’s go-to-market plan was based on a combination of
gut instinct and general market research.” But precisely because AI-enabled recruiting is a nascent technology,
“we had to be sure what we are saying has real resonance with our buyers; we want to push the adoption
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Solution: Develop a persona with insight into the buying decision

The problem was not that PandoLogic did not have personas; the problem was they had too many of dubious
value. “Having too many personas was undermining our GTM strategy,” says Meehan. “We wanted to home in on
what exactly we needed to say to actual decision makers, the people who could be our inside champions.”
Meehan conducted her own research into persona development and found one option that broke the mold:
ɫ�� Institute. “We’re committed to learning from the business elite, from the companies that are
actually leading the conversation,” Meehan says. “We realized that BPI was doing something different in the
marketplace.” By focusing its research on the buyer’s journey – asking participants to recollect the process that
led to a decision – BPI eliminates unnecessary noise and uncovers new insight into buyer motivations. “Their
research exposes what the market conversations really are, without bias,” she says.

In the next phase where the research serves as a foundation for message-building, Meehan appreciated the
collaborative nature of BPI’s ɫ�� Activation Workshop.

“We got all the key stakeholders in the room,” she says: marketing, sales, product, and more. “It required a
real time commitment from our leaders. But the BPI facilitator kept the process engaging; everyone was
convinced the process was worthwhile. And everyone got treated equally – leveling the playing field
eliminated the dominance of any one person’s bias.”

Results: Full utilization and alignment around the buyer persona’s expectations

“The research told us what’s really important to buyers,” says Meehan. PandoLogic discovered that its
technology was often misunderstood in the marketplace, leading to unwelcome confusion. “We streamlined our
messaging to the most important touch points, to the kind of education buyers actually want. Now we can say to
our colleagues, ‘These are the messages we need to say and why.’”

“PandoLogic is experiencing tremendous growth that has required additional personnel. “Today, the BPI work
is part of the onboarding process,” Meehan says. “With the research plus the top messages, new hires are
learning first-hand what our focus should be. Internal cohesion is the biggest thing; now we’re all singing
from the same hymnal.”

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Network Management and Security Provider

Jim Kraus — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 17:35:51 +0000

Doubles engagement with security buyers by applying buyer persona insights

Challenge: Build sales traction in a new functional area

Infoblox, a network management and security services company, recently expanded its product portfolio with a
security solution focused on the DNS layer. The company’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer,
Brad Rinklin, immediately recognized a formidable sales and marketing challenge. “We’ve been in the network
appliance business for about twenty years,” he says. “Our employee base is network appliance driven; they know
how to talk network professionals. But now we’re also a security company, and we need to sell to security
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In the first wave of DNS security sales, the Infoblox sales team successfully bundled the new security offering
with network appliance renewals among network buyers. “But these buyers didn’t know what to do with the
security package, and it just sat on the shelf,” Rinklin says. When contract renewals were due, Infoblox had a
problem: few customers had implemented the security solution, making renewals moot. “Sales assumed they
could sell security to networking people,” says Rinklin. “It wasn’t working. We need to teach sellers who the
security buyers really are. What are their budgets? How do they make decisions? We needed to educate our
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Solution: Arm sales and marketing with deeper buyer insights

Rinklin had worked with the ɫ�� Institute (BPI) at Akamai, Carbon Black and Eze. “I’m a big fan,” he
says. “Our old personas were just two bullets on a slide – not a rich set of data.” For Rinklin, BPI represented a
powerful alternative to ignorance. “You’re not getting anecdotal data from internal people about what’s
important to the buyer. Instead, you’re getting insights right from the buyers’ mouths. I like their methodology:
‘Take us back to the day you started looking for a solution – tell us what happened.’”

“BPI research “exposed all parts of the buyer’s journey,” says Rinklin. In-depth interviews with buyers reveled
desired outcomes, decision criteria, buying obstacles, and resources that influence key decision makers.
Subsequent messaging work, rooted in buyer insights, helped Infoblox focus on strengths of greatest
significance to security professionals.”

