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Chris Luxford

Change Agent and Senior Consultant at The ASPIRE! Group, LLC

Noosa, Australia

As an experienced management consultant focused on Go-To-Customer innovation and the evolving need to delight the customer, I have spent the past 25 years focused on developing strategy and operational methodologies and techniques to drive differentiation via innovation in business outcomes through technology enabled business process change.

With roles as an industry leading management consultant, product manager for a large multi-national technology vendor, and from 2004 - 2008 as the CEO of a $50M per annum System Integrator, I have experienced all elements of business management from operational, to strategic and can empathise with and work at any level within an organistion from the board to the guys and gals at the front line of customer interaction.

I love change and I love helping organisations change to create real innovation and differentiation and deliver their strategic goals. This love for change has seen me move back into management consulting with a dedicated focus on go-to-customer and management innovation as it is the ONLY real game changer with regards to meaningful differentiation !

Specialties: Management Innovation (Thought leadership, business models, partnering and collaboration models)

Experienced CEO

Go-to-customer innovation consultant

Business process consulting

Customer Experience Innovation and Contact centres

Available For: Advising, Consulting, Speaking
Travels From: Australia
Speaking Topics: B2B Growth, B2B Business Models, Complex Selling Strategies, Sales Executive Coaching

Speaking Fee $10,000 (In-Person)

Chris Luxford Points
Academic 0
Author 262
Influencer 31
Speaker 40
Entrepreneur 110
Total 443

Points based upon Thinkers360 patent-pending algorithm.

Thought Leader Profile

Portfolio Mix

Company Information

Company Type: Company
Theatre: Global

Areas of Expertise

5G
Analytics
Big Data
Business Strategy
Change Management
Cloud
COVID19 37.52
CRM
Culture
Customer Experience 47.52
Customer Loyalty
Design Thinking
Digital Disruption
Digital Transformation 30.30
Ecosystems
Emerging Technology
Future of Work
Innovation 31.48
IoT
Leadership 40.85
Management 30.41
Risk Management
Sales 100
Marketing 30.11

Industry Experience

Federal & Public Sector
Financial Services & Banking
Healthcare
High Tech & Electronics
Professional Services
Telecommunications
Utilities

Publications

1 Advisory Board Membership
Advisory Board Member
Chris Luxford
January 01, 2022
Member of the advisor board the CX / Digital consulting firm W3 Digital

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

40 Article/Blogs
How Outcome-Based Selling in today's VUCA world massively outperforms Product-Led Selling
Linkedin
January 10, 2023

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Business Outcome-based Go-To-Client Model Innovation: Tips to Help You Achieve Success
Linkedin
October 31, 2022
Business-to-Business (B2B) Outcome-based go-to-client models are gaining popularity as companies seek more effective, measurable and lasting ways to deliver meaningful, sustainable innovation and differentiation to underpin growth. This blog post shares 5 tips for business outcome-based go-to client model innovation that will help you as your organization transform.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Do you buy the cheapest toilet paper?
Linkedin
October 26, 2022

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

B2B selling - The new Success Equation
Chris Luxford
October 24, 2022

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Go-To-Client Innovation Blog
Website Blog
October 01, 2022

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

In a VUCA world all Leadership is Change Leadership
LinkedIn
March 14, 2022
In today's increasingly intense performance orientated organisations Leaders tend to vacillate between strategy and tactics. However, both share one thing in common...what made us successful won't make us successful.

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, Marketing

B2B Sellers which Game Show are you Playing?
LinkedIn
January 30, 2022
Every B2B seller I've met loves winning like seagulls love chips. They'll fight hard to get the win.
Yet in my view all too often B2B sellers find themselves in a game show. So the question is which one?

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Tags: Leadership, Marketing, Sales

Tips on landing your next sales leadership role
LinkedIn
January 16, 2022
I often get asked by my clients all over the world for advice on updating their resume or how to excel in their next interview. More often than not these are for level up positions within their current company, occasionally for new positions in a new firm.

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Tags: Innovation, Management, Leadership

Revisiting this article of 1 year ago
LinkedIn
May 16, 2021
Nothing like some non-judgmental self-reflection

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Tags: Innovation, Management, Leadership

2020: How to reclaim your path to realising your desired results
LinkedIn
April 29, 2020
The rest of 2020 will be marked by our choices. How we choose to respond or react to the incredible 119 days that are the year to date. With 246 days to remake 2020 and launch us into 2021.

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Tags: Innovation, Management, Leadership

B2B Sellers – Have you had your COVID moment yet?
LinkedIn
April 06, 2020
Think about airlines, rental car companies, bricks and mortar retailers, and many other industries that rely on people being out and about in the community. These have all suffered instantly and massively.

