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Building A Successful Wedge Offering
A successful sales executive knows that getting your foot in the door with a new client is
about the right message and the delivery of that message. The professional services
organization along with product marketing define the message while sales defines the
delivery of that message.
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Document Transcript:
Building A Successful Wedge Offering
by Julie L. Mohr
A successful sales executive knows that getting your foot in the door with a new client is
about the right message and the delivery of that message. The professional services
organization along with product marketing define the message while sales defines the
delivery of that message.
Professional Service Portfolio
Profitability of the professional services organization depends upon repeatable
deliverables. A statement of work is created to meet a clientÕs unique needs and at the
conclusion of the project, the intellectual property is leveraged to create a repeatable
process. Once the service is productized, it can be resold to any client with similar need.
A service portfolio is created as the professional services organization grows and adapts
to client needs. Problems arise when the portfolio becomes too complex for the sales
team to understand or if the sales team does not have the skills to sell at the level required
to win the deal.In order to bridge the gap, the professional services organization should develop a simple
and low-cost wedge offering. The traditional wedge offering is known as the Òfoot in the
doorÓ strategy Ð give away something, entice the customer and while you have them in
your grasp, sell them something. The sales technique, while effective, leaves the
customer feeling slightly swindled. Or if they understand the offer, they take the offer
anyway knowing that they have no intention of actually purchasing anything.
Develop a Wedge Offering
The wedge offering for the professional services organization is different. It is a low-cost,
high-value offering that gives insight into the clientÕs organization to uncover additional
business or service opportunities. Typical wedge offerings include services such as
training, assessments or workshops.
To the sales organization, the wedge offering is an easy sale that is both easy to articulate
and quick to close. To the delivery organization, it is an opportunity to demonstrate
experience and expert knowledge while gaining additional insight into the clientÕs
environment in order to align the service portfolio to the clientÕs needs.
A successful wedge offering must have a hook Ð something of value to the client that
they will find useful in the short term. Training provides the opportunity to apply industry
concepts and advance the organizationÕs learning. Training materials will often help the
attendees to identify areas of need within their own organizations. The goal for the
training class is to identify those potential leads where the service organization can
provide value to the client to overcome any identified weaknesses.
An assessment provides a more comprehensive view into the clientÕs environment.
Interviews are scheduled with key stakeholders to understand both the strategic direction
of the client environment but also the weaknesses and areas for improvement. At the
conclusion of the assessment, recommendations will be presented to the client, each
aligned with another service offering from the professional services organization.
Although the assessment provides a much better view into the client environment, the
required time and effort is much more extensive.
Another opportunity is to conduct a workshop or executive summit meeting. This can be
sold to a single client as a working session to establish the organizationÕs strategy with a
subject matter expert present to provide insight into best practices and industry trends. A
second option is to provide a pubic forum where multiple clients are invited to send their
senior executives to have a peer review of problems encountered in their unique
environments. In this summit meeting, the clients benefit from both the subject matter
expertÕs advice and the experience of others who have faced similar problems and have
unique solutions.
After a wedge offering has been defined, variations can be developed to adapt the wedge
offering to a unique client. Customized training or an assessment based upon a particular
vertical market are potential options. The key is to only change the core wedge offering
slightly to meet the apparent unique needs of the client.
The Complete Package
Once the wedge offering has been defined, the productization of the offering is the next
step. Flyers that describe the wedge offering, the outcome of the project and the potentialbenefits to the client will enable the sales team to not only sell the offering but also help
them develop the message when they approach a new client. The one-page flyer can be
used to create an email, mail, or web campaign to announce the offering to prospective,
existing or former clients.
Case studies will provide success stories to the sales executive to help them develop the
ability to articulate the value to each unique client. The case study should identify the
clientÕs problem, the wedge offering as the solution and the benefits and outcome of
engaging the professional services organization. Clients must be identified that can be
used as references when required during the sales cycle.
Because the wedge offering has an established timeframe for completion, it is easy to
create a pricing model and develop a statement of work template. A fixed, low cost price
range will enable the sales team to pitch the offering and negotiate the cost with the client
without utilizing the professional services subject matter expert to scope out the project.
Once the negotiation is complete, the sales executive can create the statement of work in
less than a day and submit to the client for review and signature.
The final component of the package is to create a presentation of results that
demonstrates what the wedge offering is, what the benefits are, what the process of
engagement is and the value statement for choosing your professional services
organization. It is also helpful to include previous clients that have engaged your
organization with the wedge offering.
