Challenging how CIOs and CFOs think about cloud cost before any sales ask
The firm's outreach described services buyers could get from any vendor. A researched point of view, that rising cloud bills are an architecture problem rather than a pricing one, gives sellers something worth discussing first.
- Challenge
Capability-led outreach with no view of its own for buyers to react to.
- Approach
Build a researched point of view on cloud cost and express it in short formats.
- Result
Posts, notes and openers that let sellers discuss the buyer's cloud bill, not services.
The situation
IT services firms often describe themselves in the same terms: certified engineers, delivery scale, flexible engagement models. Buyers hear this from every vendor, so capability-led outreach is ignored or passed to procurement. Without a view of its own, the firm only enters once a buyer has framed the problem and is comparing rates. It ends up competing on price for work someone else has shaped.
The question that mattered
What does the firm believe about cloud cost that buyers have not considered, and how do sellers raise it before asking for a meeting?
What we did
- 1
Find the assumption worth challenging
Interview the firm's architects and delivery leads, review anonymised project history and public research, and test candidate themes in conversations with a handful of buyers.
- 2
Build the point of view
Argue that cloud bills keep rising because of how applications are designed and released, so discounts and rightsizing alone do not hold. Back each claim with evidence the firm can show.
- 3
Express it in short formats
Write LinkedIn posts for senior practitioners, short notes for CIOs and CFOs, and conversation openers that ask about the buyer's own bill.
- 4
Target it through social selling and ABM
Put the posts and notes in front of named people at priority accounts, and coach sellers to comment, share and help before asking for time.
What we delivered
The evidence and working documents the team kept.
- Point-of-view paper on cloud cost, with supporting evidence
- LinkedIn post series for the firm's leaders and sellers
- Short notes for CIOs, CFOs and heads of infrastructure
- Conversation openers and follow-up questions for sellers
- Priority-account list for social selling and ABM distribution
The outcome
A clear point of view
the firm can defend with its own evidence
Short formats
ready for LinkedIn, email and live conversations
Sellers
opening with a question about the buyer's cloud bill
Leaders
publishing a consistent argument under their own names
Buyers meet the firm through an argument about their own costs, so early conversations are about architecture choices, not rate cards.
What changed in the GTM motion
The firm now has a stated view that leaders, marketing and sellers all use, in place of a capability list. New themes go through the same research and buyer testing before they reach the market.
Services in this programme
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