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, COVID19

B2B Sellers - The 7 Stages of a Pandemic and how to sell to your clients
LinkedIn
March 23, 2020
In my working lifetime there have been three major whole of world changing events. The 200's dot com bubble, the 2008 global financial crisis and now the COVID-19 Pandemic. (the 87 crash was while I was at school so while I recall it and was not working at the time).

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, COVID19

COVID - B2B Sellers should be thanking Kevin Bacon
LinkedIn
March 20, 2020
7,394 days ago was the last time the world, as a whole collectively held it’s breath. Prior to this ominous date I was able to witness one of the most inspiring acts of common goal / greater good action I’d ever seen.

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Tags: Innovation, Management, Leadership

B2B Selling - How COVID will help reinvent the industry
LinkedIn
March 15, 2020
In 2001 Peter Drucker penned one of his last articles and thought pieces, as usual it was a masterpiece in foretelling and laying out a path that executives globally could embrace.

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, COVID19

Model Monday - 9 Stage Business Case
LinkedIn
September 15, 2019
Yet 99% of B2B sales professionals, lead with offering (you know, our company is great, our product is great, it's better than theirs, theirs and theirs, we have this many customers) and persuade using logic and facts (we can save 10% of operating expense within 14 months, our TCO is lower than anyone else in the market, this will pay for itself in 17 seconds).

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Tags: Innovation, Management, Leadership

Model Monday - Why your approach to change is hurting not helping
LinkedIn
August 20, 2019
The 3rd Industrial Revolution was founded in the Information Age built upon rapid change in technology. This technology opened new ways for people to work. Businesses were able to expand and grow at rates never seen before.

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Tags: Innovation, Management, Leadership

Model Monday - The Success Loop
LinkedIn
August 11, 2019
“One of the problems when we try to change behavior of people is that there’s no one thing that causes behavior. Most of our behavior is caused by a thousand things. So if you spend your time saying, what’s the one thing I can do? What’s the magic lever I can turn and it will shift the whole organization over in one direction? Well that lever doesn’t exist because there are a million things that are all interplaying. So if you want to change a culture, what you have to do is try to change everything all at once.” David Brooks

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Tags: Innovation, Management

Why are most Unicorns B2C?
LinkedIn
August 04, 2019
As you explore the list there is one stark commonality. Most, not all, but most are B2C companies.

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Tags: Innovation, Management, Leadership

Model Monday - The ALLURE of an Outcome-based Go-To-Client approach
Linkedin
July 29, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Model Monday - Learning to be outcome-based
Linkedin
July 22, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Model Monday - What do you want your people to become
Linkedin
July 15, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Model Monday - Go-to-Client maturity Model
Linkedin
July 08, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Outcome-led Opportunities - Why traditional qualification models are inadequate
Linkedin
July 04, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Model Monday - EPIC Talents
Linkedin
June 18, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Model Monday - Powerful Questions
Linkedin
June 10, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Model Monday - Buyers Journey
Linkedin
June 04, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Model Monday - Waterfall Model
Linkedin
May 28, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Model Monday - BOLD
Linkedin
May 21, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Model Monday - A latticework of mental models
Linkedin
May 14, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

5 Common Mistakes in Transforming to an Outcome-based selling model
Linkedin
April 30, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

The Customer Success flaw
Linkedin
March 26, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

A trailblazer of genuine outcome-based thinking and engagement
Linkedin
March 15, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

A Teacher, A Life-Long Learner
Linkedin
March 06, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

A force for mindset and behaviour change
Linkedin
February 27, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

A nurturer of EPIC talents
Linkedin
February 19, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

B2B sales leaders - Beyond 2020
Linkedin
February 12, 2019

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Sales Leaders - Your primary role in 2019
Linkedin
December 10, 2018

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

CX Innovation
CX Focus
August 15, 2017

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Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Innovation

CX Innovation - Business leaders fail to own the customer experience
CX Focus
July 20, 2017

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Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Innovation

How AI and Robotics are reinventing CX
CX Focus
May 30, 2017

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Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Innovation

2 Board Memberships
Datagamz
Chris Luxford
August 01, 2022
Personalise Performance for All
Gamification platform translates behaviors that will improve productivity into badges, quests, and challenges for individuals and teams.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

CR-X Board Member
Chris Luxford
January 01, 2019
We were big data before it became "Big Data"
For over 15 years, our business solutions for enterprises were focused on acquiring, transforming and presenting massive volumes of data using methods that unlock its potential. We got our start in 2002, in telecommunications, and have expanded to become a global innovator across a multitude of industries including telco, finance, health, utilities and travel. Today, we are known as the world’s fastest Big Data integration engine.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

3 Books
How Dave led his Sales Team out of Irrelevance
Chris Luxford
May 01, 2021
An intriguing look at how one courageous sales leader saved his company from becoming irrelevant by not competing harder, instead being the disruptor rather than the disrupted by BOLDly leveraging an innovative outcome based ecosystem led go-to-customer model.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

How Suzy led her sales team out of irrelevance
Chris Luxford
May 01, 2021
An intriguing look at how one courageous sales leader saved her company from becoming irrelevant by not competing harder, instead being the disruptor rather than the disrupted by BOLDly leveraging an innovative outcome based ecosystem led go-to-customer model.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

ASPIRE! Group Inspirational Quotes: For Sales Executives and Sales Professionals
Chris Luxford
April 23, 2018
Powerful quotes help us rethink, reframe, reimagine and relearn.

