If someone forwarded you this briefing, sign up here to get the Index Insider every Friday.
PROVIDER SCAN
As the saying goes, “people buy from people,” and evidence from ISG’s deals certainly confirms the sentiment. ISG collects data on each provider’s performance as part of our ISG FutureSource™ methodology. Among this data, we ask our advisors who are facilitating the transaction to rank how well the provider performs on ten attributes. The ranking is on a three-point scale – below average, average and above average.
Among the ten attributes are three that get at how well the provider’s team connects with the client’s team. We find that provider teams that manage interpersonal relations, collaborate, and listen well to the client are much more likely to progress beyond the first round of the deal. (See Data Watch)
Progressing beyond the first round doesn’t necessarily mean winning, but being eliminated does mean losing. Additionally, interviews from our pursuit effectiveness research suggest that building relationships early in the deal facilitates every step of the deal afterwards, including solution design, negotiations and transition.
To read more about this data, check out this research note.
DATA WATCH
M&A
About the authors
Alex Bakker
Paul Reynolds
Paul Reynolds leads Momentum, a division of ISG that provides research services to help service providers better target, win and retain business. Paul has 25 years of market research experience with specific expertise in methodology development, data analytics and research process design. Having found many service providers’ Advisor Relations functions to lack appropriate analytics, Paul is working to develop innovative new approaches that allow for data-driven programs based on the unique needs of each client. His approach benefits Advisor Relations, go-to-market functions, sales, strategy, marketing, and market/competitive intelligence teams.
