case study
Market Research for New Market Entry
A methodical, research based approach to identifying attractive markets and Developing Go-to-market strategies
Overview
*The name of the company has been withheld at their request*
The company is a small tech firm that develops and sells advanced lead generation technology integrating email, text, and phone messaging to engage prospects. Recently, it had released a significant upgrade to its products that added CRM (Customer Relationship Management) features to make it a more well-rounded sales tool
Key Challenges
While the company had seen a rapid growth in its traditional market for several years, it was seeing a slowdown and realized it might approach the saturation point, after which growth would come through significant discounting as it sold to more conservative, price-sensitive buyers in that market.
Before doing that, however, the company wanted to see if there were new markets it should enter, what that process would look like, and how it could reduce risks and costly mistakes while taking full advantage of any leverages it may already possess.
The CEO asked us to help with identifying potential target markets and developing go–to-market strategies that would help him and his management team decide the top candidates.
What We Did
After a thorough discussion with the management team, including Customer Support, Training, Onboarding, Sales, and Product Development, we outlined the key capabilities of the product. We then developed a list of candidate markets where these capabilities could be compelling.
The second step was to compile a list of candidate markets based on past successes in sales. The management team came up with over 23 potential target market candidates, which after some discussion, we whittled down to nine–still too many.
The third step was to arrive at three top candidates that would be more rigorously analyzed.Our team conducted secondary research to compile the necessary information to help our clients pick the top three: size of segment, growth rate, and most importantly, pain points and pain levels within each market.
Fourth, we facilitated a market attractiveness analysis workshop for the management team walking them through analyzing each market segment, and scoring it across some key dimensions including: quantifiable compelling pain, ability to pay, accessibility of decision makers, type and level of competition, and readiness of product to address the needs with minimal configuration.
Each segment was scored on a spreadsheet and after reconciling any differences, the management team settled on three top picks and provided us with their order of preference.
Fifth, we conducted online surveys to members of these three segments, offering a sizable gift card as a bonus for any who would agree to an in-depth phone interview.
Armed with this information, we developed go-to-market strategies for all three segments and offered a complete market entry playbook based on three data points: overall secondary research; targeted online survey; in-depth phone interview with key candidates.
Results
The management team voted on the top pick, and as it already had a market entry playbook, immediately executed it. They then went to two of the phone survey participants and closed deals with them within three weeks.
They asked us to develop the marketing content and demand generation campaigns and the sales tools they needed, including training on the value prop, qualifying questions, and objection handling. Leads began coming within the first month, and the sales team was closing leads within two weeks after.
These results primarily came from thorough market research and understanding of the underlying issues, enabling both the marketing and sales efforts to work quickly.
More Case Studies
Supporting a Global Business Development Team with Content
How a global publicly traded company used our services to increase the effectiveness of its BDR team by 67%
Scaling Demand and Lead Generation with Decision-enabling Content
How a tech company went after three different markets in nine months using a planned, targeted approach
Targeted Marketing: 792% ROI in 120 days
The dramatic impact of a 4-month targeted campaign on new customer acquisition.
From Startup to 4 Demos a week in 6 Months
How targeted email and phone campaigns enabled this startup to begin booking 12-15 demos per month within six months and build over $647K in sales pipeline.
Get in Touch Today
Address: 1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703
Business Hours: 8:30a-6:00p M-F