LiquidPlanner | A Guide to Gaining Executive Buy-In
Problem: Convincing management to invest in a new tool
As content marketing manager, I had an open-door policy with the LiquidPlanner sales team. They came to me with a challenge: Prospects were excited about our project management tool. They were ready to buy. But when prospects pitched the idea of a new tool to management, their bosses rejected it.
The team was losing out on sales, and our prospects were losing out on getting a new tool.
Recommendation
To solve these challenges, I proposed we create a new content piece, featuring:
A longform guide that covers the entire process of gaining buy-in, from connecting the ask to business needs to building an implementation plan to making the pitch.
A download kit that featured a number of resources, including an objections cheat sheet, a costs worksheet, and proposal checklist.
Approach
Start with the customer
Full disclosure: I have little experience in this area. I’ve never had to convince someone to invest in a new tool that could upend the work of thousands of people across the company. To do this right, we needed to talk to our customers and people that had been there, done that.
I conducted six semi-structured interviews with customers and SMEs, focusing on:
Most painful barriers to new tool adoption
Common objections our customers hear when bringing new ideas to management
What management looks for in pitches, especially software purchases
Strategies for connecting a new tool to business objectives
Build an outline and web template
These research insights informed the contents of the guide and download kit. I then worked with our designer to build a new website template that would allow readers to navigate the guide’s chapters.
Write, write, and write some more
Over three months, I wrote 5,000+ words and several handouts.
The Guide
After a few rounds of user testing, editing, and revising, we published a 6-chapter guide. One of my favorite aspects is that LiquidPlanner isn’t mentioned anywhere in this guide. It’s a free resource — no email required — that aims to be a helpful resource. No promotion; no gimmicks.
The download kit
But, I was on a marketing team after all. There had to be some lead-generation aspect. That’s why we created a download kit, which required an email to access it. (Our sales team sent the ungated version to prospects.)
CTAs
We sprinkled relevant CTAs throughout the guide.
Landing page
Readers were directed to a landing page. Completing the form brought them to a page where they could download the resources. We also sent them an email with links for future reference
The materials
I partnered with our designer to create the kit materials.
Results
The sales team were thrilled with the guide and tools. (And any collaboration between marketing and sales is a win in my book.)
While I don’t have hard data around how many sales closed because of this, I do know that prospects were happy to have an in-depth guide. They told our sales team that they actually used the materials, like the objections cheat sheet, when talking to management.
The download kit brought in 40+ leads each month. That’s from SEO alone. We never put any advertising budget behind this resource. A huge win for an 100% inbound company.
Services
Digital strategy, concept creation, content marketing, content design, copywriting
The project
The LiquidPlanner sales team came to me with a challenge: Prospects were excited about our tool and ready to buy, but when they brought the proposal to management, it was turned down. They were losing out on the sales, and our prospects were losing out on gaining a new tool.
The strategy
I led the effort to create a longform guide and resources to help prospects convince management to purchase a tool project management tool.
What I did
Concepted the guide, chapters, and download kit
Wrote all 5,000+ words for the guide, as well as the download kit materials
Wrote the landing page, email, and CTA copy that accompanied the guide
Partnered with our designer to create new website templates for this longform guide and consulted on content design
Partnered with our sales team to ensure the guide met customers’ and sales’ needs