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PAGE | 1
BRAND
The Next Big Differentiator For Technology Executives
By Mark Braithwaite & Emily Kucukalic | February 2013
executive search
BSP GloBal ExEcutivE SEarch
PERSONAL
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Right now, market leaders are looking at their go-to-market strategy, knowing that the sell by date on
their competitive advantage has all but expired. 2012 was the year that technology buyer behaviour changed
forever. Of course, buyers change all the time, but cloud and mobility changed the game massively, in the
blink of an eye.
The technology sector is changing from primarily selling products, to selling services. 2013 will pave
the critical pathway that leads to mere survival or boom-time for many vendors as they adapt to the new reality.
If your number one priority is not about ‘adapting your sales execution model to the new reality’, you have either
got it right already, or a great deal of pain is heading your way.
The good news is that the global spend on technology is still growing. So the issue is less about the
market and more about how you go-to-market.Competitive advantage in the Tech Sector has typically been
technology driven. Better, faster, cheaper and easier to use. Apart from Apple, the rest of the sector has
largely focussed brand image around innovation, trust, reliability, etc. A safe pair of hands to get the job done
without fuss!
In the last 20 years, the technology sector has brought more innovation and change to the world than any
other industry. From a marketing perspective though, it is now almost as boring as banking! Highly commo-
dotised and mature service industries, such as airlines, offer an interesting lesson. They compete heavily on
price. Customers buy online and have little loyalty. Having said this, the British Airways and Virgin brands,
both raise a different emotional response (similar to Oracle and Apple). Both credible companies, but the
mention of their names, take you to a different place.
Brand positioning is only one component of competitive advantage and in the enterprise sales
environment, people still buy from people………
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Should you consider the Personal Branding of your management team and salespeople as part of the
new Go-To-Market Strategy?
CEO’s often say, ‘our people are our most valuable asset’. In most cases, this is a meaningless cliché.
Companies hire the best people they can, give them some goals and metrics then mostly leave them to get
things done. The investment in getting the most out of people is expected to have been made by previous
employers. Putting those ‘assets’ to work properly, means linking the individuals that serve the customer, to
the brand. Think about the cool staff in an Apple shop, or the smiling hostesses on a Virgin flight. Their
appearance, communication and attitude are consistent with the brand. You don’t just buy a product. There is
an experience. It is all linked and this is crucial in services sales.
It is interesting to see that the most impressive and aggressive marketing innovation comes from
industries with skinny margins. The tech sector has enjoyed fat margins for so long, that the disciplines,
smarts and true marketing innovation are often lacking. Added to this, the timeline of bringing innovation to
market, has become so short, that it is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to differentiate between
competitors’ products. As usual, the clients are the ones who are on the right track (and yes, the customer
is always, or at least usually, right). Using consumers of IT services as an example, to a certain extent, they
make buying decisions on the basis of the relationship with the people selling and delivering the service, not
just the firm. That is, they buy the expertise of the firm’s brand AND the trust of the individuals.
It seems clear that all of the money spent by services companies on developing a company brand, is
at best dimly reflected on the individual person that a client buys from. While a consumer might find it easier
to project perceived brand values on an inanimate consumption item, such as a T-shirt or toothpaste, it is
straining belief to assume that a sophisticated consumer of IT services, will project a company catchphrase or
colour (or any aspect of the company brand, for that matter), onto the individual the client is buying from.
Could the next frontier of competitive advantage lie here?
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With the flight to “Services” in the Technology Sector, the people aspect of the marketing mix will come to
dominate marketing in the future.
Just as a firm’s brand is everything that people see, feel and hear about a product, then this rubric
can be transposed to people. However, the analogy goes only so far, as it is important to bear in mind that
humans are not inanimate objects onto which a consumer or observer can project (manipulated) values, but
rather a constantly evolving and mutating quality. In addition, it must be borne in mind that employees are
also private individuals and citizens, and although employers will wish to concentrate on developing employees’
marketability to increase impact and profit, the employer will have to tolerate individual idiosyncrasies and
non-work related conduct. This will be a difficult track to navigate in the future, further compounded by the
prolific use of social media
It follows that personal branding is not about hogging the limelight, Tony Robbins style, and not about
creating an image that is untrue. It is much more than what image consultants present about what to wear,
how to address an e-mail and how to make sales presentations.
Instead, personal branding looks at the key attributes of an individual, using the same techniques that
marketers and advertisers have honed over years of plying their trade. It works on creating brand impact at
the absolute client interface. It is the essence of niche marketing.
Building a Personal Brand, needs time and outside help. The ROI is huge!
Personal Brand is all about impact!
NOTE: This paper is the first in the series of “Sales Effectiveness, Performance and Execution in Asia Pacific” which we will cover in this year’s whitepapers.
Don’t miss out on the next one and sign-up for our whitepapers HERE(Email to: [email protected] and add your FULL NAME, TITLE and COMPANY DETAILS)
PAGE | 5
Mark is a founding Director of BSP. Mark has led many searches for global Technology vendors in building
their leadership teams across Asia Pacific. Through years of experience and specialisation in the Technology
sector, Mark has built an executive network and reputation in the region which gives the firm reach and
access.
Mark’s career began in the UK with British Aerospace as an engineer. In the late 80’s he founded a VC
backed hardware and software company, specialising in industrial data collection. Following significant
growth, his business was acquired in 1993. In 1994, he joined a South African executive search firm as
Managing Director.
He divested this interest in 1997 when he moved to Australia as a founding member of BSP.
Practice AreasSoftware & Emerging Technologies | Hardware & Systems | Services & Consulting | Telecommunications
Contact DetailsP +61 2 9460 4511E [email protected]
About the Authors | Mark Braithwaite
PAGE | 6
Managing Director and Owner, Brand New You
Emily Kucukalic is a personal branding specialist with extensive experience in the technology vendor sector.
She is the Owner and Managing Director of Brand New You, a niche marketing and branding consultancy
firm. Brand New You specialises in creating personal branding plans for executives.
Prior to starting her business in January 2009, she was the Group Head of Brand and External Relations
at AGL Energy in Australia. An Ernst and Young Entrepreneur prize winner and finalist in the 2000 Telstra
Business Woman of the Year award, Emily has more than fifteen years experience working in strategic sales,
branding and marketing roles in the IT&T and energy industries.
Emily was a winner of Lucent Leadership Awards in 2000, 2001 and2002 and has a Bachelor of Commerce
degree with Honours in Marketing.
Contact DetailsP +61 403 931 360
www.bny.com.au
About the Authors | Emily Kucukalic
PAGE | 7
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BSP is the Asia Pacific member of Access Search Partners. ASP is the leading global tech-
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track record in each geography and more than 3000 successfully completed searches.
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