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Transformation of B2B marketing/ sales …in changing times

Are you prepared to serve?

Mark Linder, WPP

600 Minutes BtoB Marketing & Sales

15.10.2008, Crowne Plaza, Helsinki

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Topics

• Disruption!....and opportunity

• Marketing as a service

• Serving, not selling

• What does it mean for your proposals

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Disrupting the mood…

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We are in the midst of the horror of a crisis –major dislocation, fundamental discontinuities

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Increased velocity of change

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Interdependence = complexity, uncertainty, opacity, turbulence

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Interdependence creates domino or ricochet effects, amplifies the effects of the risks. “Black Swans” on the increase

(1) crises, like ideas, products and impressions travel fast

(2) little causes can have big effects

(3) changes happen dramatically, not gradually

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Less trust…

More than 8 in 10 Americans do not trust the government to do what is right, the highest ever recorded in a Times/CBS News poll

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We face unquantifiable uncertainties

Human nature hates uncertainty

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“The 21st century is not for tidy minds”-- Martin Sorrell

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What will happen?

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The global downturn will last for at least several months, possibly several years

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ALL assets will find a more realistic value

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Even the “smartest guys” (Paulson, Bernanke, Trichet, let alone the Presidents and Prime Ministers) don’t understand the full implications of recapitalization

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Dissociating the signals from the noise is a daunting task

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We’ll live in a world of much greater regulation and higher taxation

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The world will become more “local”

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Simplicity will prevail

Quantitative models will be disregarded

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Experience will be valued, again

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Inexpensive pastimes – like the lost art of conversation -- will become very popular!!

17 year-olds might discover their grandparents are pretty cool

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Will the global balance of power be shifting? Too early to tell…

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Reverse globalization

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Worldwide aspiration (anger?) will keep growing

We live in a world in which the top 10% own 85% of everything, a world in which 1,000

people at the top control assets worth twice those held by the bottom 2.5 billion

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The “great reconvergence” between the East and West will speed up. The shift to an Asian-centric world may accelerate

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Reverse globalization, reverse flows of capital, Sovereign Wealth Funds’ investments, direct acquisitions, or anything else – this is going to be a defining issue of the coming years and decades

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The greater the crisis and the deeper the recession, the more relevant "reverse globalization" becomes

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What kind of opportunity does this create?

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Your customers’ “back to basics” approach and desire for interpersonal relationships may be a response to this confusion and a desire to return to a simpler time

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Perhaps this creates an opportunity to listen harder, better. Listen more, sell less.

Rediscover the art of conversation in a B2B context…

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Businesses will want to “retreat” to local…they will be scared to globalize

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Perhaps there are market-entry “bargains”

For example, highly debt-dependent businesses (ieRussia) will be vulnerable…

(will be a need for distribution experts)

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The equation:

Stable Finnish approach+ global mindset+ market uncertainties

= opportunity

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Perhaps marketing will (once again) become a service

Perhaps selling will (once again) become about listening and solving problems

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You are doing a proposal in this environment…how could it be different?

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Think about structured listening…

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ASKING about strengths and weaknesses

GROUP LEVEL

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

MARTIN SORRELL’S

LEADERSHIP

STRONG RESEARCH PORTFOLIO

STRONG BRAND IDENTITY SERVICES

MAJOR NAME AD AGENCIES

QUALITY & BREADTH OF AGENCIES

GLOBAL SCALEOPERATIONS

SOLID / “CORPORATE”

STRONG FINANCIAL

MANAGEMENT

FORWARD-THINKING

AMBITION

M & A’s

BRITISH

LARGE EMPIRE

WEAK ON CREATIVITY

NOT WORLD CLASS ON

GLOBAL BASIS

NOT WORLD CLASS IN EVERY

DISCIPLINE

JUST A HOLDING COMPANY

COMPETITIVE not CO-OPERATIVE

STRUCTURE

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT WPP

CONSITUENTS

HIGH OVERHEADS: EXPENSIVE

LACKS COMMITMENT TO

SHARED LEARNING LOSING

PERSONAL TOUCH?

AGENCIES

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Think about a “theme” for your proposal…

How do you tell the story of your proposition, in a way that relates to the customer’s uncertainty?

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Possible themes

• Transformation – long-term change

• Flat world – falling barriers, technology overcoming barriers

• Innovation – harnessing ideas in a “reverse globalization” world

• Multiplicity and diversity – managing complexity

• Evolution – fulfillment of aspiration in fast-growing markets

• Sustainability – output without depleting finite resources

• Global village – customer and supplier intimacy, overcoming distance

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EY example

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Think about education

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Marketing as a form of education

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Annual report as an educational tool

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Think about co-creation…

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Co-creation allowing customers to design their own

(c) Venkatraman, 2008

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Marketing crossing the work-play boundary

Live

Work

Play

Connect

Create

Consume

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Think about your price-carrier vsnon-product value-add

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The beer garden: non-product value-add

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Smaller is value-adding

A producer of a petroleum-based compound used for setting concrete railroad ties found that it could

reduce the price of its product by 20 percent by changing the packaging size to exactly meet

mixing specifications.

The smaller packages were precisely what the customers wanted–

and were willing to pay extra for.

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There are no commodities in B2B

There are only noncreative managers who think they produce commodities

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Think how to add value -- about customized servicing models

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No one-size-fits-allMarketing different service models to different customers

Model C

Model B

Model A

Preferred supplier(No coordination)

Key Account Manager(Informal

coordination)

Full integration

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Think about thought leadership experiences…

digitalsustainabilityrisk, etc

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Digital shared experience

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Sustainability as a practice

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Sustainability in retail

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Write and publish thought-leadership

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…and what about the relationship

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Focus more on core relationships, less on conquests

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Focus on the person -- not the position

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Love your work -- enthusiasm is attractive and contagious

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Be genuinely interested in others

(Dale Carnegie: "You will be more successful by being interested in others' success than by trying to get them interested in your success")

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Always be generous with your time and wisdom

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Help others with no expectation of receiving anything in return

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Give some trust to start the trust-building process

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Experience matters more, now….give it freely to help build trust

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Remember, establishing a mood makes it easier to sell a thought

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The importance of establishing the right mood…

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Exemplify integrity at all times through honesty, consistency, reliability, and discretion

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Your reputation is what they say about you ….after you have left the room

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Transformation of B2B marketing/ sales …in changing times

Be prepared to serve!

Mark Linder

minder@wpp.com

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Thanks to….

• Eddie Bowman, Rainbow Insight, Carl Halksworth

• Andrew Sobel

• Martin Sorrell

• Alex Nieminen and Pauliina Valpas

• A. Blanton Godfrey

• Tim Bell

• David Kenning

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Thank you.