They energise.
They confront our assumptions.
They provocate our delusions.
They cut through complexity and offer clarity of insight.
They fuel the fire of our aspirations.
In this book we offer the most inspiring quotes we use daily with our clients.

They are presented in three sections. Quotes that are relevant to;
You
Your customers
Your teams members (direct or indirect)

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

1 Executive
Senior Partner
ASPIRE! Group
October 01, 2022
Co-owner of the world's only go-to-client management consultancy focussed on aligning buyer and seller mindsets for innovation in the Everything-as-a-Service Revolution

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

1 Founder
Experience Innovators Co-Founder
Chris Luxford
October 01, 2013

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Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Leadership

4 Keynotes
Avaya North America 2021 Sales kick off keynote
Chris Luxford
March 01, 2021
Delivered the closing keynote for Avaya North American direct and channel partner sales teams to inspire them to new ways to create opportunities and client impact through an outcome-led approach

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, Sales

Contact Tracing Virtual Leadership Forum
Avaya
June 24, 2020
Unlike the COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus, contact tracing is not a novel idea. That said, it has never been deployed at the global scale we’re witnessing now. And we’ve never before had the technology and capabilities we can harness today …to transform what had been largely a manual process to scale to address the unprecedented volume required in battling this pandemic. Systems incorporating automation and AI virtual agents can help meet the high demand, speed the process, and drive accuracy – all while mitigating risk and managing costs.

Avaya welcomes you to join an exclusive invitation-only Contact Tracing Virtual Leadership Forum to examine and share learnings on decision making, policy, and incorporating innovation into processes.

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Tags: COVID19, Customer Experience, Sales

CCW ANZ: Automation Anywhere - Why Intelligent Automation is a Must-Have for Contact Centres
Chris Luxford
May 27, 2020
Why Intelligent Automation is a Must-Have for Contact Centres

In these unprecedented times, businesses must continue to match or exceed the performance required from customers to remain competitive. In this session, explore the advantages of intelligent Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Intelligent Automation (IA) for the contact centre.

Tackle performance, growth and people challenges
Improve average call handle time and first call resolution
Boost performance in a cost-effective manner
Alex Koshy, Senior Director Industry Solutions, Asia, Automation Anywhere

Chris Luxford, Senior Partner, W3 Digital

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Avaya Engage 2020
Avaya
February 05, 2020
Avaya ENGAGE, hosted by Avaya and the International Avaya Users Group (IAUG), is the premier event for the future of communications experience and its impact on digital transformation. Avaya ENGAGE 2020 brings you four days of general sessions, workshops, and breakouts; inspirational and informative speakers; and content experts to drive and enhance your digital transformation journey.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

1 Profile
CX Expert
CX Focus
October 01, 2019
Meet Our CX Experts
Meet CXFocus’s editorial panel of experts. The panel comprises individuals with extensive backgrounds in sales, marketing, customer service, technology and business strategy. Each individual is a recognised leader in their field of expertise.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Innovation

13 Videos
Collision of Thought - Taking Massive Action
Chris Luxford
October 01, 2021
How to shift your personal and your teams mindsets to make the transition from product-led selling to outcome-based selling.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Powerful questions
Chris Luxford
October 01, 2021
The power of shifting your sales questions from things that you selfishly want to know but add little or no value to your client....to things that provocatively help your client think, unlearn, relearn and see what they can't see. This goes beyond the classic "ask more open questions" and looks at the subtle art of question design, intent and structure in complex B2B outcome-based selling

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Storytelling
Chris Luxford
October 01, 2021
To emotionally engage non-IT executives on your ideas, rather than your products, sales professionals must elevate the art of storytelling. In this video we explore different aspects of what makes a good story, different storytelling techniques and some simple tips for having a better conversation with your clients

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - The new buying decision
Chris Luxford
October 01, 2021
Clients buying processes have radically changed, they continue to change, yet the B2B sales industry still broadly sells the same way as laid out in the 1870's (yes over 130 years ago) NCR Primer taught us. In this video we explore the new buying behaviours and how small shifts in mindset, conversation, ideation and engagement offer massive opportunities for differentiation

