Our newest market segment, Healthcare, was established following extensive research into opportunities to provide value in that arena. A key method for refining our offering in this market was the establishment of a Healthcare Advisory Board, which included external industry executives to advise the Executive Team (ET) and help formulate our strategy for successfully penetrating this market. Having served its purpose, the Board was disbanded in 2014. To attract new customers and expand our relationship with existing ones, IPM uses the IAS and RAS to identify unfulfilled needs to expand our offerings. Since our customer base does not view PM as a core competency—and we had observed the trend of outsourcing other functions—in 2016 IPM endeavored to offer an entirely outsourced Project Management Office (PMO) as a service. Early in 2017, IPM landed our first outsourced-PMO engagement. Moving forward, new product offerings will be the domain of the newly formed Discovery & Development (D&D) function. 3.2a(2) Customer Support IPM integrates customer support in the service delivery for each engagement; our entire service model revolves around providing support and information to customers. Our key means of customer support are the assigned PMC and AM, who are bolstered by other IPM staff such as the CoEs, KPM, CCS, Principal Consultants (PCs), and other Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Customers easily seek information and support through the access afforded by on-site presence of the PMC. Frequent interactions with the customer are thus actually unavoidable. The PMC also has formal—typically weekly—one-on-one meetings with the primary customer, the project sponsor. Standard PM tools such as a schedule and risk register also serve as key communication mechanisms, conveying the details of the approach that IPM will use to provide support. Each engagement is customized to specific client needs, so the particular mechanisms used can vary between different customers regardless of market segment. To further enable our customers’ ability to conduct business with us, the AM also remains in close contact with and is readily accessible to the sponsor throughout the engagement. Clients also know to visit our website, where they access educational information about project management and IPM’s service lines, along with white papers and case studies from other IPM engagements. Before engaging with the client on an assignment, their detailed objectives and key support requirements are defined through discussions between the client and IPM representatives, then they are documented as part of the proposal. The proposal, which also includes pricing and contractual terms and conditions, is a key communication mechanism. It is essential that the client review the proposal in detail and provide feedback that is reflected in the final document, as necessary, to ensure full alignment with IPM. Following agreement between IPM and the client, requirements are then deployed to IPM’s assigned resources (PMCs, CoEs) via their individual review of the proposal. To
help further deploy those key support requirements, a Project Launch Analysis (PLA) is conducted at the outset of a client engagement, linking the PMC to IPM SMEs in both the relevant field and the specific client environment. 3.2a(3) Customer Segmentation Our key market segments are four industries: Life Sciences, Consumer Products, Industrial, and Healthcare. They have been segmented as such to centralize the common expertise and related knowledge required to successfully lead projects in each. The market segments have evolved over time; we have refined categories—for example, until 2014 Industrial and Consumer Products were viewed as a single market segment—and created new ones such as Healthcare, a market in which our competitors were already engaged. Beginning in 2016, we have executed marketing campaigns targeting specific sub-segments of our industries, such as further segmenting the food and beverage sector by functional role and authority level. We also utilize the Salesforce add- on Data.com to subdivide prospective buyers. It develops categorized customer lists, which are used to determine if the numbers justify a targeted campaign within a particular segment. The use of website and social media analytics has furthered IPM’s understanding of customer segments through analysis of data. This analysis has helped identify trends in engagement by service line, industry, and geography. Additionally, in March 2017, IPM engaged Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management to do exploratory research with current contacts—those in our sales pipeline along with current and former customers—to provide a better understanding of buying behavior, their knowledge of PM and its methodologies, and their needs and pain points. Additionally, Kellogg conducted a quantitative research study using a third- party database (via Qualtrics) of potential buyers of business- to-business services to help build a baseline of brand awareness within the segments IPM serves. The determination of which market segments to pursue for business growth is made during the BPP, with the information gleaned from the IAS, RAS, and the O&T Hub site used as a guide. We have also previously decided, through the BPP, to expand our business into new regions based on the concentration of our market segments therein. The sheer volume of Life Sciences companies led to the decisions to expand into Los Angeles in 2014 and New Jersey in 2015. The 2014 decision to expand into Minneapolis—with its many consumer products companies—was driven by the goal to better diversify within our industries and counterbalance the projected increase in Life Sciences clients due to the addition of the LA office. This geographic expansion has been the driving force of our business growth. 3.2b Customer Relationships 3.2b(1) Relationship Management As a consulting firm, we are in the relationship business, and if we do not build and manage our relationships, we will cease to function as a business. The BD Life Cycle (AOS) highlights
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