Building Routes to Customers (eBook)

Peter Raulerson Peter Raulerson is an expert in go-to-market strategies and tactics, and a Partner with The PARA Marketing Group, a management consulting firm. He has consulted extensively with executives of Adobe, Canon, Cisco, F5 Networks, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, Symantec, and other technology companies including venture-backed start-ups. He has helped them increase corporate value by bringing new products and services to market, building new value chains and distribution channels, and improving the productivity of product development, marketing, sales and distribution. Prior to PARA Marketing, Peter was CEO of InterConnections, Inc., a privately-held developer of multivendor network software, founded in 1986 and acquired in 1990 by Emulex Corporation. From 1972 to 1986, Peter held engineering, sales, marketing and management positions with Digital Equipment Corporation, GTE Telenet and 3Com. Before receiving his BA in math from Harvard in 1972, he was a research associate in managerial economics and decision analysis at Harvard Business School. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Washington Technology Industry Association. Jean-Claude Malraison Jean-Claude Malraison is Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Solucom Group, a leading IT consulting firm in France, and a member of the board of Critical Eye, an executive leadership community headquartered in the United Kingdom. Prior to these roles, he was Managing Director of Plantronics EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) from 1999 to 2003, where he drove the highly successful launch of Plantronics' products into consumer electronics channels across Europe. From 1971 to 1999, Jean-Claude served in several leadership positions with IBM, most recently as a member of the Executive Committee of IBM EMEA. Jean-Claude initiated many advances that transformed IBM's marketing, sales and distribution. As the head of the IBM PC Division in France in 1989, he launched IBM's first retail PC channel, which increased IBM's market share after a severe drop. As General Manager of the newly-created UNIX Division of IBM EMEA in 1993, he took IBM from zero to 19% market share in two years by tapping new distribution channels. He initiated the development and worldwide roll-out of the Routes-to-Market methodology which restored IBM to profitable growth. After becoming Vice President of Distribution and General Business for IBM EMEA in 1996, Jean-Claude launched IBM's European call center organization and significantly expanded IBM's business with small and mid-sized enterprises. Jean-Claude is a graduate of the Institut Supérieur d'Electronique du Nord. Antoine Leboyer Antoine Leboyer is the President and CEO of GSX, the worldwide leader in monitoring solutions for Communication Servers. Antoine has more than 20 years of experience in IT organizations in various international positions. He started his professional career with IBM. He held positions in sales and marketing with IBM France, and then ran the distribution strategy for all of IBM Europe except PCs, where he led initiatives that achieved significant growth for IBM by leveraging European IT distributors. After 12 years with IBM, Antoine joined Candle Corporation where he started and ran the European indirect business. He was then General Manager for Hyperchannel France, a B2B marketplace for European IT distribution funded by General Electric Capital and Goldman Sachs. Subsequently, he was Senior Vice-President for Upaid Systems, a provider of software for real-time billing and mobile payment services, and Senior Vice-President for Baracoda, the leading producer of Bluetooth industrial devices, which he helped achieve record growth. Antoine holds a diploma of engineer from Ecole Superieure d'Electricité in France and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He served on the Board of Directors of Akoura Biometrics, an emerging company in Information Security.

Preface 8
Acknowledgments 10
Contents 12
Prologue 16
What Is Routes-to-Market? 22
The Route Concept 24
Optimizing Route Costs 27
Changing the Routes as the Market Evolves 28
Adopting the Routes-to-Market Methodology 32
Roadmap for the Book 34
RTM Workshop 36
Preparing for the RTM Workshop 37
During the RTM Workshop 43
Implementing the Tactical Plan 46
Summary 47
Market Segmentation 49
The 360-Degree View 49
Product Segmentation Integrated with Customer Segmentation 52
Segmentation: An Executive Decision 59
Obstacles to Segmentation 62
Product-Driven Versus Market-Driven 65
Summary 68
Define Whole Solutions 69
Who Is the Customer? 69
What Is a Whole Solution? 74
Summary 79
RTM Life Cycle 80
The Adoption of Innovation 80
Phases of the RTM Life Cycle 86
RTM Life Cycle and Commoditization 112
Summary 120
Constructing a Route 121
How to Construct a Route 121
How to Monitor the Performance of a Route 147
Summary 151
Go-to-Market Performance Assessment 152
Analyzing and Optimizing Go-to-Market Costs 152
Comparing the Company’s Go-to-Market Performance to Best Practices 162
Summary 169
Connecting RTM with Corporate Strategy 170
Adobe Adapts Its Go-to-Market Strategy with RTM 170
Classic Management Pitfalls Revealed by RTM 180
Summary 184
Implementing RTM Company-Wide 186
Route Consolidation 186
Evaluating the Company’s Go-to-Market Model 188
Budgeting Costs by Department 189
Allocating Costs 190
How to Launch a Shared Resource 191
Adopting the RTM Methodology 192
Launching RTM in Ten Steps 192
Summary 196
References and Resources 197
Prologue 197
Chapter 1. What Is Routes-to-Market? 197
Chapter 2. RTM Workshop 198
Chapter 3. Market Segmentation 198
Chapter 4. Define Whole Solutions 199
Chapter 5. RTM Life Cycle 200
Chapter 6. Constructing a Route 200
Chapter 7. Go-to-Market Performance Assessment 201
Chapter 8. Connecting RTM with Corporate Strategy 202
Chapter 9. Implementing RTM Company-Wide 202
Author Biographies 203
Index 205