Full-Funnel B2B Marketing Show Episode 77: 5 Things Barco Did To Get ClickShare to 1mil meeting rooms with Lieven Bertier
Dec 20, 2021
34:34
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1. Keeping product positioning differentiating
They key to monitor the market and keep the positioning unique and meaningful.
The ClickShare product went through three stages:
1. Startup phase, where ClickShare was positioned as a Barco product, adding credibility to the new proposition
2. Scaling phase, where they looked for the core value, and positioned ClickShare as the "cable killer". This positioning did wonders because all of a sudden, everybody knew, "hey, here's ClickShare, I can get on screen with just one click (an no cables)"
3. A few years later, the team realized that the "cable killer" may not do 100% justice to a product that's become fully networked and targeted primarily at the IT manager. With COVID coming along, they repositioned the product as a better way to do hybrid meetings, with a new series of product ClickShare Conference.
2. Using stringent criteria for MQL, as qualified by sales
MQL at Barco is qualified by sales.
Inside sales speak with the prospect, and qualify their need, budget, timeline and decision authority.
An amazing 99%+ of MQLs end up being accepted by sales.
3. Running a free trial program — for a hardware product
This program has a whooping 50% conversion rate (from a trial to a deal).
Barco actually ships a box with a base unit, the receiver, and also the click share buttons — along with instructions on how to set it up. There is also a helpline available that can assist you if need be.
4. Investing in thought leadership that gets you PR
You don't often think of thought leadership when it comes to hardware product.
But Barco recognized early on the opportunity to claim thought leadership around the future of meetings.
For example, Barco introduced the meeting barometer research around the question "Did meetings get better for you over the last six months?".
This brought them:
- Major media attention (e.g. interview on Sky News on Sunday morning and lots of press)
- Sales enablement material that sales people could use as a conversation starter
5. Running a sales enablement program
Barco has a combined go-to-market:
- Indirect, via a network of 5000+ resellers globally
- Direct for Fortune 1000 accounts (Barco's internal sales team)
The sales enablement program has three pillars:
- Creation, making sure that partners and the internal sales team have the right assets available. The key is to have lots of conversations with the sales team, partners, product management, customer councils...
- Communication, because you can build the best possible set of assets, but they are not valuable if nobody knows where to find them
- Evaluation, which is a continuous process of checking which assets are actually getting used and liked, and which of them need an update
RESOURCES:
Lieven on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lieven-bertier/
ClickShare https://www.barco.com/en/clickshare
On-Demand B2B Marketing Courses: https://fullfunnel.io/b2b-marketing-courses/
Full-Funnel Insider - A Marketing Newsletter For B2B Marketers: https://fullfunnel.io/marketing-newsl
Join our community for B2B marketers - The Trenches: https://sendfox.com/trenches
Upcoming events: https://lu.ma/fullfunnel/events
Full-Funnel Marketing Content Hub: https://fullfunnel.io/blog
1. Keeping product positioning differentiating
They key to monitor the market and keep the positioning unique and meaningful.
The ClickShare product went through three stages:
1. Startup phase, where ClickShare was positioned as a Barco product, adding credibility to the new proposition
2. Scaling phase, where they looked for the core value, and positioned ClickShare as the "cable killer". This positioning did wonders because all of a sudden, everybody knew, "hey, here's ClickShare, I can get on screen with just one click (an no cables)"
3. A few years later, the team realized that the "cable killer" may not do 100% justice to a product that's become fully networked and targeted primarily at the IT manager. With COVID coming along, they repositioned the product as a better way to do hybrid meetings, with a new series of product ClickShare Conference.
2. Using stringent criteria for MQL, as qualified by sales
MQL at Barco is qualified by sales.
Inside sales speak with the prospect, and qualify their need, budget, timeline and decision authority.
An amazing 99%+ of MQLs end up being accepted by sales.
3. Running a free trial program — for a hardware product
This program has a whooping 50% conversion rate (from a trial to a deal).
Barco actually ships a box with a base unit, the receiver, and also the click share buttons — along with instructions on how to set it up. There is also a helpline available that can assist you if need be.
4. Investing in thought leadership that gets you PR
You don't often think of thought leadership when it comes to hardware product.
But Barco recognized early on the opportunity to claim thought leadership around the future of meetings.
For example, Barco introduced the meeting barometer research around the question "Did meetings get better for you over the last six months?".
This brought them:
- Major media attention (e.g. interview on Sky News on Sunday morning and lots of press)
- Sales enablement material that sales people could use as a conversation starter
5. Running a sales enablement program
Barco has a combined go-to-market:
- Indirect, via a network of 5000+ resellers globally
- Direct for Fortune 1000 accounts (Barco's internal sales team)
The sales enablement program has three pillars:
- Creation, making sure that partners and the internal sales team have the right assets available. The key is to have lots of conversations with the sales team, partners, product management, customer councils...
- Communication, because you can build the best possible set of assets, but they are not valuable if nobody knows where to find them
- Evaluation, which is a continuous process of checking which assets are actually getting used and liked, and which of them need an update
RESOURCES:
Lieven on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lieven-bertier/
ClickShare https://www.barco.com/en/clickshare
On-Demand B2B Marketing Courses: https://fullfunnel.io/b2b-marketing-courses/
Full-Funnel Insider - A Marketing Newsletter For B2B Marketers: https://fullfunnel.io/marketing-newsl
Join our community for B2B marketers - The Trenches: https://sendfox.com/trenches
Upcoming events: https://lu.ma/fullfunnel/events
Full-Funnel Marketing Content Hub: https://fullfunnel.io/blog