This is a super-competitive environment where a number of companies are consolidating vendors into fewer choices, to make budget for newer investments around Artificial intelligence.

We’re often asked, “how do you position your company as a ‘must have’ vs a ‘nice to have’ in the selling process of ABX.

Over the years, we’ve pinpointed 9 key ways to help demonstrate tangible value and solve critical business problems.  Product Marketing as well as a general Market understanding are critical in these 9 steps:

 

1. Align with core business objectives: Show how your solution directly impacts key performance indicators and helps achieve strategic goals.  These goals can also be found on 10ks or searches using Perplexity.AI or Google Deep Research.
2. Quantify ROI: Provide clear, measurable evidence of the return on investment your solution delivers, emphasizing efficiency gains and cost savings.  Sometimes getting 3rd party validation can help here.  Think through shadow costs that CFOs will often anticipate.
3. Address pain points: Identify and solve urgent challenges your target customers face, positioning your offering as essential for overcoming these obstacles.  This is where primary market research is super critical to field.
4. Demonstrate unique value: Highlight your competitive advantages and showcase how your solution solves problems in ways others can’t.  A strong product marketing understanding is essential.
5. Focus on customer success stories: Share case studies and testimonials that illustrate how your product or service has become indispensable for other businesses.  Random case studies won’t cut it – they have to be as close to mirroring the same use case as possible.  Focus on a specific use case not a generic logo!
6. Emphasize risk mitigation: Show how your solution helps companies avoid potential losses or compliance issues.  Select industries like banking and pharmaceuticals have quite a bit of incentive to get compliance correct.
7. Integrate with existing workflows: Position your offering as a seamless addition that enhances current processes rather than disrupting them.  Once again, this is where having a deep understanding of the user, not just the buyer, is key – product marketing!
8. Provide excellent customer support: Offer responsive, high-quality support to make your solution an integral part of your clients’ operations.  Search archives of cases to ensure you are in a strong position relative to the support being requested by that customer or similar customers.  Provide benchmarks of responsiveness.
9. Stay ahead of industry trends: Continuously innovate and adapt your offering to address emerging challenges and opportunities in your market.  Customer Advisory boards are key here.
10. Bonus!  Build strong relationships: Foster trust and become a strategic partner to your clients, making your company an essential part of their business ecosystem.  This is critical at all levels of the organization.

 

By focusing on these strategies, you are in a better position to shift the perception of your company from a nice-to-have option to an indispensable business partner.  This is key for any Account Based motion in 2025 and beyond.