Results: Infoblox doubles number of security contacts in one year

Before the BPI work, Rinklin says, “We didn’t even know what the triggers were. Now, it’s like getting the
answers before the test! Our marketers, salespeople, and even the product managers now know what buyers
want before we sit down with them.”

Since commissioning the research, Infoblox has applied it in multiple ways. Infoblox is leveraging the research-
informed messages in its content strategy, particularly in thought leadership and demand generation. “We’re focusing in on creating more at the intersections of buyer needs and our ability to fulfill them,” says Rinklin.
Most importantly, Infoblox has applied buyer insights to a key target market. “Because we’re using the language
of security buyers and focusing on their priorities,” Rinklin says, “we’ve engaged 8,100 new security buyers this
year, nearly doubling the 4,400 from all of last year. These new contacts have increased security-related sales.”
All the research insights and new messaging are also being integrated into sales training. “Now,” Rankly says,
“everyone is working off the same script.” For brand strategy work, Infoblox is working with a new agency to
incorporate BPI insights into corporate-level messaging. “Our deep buyer insights help us compete with
companies larger than us,” says Rinklin.

“You never want to fly blind,” Rinklin concludes. “Sales traditionally represented the customers’ voice because
they were closest to it. Now we can say, ‘Well actually, this is what the customers have to say themselves.’ BPI
has given us much better intelligence and credibility.”

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Global Data & Records Management Company

Jim Kraus — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 17:15:34 +0000

Leverages ɫ��s to Launch a New Division

Challenge: Build a GTM strategy based on data

Since 1951, our client has become a leading data and records management company recognized the world over.
In late 2021, the company expanded its offerings in the digital environment to form a new division focused on
Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) that provides a “cradle to grave” disposition program for enterprise digital
assets.

Responsibility for marketing the new initiative fell on Travis Wilkins, Product Marketing Leader. “We were making a major investment,” says Wilkins, “but we were lacking data in this space. I wanted to make go-to-market decisions based on facts, not guesses. Ours is a global business with many people with different perspectives. I sought one singular view to guide our expansion.”

Solution: Base marketing and sales enablement on the buyers’ perspective

Impressed by the ɫ�� Institute’s (BPI’s) “elegant approach to a complex problem,” Wilkins engaged
the firm to conduct buyer research that could serve as a foundation for marketing messaging and sales
enablement.

BPI conducted one-on-one interviews with enterprise buyers of ALM services to arrive at an in-depth
understanding of buyer motivations, including the outcomes they desired, the pain points they wished to avoid,
and the standards by which they compared potential vendors. The compiled research results, rooted in direct
quotes from study participants, became the foundation for a messaging workshop that identified the
intersections between buyer wants and the company’s capabilities, arriving at themes with maximum buyer
relevance.

“Before we worked with BPI,” says Wilkins, “our story was based on the idea of ensuring data security and
supporting sustainability best practices. What was powerful and impactful about their research was getting
the customer’s perspective of ‘how’ and ‘why’ this mattered. With this nuanced customer insight we were
able to directly apply updated messaging into our sales enablement and marketing materials. Once we did
this, our messaging connected with our customers more deeply because they related to it on a personal
level. We were no longer ‘positioning’ with our messaging, we were now relating and personally connecting
as we had not done previously.”

Results: Everybody has the ability to be a top seller

Since the research and messaging workshop has been completed, Wilkins has applied the new insights to a
variety of marketing and sales initiatives founded on core messages. “Now we can have conversations that talk
about relevant themes,” Wilkins says. Specific applications include:

Go-to-market plans based on what the company’s target buyers want, think, and believe.
Vetted messaging that has been applied to all of the company’s critical assets including its website, collateral, trade show messaging, webinars, and more.
Internal alignment that enables the client company to use the BPI results as the “factual and authentic” voice of the customer, forming one united approach to the customer worldwide.
Sales play development that empowers the company’s salespeople to anticipate and meet their buyers’
chief concerns, replacing guesswork with data-based insight.
Improved talk tracks to inform more relevant FAQs – and provide more persuasive ways to handle objections.
Email campaigns rooted in the new messaging, that are already producing a significant increase in volume and higher quality of leads.
Sales decks with messaging options that allow prospective customers to self-select their concerns and
pain points.

