"How new vendors are chosen" with Anna Corp, ex Neyber, British Gas, Sainsbury's and Debenhams

Over the past 5-10 years, the Martech/SaaS landscape has become increasingly cluttered. Vendors, many of which offer a similar or the same service, are competing against numerous players for client advertising and technology budget. One look at the Martech LUMAscape illustrates this issue. 

As a vendor, it has been increasingly challenging to engage with the end client. This increase in competition has forced B2B businesses to change their structures — building commercial machines which focus on driving more awareness at the top of the funnel (e.g. inbound marketing). 

If we look at this through the lens of a client, challenges have also arisen. Due to the sharp increase of options, it has become more difficult to understand what each of these solutions and platforms offer. How do clients choose who to engage with? How do they understand points of differentiation? What is the true value add? How are solutions benchmarked? 

Anna Corp, a former client, has kindly agreed to answer a few questions from a clients perspective — providing an overview of her experience in dealing with the above issues, engagement with new vendors and how decisions are made. Anna, previously Head of Digital at Neyber, has also held senior digital positions at the likes of Aldermore Bank, British Gas, Liberty, Debenhams and Sainsbury’s.

Let’s get this started!

With so many solutions available, how have vendors effectively been able to gain your attention and illustrate value?

It’s tough. I get so many emails and calls from vendors trying to sell me something that there has to be a filter. And that filter is usually other people that I know and that they’ve worked with. 

If you’re doing great work then eventually you will start to build a good reputation in the business. It’s also really important to build up that personal relationship with clients because you will be remembered, and recommendations will be passed on.

What is the most innovative and creative thing a vendor has done to get your attention?

Over the years I’ve had all sorts of stuff land on my desk from vendors trying to get my attention (Google beach towel anyone?) but I really don’t need any more plastic stuff that’s going to end up in landfill. 

The best things prospective vendors have done is show me how they work whether that’s through hands-on workshops, interactive roundtables, or doing something a bit different from Death by Powerpoint at conferences and industry events. The IAB’s Nonference was really great for that.

It may take a bit of extra effort and resources rather than sticking something in an envelope but it’s a great way to help prospective clients get to know vendors and their teams. 

What are some of your big bugbears with vendor communication? What has really put you off from engaging?

One of the worst things vendors can do is cold call and ask if you require help with anything. When you tell them not at the moment but to maybe call back in a few months, they insist that you can easily give their product a try. For example, by just installing a snippet of code on your website, or by giving them access to your Analytics package so they can have a dig around. 

To me this shows they have a complete lack of understanding about how businesses operate. Vendors should understand that organisations have processes in place for the procurement of new suppliers. Tech departments work on roadmaps and can’t down tools to add some code. And I’m not going to hand over confidential data to a company I know nothing about. 

If only setting up new products was as simple as adding a bit of code though!

Do you look out for vendor marketing and has this impacted your decision to initially engage (e.g. seen at trade shows, LinkedIn articles, Award Shows etc.)?

Trade shows and conferences can be useful and I’ve made a number of contacts that way. There’s a lot of stuff on LinkedIn that would be better off on Facebook or personal blogs so unfortunately I don’t tend to use that much anymore which is a shame as it has the potential to be a brilliant platform for vendors to showcase their work. 

PR works well – I still like reading about great campaigns or new technology. Does that make me sound a bit old-school?

Salespeople typically follow a set methodology which includes identifying and engaging with the budget holder and final decision maker — sometimes this involves going around or above other stakeholders heads. How is this behaviour viewed from a client’s perspective?

Frustrating! Final decision makers are just that. They have a trusted team who will help them get to the final decision so salespeople would be much better off engaging with them. The team probably have more time to engage with salespeople and they will be the ones working with the product. So get them on side and get them to help do some of your work for you!

New projects are always being initiated on the client side — how have you typically chosen to shortlist a group of vendors for a specific project (who gets on the RFP)?

When I draw up a long list for an RFP the majority of prospects will be vendors I’ve worked with before or recommendations. Having said that I do like to throw a couple of wild cards in the mix. These tend to be smaller companies that have done interesting work that I’ve seen on LinkedIn or in publications such as Campaign. 

I’ll also invite vendors back who weren’t successful at previous pitches but still impressed. So, don’t burn your bridges. I’ve had vendors get quite aggressive demanding answers when they haven’t won pitches. Nobody enjoys telling someone they didn’t make it but don’t blow your chances of being asked back to work on something else or be recommended for a project with another client.

What % of projects have typically been initiated by a vendor getting in touch vs. being driven from the client side initially?

In large organisations it’s hard for vendors to initiate new projects for the reasons I mentioned above. Budgets, head counts, and projects tend to be allocated months if not years in advance.  

In smaller organisations that doesn’t apply so much as you can be a bit more flexible.

As salespeople, we are asked to communicate with procurement and the department leading the project. In your experience, are both departments typically aligned to a common goal or do they act in their own interests?  

I always like to have procurement involved in a pitch process from the beginning. It’s not a usual approach but it makes things a lot simpler. They can start asking the right questions from the beginning and it’s great to have a pair of eyes from outside marketing and digital who see things from a different perspective. 

Procurement are going to be key in helping make the final decision so it’s important that they are aligned with what marketing is trying to achieve.

Whether it be search, display or affiliate — why do you typically select a vendor for a project? Is it based on quality of product, price, sales person, company reputation and what weighting have you assigned to each?

It really does come down to the pitch. Price can be negotiated, talent can’t. I’ve seen companies with brilliant reputations completely blow a pitch and conversely been surprised by outsiders who have really got under the skin of the brief and answered it in a creative way that makes you sit up and think about things differently. 

What this means of course is that the team who turn up on the day are going to be key. It frustrates me when prospective clients don’t bring the actual people who would be working on the project into a pitch and instead just bring their most senior members of staff.

So there you have it folks — some very useful and insightful views on how clients engage with new vendors & what you should consider when trying to partner with a new brand!