Last time, I wrote about top sales resources. Case studies were at the top of the list. That’s because in multiple sales surveys, including our own study of industry-focused go-to-market efforts, case studies come out as the most effective sales tool.
Getting a customer to put their name on a case study is a big effort. Make sure the case studies you produce create the greatest possible impact. Here’s how:
- Relevant – Create them for every industry you pursue, and make it easy and fast to find them by industry.
- Audience-appropriate. Write business-focused studies to be sued with senior, line-of-business audiences. Write technical ones describing relevance of features and specific.
- Quantitative – Include actual numbers to describe everything from how long a deployment took, to improvements in key metrics, to financial benefits, and ROI. Not only do numbers impress, they provide a level of credibility that fuzzy, buzzword-heavy marketing speak just can’t.
- Multimedia – Enable customers to learn about other customers via multiple mediums. Printed summaries are great leave-behinds at meeting and trade shows, but a 2 minute video of a customer speaking has much more impact on the web or embedded into a presentation.
- Brand-heavy – If you only focus on a single case study, make it one from a highly recognized name, ideally in the industry you are targeting.
Weigh in with your own tips about great case studies.
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