Marketplace scoring
Know how to use marketplace scoring
Marketplace scoring in Tackle tells you which potential buyers in your sales pipeline are most likely to have an existing relationship with the cloud marketplace based on a predictive scoring model. The scores give direction on which accounts in your sales pipeline to focus on and the sales team the confidence to have those conversations about the marketplace with likely accounts.
Some examples of High and Low scoring:
A High on the AWS Marketplace would mean that the domain is more likely to have already purchased on AWS or is very similar to companies that have.
Low on the Microsoft commercial marketplace indicates that the domain is not likely to have already purchased on Microsoft.
Focus on the Highs
Take a look at all of your accounts rated as High:
Ensure each of these opportunities are registered with the appropriate cloud provider and your sales team is aware of these prospects as High scores.
High scores can tell you where your sales team should focus and which marketplace(s) you should consider listing on. You can determine where to list your product first based on buyer preference with marketplace scores. If you are listed on the AWS Marketplace, but a large amount of your pipeline is scoring High on the Microsoft commercial marketplace, that may be something to consider.
It’s very likely that these accounts have already purchased through the marketplace(s) shown, so you have a high degree of probability that the cloud representative will be interested in working with your sales team, too.
Engage early
Engage your high-propensity prospect as early on in the sales cycle as possible and ask them some questions about marketplace.
Keep your leading questions more general. A good place to start is with Does your company have a strategic relationship with one of the major Cloud Providers? Meaning, does your company spend a good deal of money with any of the cloud providers and/or are they considered strategic partners?
Your contact will probably either answer yes and/or ask you why you’re asking. This is a perfect opening to share that many of your buyers are finding it faster and easier to include your software as part of their cloud bill (and, better yet, cloud budget). If they have a relationship with a cloud provider where your software is listed, that’s a green light to continue the marketplace discussion.
A good follow-up example then would be: Who owns the cloud relationship? These are the people that your contact will need to talk with about cloud budgets and commitments. While your buyer might not have experience purchasing through the marketplace yet, chances are someone else in the organization has.
Once their wheels are spinning, you can partner with them to find the right internal parties to talk with who will know about their previous cloud purchases and preferences.
Connect with a cloud representative
On the cloud side, you’ll want to connect with the cloud representative who sells to your prospect. When you register the deal with the cloud provider, this should result in introductions to the various team members who work with your prospect, assuming your registered opportunity has been accepted.
The cloud representative wins when you win, so connect with them, explain what you do, who you are working with, and look to collaborate on a strategy to win (for example, close a marketplace deal with this prospect) together.
Partnering with cloud providers also gives you potential access to intel on a prospect if that cloud provider has worked with them before and has an established relationship with them. Additionally, you can leverage marketplace incentives by pushing the deal through the marketplace, such as Enterprise Discount Programs (EDPs), Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs), or various Partner/Reseller-centric programs for larger deals.
Additional best practices for scoring
Continue building your pipeline
Set up a routine cadence to check scores. This will be dependent on your sales cycle, but generally a quarterly check-up will provide valuable updates. For your larger, more strategic accounts, check their Prospect Score at least quarterly, especially if they score Low or Medium the first time around.
Scan a new pipeline monthly or quarterly. Knowing who is buying through the marketplace and how mature they are on that journey early on makes your sales team more efficient as they can get the right people involved early in the process.
Reconsider your existing prospects and buyers
Take a look at your at-risk renewals and accounts who want to expand but are having budget issues. Think of the marketplace as your “Churn Control” button. If you track at-risk buyers who are leaving because they no longer have budget (or not expanding because they don’t have budget), it might make sense to offer them the option to take the renewal through their cloud bill, which frees up budget they might not have otherwise had access to.
Also take another look at all of your Closed-Lost opportunities. Look closely for those who didn’t proceed due to lack of funding. If they score High or Medium, you may have a great opportunity to resurrect a number of deals.
Takeaways
Through these best practices for using Tackle Prospect, you will set yourself and your team for success and with a strong High-value pipeline by targeting the right accounts with the right message at the right time to close marketplace deals.