Sales & Channel

Building relationship with indifferent specifiers for a Fortune 500 global manufacturing giant

Business Needs

The client manufactures electrical products for industrial, commercial and residential applications. Electrical consultants or specifiers, who are responsible for defining specifications for the client’s eventual customer, are a critical element in the value chain. They are a key influencer in the purchase decision and it is imperative for the client to build a good relationship with them. Specifiers have a credibility to maintain and keeping them informed as well as delivering on the promise of quality and functionality are essential for maintaining a relationship with these specifiers.

Solution

Zebu’s consulting team reviewed the history of the client and its relationship with specifiers in the past. The team found that the specifiers were recommending competitor’s products more often than the clients. Also there was some amount of mistrust that had developed in the minds of the specifier over a period of time. The team proposed a phased solution for re-building the relationship with the specifiers using a combination of information sharing and data collection.

Zebu, in consultation with the the client, launched a newsletter campaign targeted for the specifiers. The editorial calendar for the newsletter was designed to cover  the specifiers interests and business needs.It covered topics on electrical engineering, standards and regulations, case studies and tips and tricks. Since most specifiers are individuals or small businesses, the editorial calendar also covered topics of personal and business interest. For instance, tips on personal productivity, book reviews and best practices for small businesses.  Email was used as the medium for distributing the newsletter and best practices of email marketing were employed to grow the list.

Benefits

Zebu engagement helped the client with the following

• The client had real data in terms of the engagement it had with the specifiers
• Analysis of readership data helped company devise additional marketing programs for specifiers
• City-wise data of specifiers helped identify the problem areas
• A collateral and unexpected outcome of the program was that it helped unearth the engagement of internal sales team
• The program became a marketing channel for initiatives that were being carried in the physical world – for instance seminars
  

The client now has a much better handle on its relationship with specifiers, feels more confident in approaching them with ideas and products, and is driven by data in managing its relationship with the specifiers.