Internal Training is Important
The professional services organization as the final step to success, must train the sales
executives on the wedge offering. Not only will this be an offering that is easy to sell, it
will also be clear to understand. By providing all the tools necessary to make the sell, the
sales executive will feel empowered to contact a client, articulate the message and close
the deal. The training must review all the sales tools, the sales and delivery processes, and
potential clients or verticals that should be pursued. A list of potential questions to ask,
statements to overcome objections and the target client representative (ie CEO, CIO or
Executive) will also help the sales executive understand how to pitch and position the
offering to the client.
A wedge offering is a powerful sales tool that can open the door to potential clients or
help you to engage existing or former clients in a new way. When the complete package
is created, the sales cycle is more successful and shorter, empowering the sales executive
to close the deal with little or no effort from the professional services organization. The
wedge offering can provide insight into the client environment and assist with beginning
a relationship with the client. The complete service portfolio will enable the professional
services organization to maintain that client relationship over many years and across
many different offerings.Professional Profile
Julie L. Mohr is the Principal Research Analyst and Author at BlueprintAudits.com. For
over 15 years, she has been passionate about service and support management providing
imaginative insight and dynamic leadership to transform service and support organizations
into best practice, customer-focused environments. She has helped over 50 organizations
including many Fortune 100 companies to implement Knowledge Management, ITSM, IT
Governance, organization enhancements, process re-engineering and service level
management. Julie is an active contributor to the future development of the industry
through speaking engagements at conferences worldwide, researching industry trends and
publishing over 150 articles on best practices. Julie has developed a support organization
maturity model and audit methodology utilized by thousands of organizations to identify
weaknesses and develop improvement plans. She is an expert worldwide instructor in
multiple industry frameworks including ITSM, KCS and COBIT. Julie is a certified Helpdesk Director and certified
¨
ITIL Service Manager. She is currently serving as VP of Membership for the itSMF LIG in Sacramento, a faculty
member with HDI and participated on the HDI Support Center Certification (SCC) standards committee. Julie is the
author of Mapping Support Processes: Blueprint for Success, The Help Desk Audit: Blueprint for Success, The Help
Desk Toolkit: Companion CD and The Help Desk Dictionary, and maintains an informative industry portal for
practitioners at www.blueprintaudits.com. She is a member of IEEE Computer Society, National Speakers Association,
American Society for Quality, Association for Computing Machinery, ISACA, PMI, HDI, itSMF and the Association of
Support Professionals. Julie is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer
Science.
You)can)contact)Julie)at:)
jlmohr@blueprintaudits.com)
+015307500240)
by Julie L. Mohr
A successful sales executive knows that getting your foot in the door with a new client is
about the right message and the delivery of that message. The professional services
organization along with product marketing define the message while sales defines the
delivery of that message.
Professional Service Portfolio
Profitability of the professional services organization depends upon repeatable
deliverables. A statement of work is created to meet a clientÕs unique needs and at the
conclusion of the project, the intellectual property is leveraged to create a repeatable
process. Once the service is productized, it can be resold to any client with similar need.
A service portfolio is created as the professional services organization grows and adapts
to client needs. Problems arise when the portfolio becomes too complex for the sales
team to understand or if the sales team does not have the skills to sell at the level required
to win the deal.In order to bridge the gap, the professional services organization should develop a simple
and low-cost wedge offering. The traditional wedge offering is known as the Òfoot in the
doorÓ strategy Ð give away something, entice the customer and while you have them in
your grasp, sell them something. The sales technique, while effective, leaves the
customer feeling slightly swindled. Or if they understand the offer, they take the offer
anyway knowing that they have no intention of actually purchasing anything.
Develop a Wedge Offering
The wedge offering for the professional services organization is different. It is a low-cost,
high-value offering that gives insight into the clientÕs organization to uncover additional
business or service opportunities. Typical wedge offerings include services such as
training, assessments or workshops.
To the sales organization, the wedge offering is an easy sale that is both easy to articulate
and quick to close. To the delivery organization, it is an opportunity to demonstrate
experience and expert knowledge while gaining additional insight into the clientÕs
environment in order to align the service portfolio to the clientÕs needs.
A successful wedge offering must have a hook Ð something of value to the client that
they will find useful in the short term. Training provides the opportunity to apply industry
concepts and advance the organizationÕs learning. Training materials will often help the
attendees to identify areas of need within their own organizations. The goal for the
training class is to identify those potential leads where the service organization can
provide value to the client to overcome any identified weaknesses.
An assessment provides a more comprehensive view into the clientÕs environment.
Interviews are scheduled with key stakeholders to understand both the strategic direction
of the client environment but also the weaknesses and areas for improvement. At the
conclusion of the assessment, recommendations will be presented to the client, each
aligned with another service offering from the professional services organization.