“Overall, Wilkins believes, the buying insights-informed messaging means more accurate problem
identification and increased revenue growth. In fact, the pipeline experienced triple digit growth after the
new messaging was provided. “Our sales reps really appreciate the new messaging,” he says. “It makes their
lives easier because we’re telling them how to win. Now everybody has the ability to be a top seller!”

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Cybersecurity Compliance & Auditing Company

Jim Kraus — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 16:51:18 +0000

Leverages ɫ��s to Differentiate its Brand and Messaging

Challenge: Differentiate our brand and messaging

When Brian Gladstein, SVP of Marketing, first arrived at A-LIGN, a global cybersecurity firm, he found significant
opportunities for meeting a fast-moving marketplace with more relevant messaging. The success of A-LIGN’s
inbound marketing efforts needed to be complemented with equally effective outbound campaigning “We
needed to learn about the buying process much earlier in the buyers’ journeys,” says Gladstein. “Our goal is to
reach the right people with the right messages at the right time.”

Through his experiences at a previous employer, Gladstein was familiar with the ɫ�� Institute (BPI)
and its buyer-centric research approach. Seeking “foundational research for revising our brand and core
messaging,” Gladstein commissioned BPI to conduct buyer research and facilitate a messaging workshop. The
engagement had two goals: 1) influence the formation of a new brand identity rooted in important buyer-centric
differentiators, and 2) inform A-LIGN’s go-to-market strategy.

Solution: Interview recent buyers we would have wanted in our sales pipeline

A-LIGN was not starting from scratch. “We knew about the current customers we had through our salespeople,”
Gladstein says. “But I know it was skewed. I was looking for an independent, objective assessment of the buyer’s
journey. I wanted to understand the whole spectrum of buyer needs from those that should have been in our
sales pipeline but weren’t.” Gladstein wanted insights focused on one key buying decision: How do buyers select
a new cybersecurity auditor?

Through the study design process with BPI, Gladstein and his A-LIGN team were treated as partners. “It was
important,” he says, “that we worked together to ensure a diversity of research participants.” The resulting
qualitative research surfaced new insights into the contours of the entire buyer journey, from initial triggers
through buying criteria and desired outcomes, to potential buying objections and the resources buyers rely upon
along their journeys.

“The persona activation workshop that BPI facilitated afterwards aligned the team around the most relevant
marketing messages possible. “Through the workshop,” notes Gladstein, “we were able to marry what’s most
important to the buyer with our own most distinctive differentiators. That was crucial for us.”

Results: “Most successful trade show ever” launches new brand identity and messaging

Before the BPI engagement, A-LIGN had strong guiding values. “A-LIGN’s values guide how we work as a team,
as employees,” says Gladstein. “The research allowed us to transform them into customer-focused values.” As an
example, A-LIGN always stressed “Being all in”. In the new framework, “being all in” among company personnel
became “collaboration” with customers. “Our core values became the foundation of our brand values,” Gladstein
says.

With the research and new messaging in hand, A-LIGN worked with a new agency to overhaul its brand. “We
want to be seen as a modern SaaS company,” says Gladstein. As a preview to their website relaunch, A-LIGN first
revealed its new brand identity at an important trade show, SaaStr. “Our biggest competitor was directly across
the aisle from us,” he says. “When visitors crossed the aisle to come to our booth, they asked what made us
different. Our team was ready – the BPI work had made it easy for us to communicate differentiation. In fact, it
was the most successful trade show we’ve ever done!”

With the new website up and running, Gladstein and his team continue to build lessons learned from the BPI
research. “Messaging can’t be done in a vacuum,” he says. “Marketing and sales need to work together. We’re
merging the research and messages with the knowledge of our salespeople and their experiences. All these
things need to come together to create good messaging.”

“Reflecting on the sum of his BPI experience, Gladstein says, “It’s always a pleasure working with BPI. They
know how to coach us to get the most out of the experience. There’s credibility in their process so the results
mean something; getting that credibility from BPI plus integrating what we learn from sales gives us
confidence in the truth of the resulting messages.”

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Case Studies - ɫ���� Institute