Although the assessment provides a much better view into the client environment, the
required time and effort is much more extensive.
Another opportunity is to conduct a workshop or executive summit meeting. This can be
sold to a single client as a working session to establish the organizationÕs strategy with a
subject matter expert present to provide insight into best practices and industry trends. A
second option is to provide a pubic forum where multiple clients are invited to send their
senior executives to have a peer review of problems encountered in their unique
environments. In this summit meeting, the clients benefit from both the subject matter
expertÕs advice and the experience of others who have faced similar problems and have
unique solutions.
After a wedge offering has been defined, variations can be developed to adapt the wedge
offering to a unique client. Customized training or an assessment based upon a particular
vertical market are potential options. The key is to only change the core wedge offering
slightly to meet the apparent unique needs of the client.
The Complete Package
Once the wedge offering has been defined, the productization of the offering is the next
step. Flyers that describe the wedge offering, the outcome of the project and the potentialbenefits to the client will enable the sales team to not only sell the offering but also help
them develop the message when they approach a new client. The one-page flyer can be
used to create an email, mail, or web campaign to announce the offering to prospective,
existing or former clients.
Case studies will provide success stories to the sales executive to help them develop the
ability to articulate the value to each unique client. The case study should identify the
clientÕs problem, the wedge offering as the solution and the benefits and outcome of
engaging the professional services organization. Clients must be identified that can be
used as references when required during the sales cycle.
Because the wedge offering has an established timeframe for completion, it is easy to
create a pricing model and develop a statement of work template. A fixed, low cost price
range will enable the sales team to pitch the offering and negotiate the cost with the client
without utilizing the professional services subject matter expert to scope out the project.
Once the negotiation is complete, the sales executive can create the statement of work in
less than a day and submit to the client for review and signature.
The final component of the package is to create a presentation of results that
demonstrates what the wedge offering is, what the benefits are, what the process of
engagement is and the value statement for choosing your professional services
organization. It is also helpful to include previous clients that have engaged your
organization with the wedge offering.
Internal Training is Important
The professional services organization as the final step to success, must train the sales
executives on the wedge offering. Not only will this be an offering that is easy to sell, it
will also be clear to understand. By providing all the tools necessary to make the sell, the
sales executive will feel empowered to contact a client, articulate the message and close
the deal. The training must review all the sales tools, the sales and delivery processes, and
potential clients or verticals that should be pursued. A list of potential questions to ask,
statements to overcome objections and the target client representative (ie CEO, CIO or
Executive) will also help the sales executive understand how to pitch and position the
offering to the client.
A wedge offering is a powerful sales tool that can open the door to potential clients or
help you to engage existing or former clients in a new way. When the complete package
is created, the sales cycle is more successful and shorter, empowering the sales executive
to close the deal with little or no effort from the professional services organization. The
wedge offering can provide insight into the client environment and assist with beginning
a relationship with the client. The complete service portfolio will enable the professional
services organization to maintain that client relationship over many years and across
many different offerings.Professional Profile
Julie L. Mohr is the Principal Research Analyst and Author at BlueprintAudits.com. For
over 15 years, she has been passionate about service and support management providing
imaginative insight and dynamic leadership to transform service and support organizations
into best practice, customer-focused environments. She has helped over 50 organizations
including many Fortune 100 companies to implement Knowledge Management, ITSM, IT
Governance, organization enhancements, process re-engineering and service level
management. Julie is an active contributor to the future development of the industry
through speaking engagements at conferences worldwide, researching industry trends and
publishing over 150 articles on best practices. Julie has developed a support organization
maturity model and audit methodology utilized by thousands of organizations to identify
weaknesses and develop improvement plans. She is an expert worldwide instructor in
multiple industry frameworks including ITSM, KCS and COBIT. Julie is a certified Helpdesk Director and certified
¨
ITIL Service Manager. She is currently serving as VP of Membership for the itSMF LIG in Sacramento, a faculty
member with HDI and participated on the HDI Support Center Certification (SCC) standards committee. Julie is the
author of Mapping Support Processes: Blueprint for Success, The Help Desk Audit: Blueprint for Success, The Help
Desk Toolkit: Companion CD and The Help Desk Dictionary, and maintains an informative industry portal for
practitioners at www.blueprintaudits.com. She is a member of IEEE Computer Society, National Speakers Association,
American Society for Quality, Association for Computing Machinery, ISACA, PMI, HDI, itSMF and the Association of
Support Professionals. Julie is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer
Science.
You)can)contact)Julie)at:)
jlmohr@blueprintaudits.com)
+015307500240)