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Conversation Construct
Chris Luxford
October 01, 2021
Real time performers practice more than they perform...well all but sales professionals. They rarely practice, and what they "call" practice tends to be presentation preparation. In this video we explore how embracing a disciplined practice structure and framework can radically improve impact and differentiation in client conversations. More over increase pipeline and sales by more ideas being embraced by your prospects

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Buyers Journey
Chris Luxford
October 01, 2021
Understand how buyers buy can dramatically shift how a sales professional qualifies, decides and acts. Without a mental model to reflect it is often difficult to reflect upon the buyers journey without looking through the selfish lens of our own goals. In this video we explore a framework, from the original work of Neil Rackham, to better understand how buyers buy

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Goal research
Chris Luxford
October 01, 2021
Outcome-based selling requires sales professionals to operate using a deep insights sales approach. If you do not know your client how can you link the value of your offerings to their outcomes? Most sales professionals argue they know their clients well. But what they know tends to be information (facts) or extremely high level and vague. In this video we explore how to better, quickly and easily understand in a meaningful way your clients desired business outcomes....in detail

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Get the meeting
Chris Luxford
October 01, 2021
Executive are bombarded with meeting requests from sales people who want to tell them how great their stuff is. in our survey of technology buyers most indicate they can receive as many as 20 requests for meetings a week. Mostly from people who are complete strangers to them. So when prospecting how can you get a meeting with a non-IT executive? How can you seperate yourself from the noise and successfully get the meeting? In this video we explore pragmatic proven mindsets and behaviours for prospecting success

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Go-To-Client Model Innovation Explainer
Chris Luxford
September 01, 2020

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Mindsets of Successful sales professionals
Chris Luxford
April 01, 2020
Through our consulting engagements with our clients helping them transition from product-led selling to outcome-led selling we have identified 50 key mindset and behaviour characteristics that seperate the incredibly successful EPIC sales professionals from the mediocre!!

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Change Leadership Session 1
Chris Luxford
February 03, 2020
The most critical leadership trait for successful sales leadership is change leadership. Leading changes in the mindsets, skillsets, disciple sets of their teams to keep pace with an ever changing market, buyer behaviour and competitive landscape is critical. What made you successful won't make you successful. That said sales leaders have rarely been given any genuine development on how to be effective leaders of change. In this short 3 part series we explore practical ways in which sales leaders can better understand how to become more effective leaders of change.

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Change Leadership Session 2
Chris Luxford
February 03, 2020
The most critical leadership trait for successful sales leadership is change leadership. Leading changes in the mindsets, skillsets, disciple sets of their teams to keep pace with an ever changing market, buyer behaviour and competitive landscape is critical. What made you successful won't make you successful. That said sales leaders have rarely been given any genuine development on how to be effective leaders of change. In this short 3 part series we explore practical ways in which sales leaders can better understand how to become more effective leaders of change.

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, Sales

Collision of Thought - Change Leadership Session 3
Chris Luxford
February 03, 2020
The most critical leadership trait for successful sales leadership is change leadership. Leading changes in the mindsets, skillsets, disciple sets of their teams to keep pace with an ever changing market, buyer behaviour and competitive landscape is critical. What made you successful won't make you successful. That said sales leaders have rarely been given any genuine development on how to be effective leaders of change. In this short 3 part series we explore practical ways in which sales leaders can better understand how to become more effective leaders of change.

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, Sales

Thinkers360 Credentials

4 Badges

Radar

1 Trend
Outcome-Based Selling

Date : October 23, 2022

The seismic shift in buyer behaviour has forced complex B2B sellers to change their selling behaviours. However, 99% of all B2B sellers will argue they sell using an outcome-based approach. They are not. True outcome based selling requires a consultancy-led, ecosystem-driven and team-based approach to sales. It requires solving wicked problems proactively. Unless or until the sales leaders running these sales teams acknowledge that this is a very very different sales motion, they will not make the transition. More over in nearly every market segment customers are desperately waiting for sellers to make the shift. Not just saying it, but doing it. Most are still doing product-led selling, but dressing it up as outcome-based. Knowing the difference, and knowing how to transition is a key market trend for enterprise sales success.

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1 Prediction
Realisation of the Value of such an approach

Date : October 25, 2022

Very few B2B sales organisations can genuinely say they are outcome-based. Many contend they are, but are merely attempting to loosely connect their offerings USP or value proposition to customers outcomes, generally cost savings. 2023, driven by an extended inflationary period will see many organisations have no choice but to transition to a legitimate, meaningful and impactful outcome-based sales approach. If they don't they will see massive revenue and client declines

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Blog

3 Article/Blogs
Why Outcome-Based Selling in today's VUCA world massively outperforms Product-Led Selling
Thinkers360
January 10, 2023
 

Outcome-based selling is a sales approach that focuses on helping customers achieve specific outcomes or goals, rather than simply selling them a product or service. This approach is gaining popularity in many industries, as it helps salespeople better understand the needs and challenges of their customers and allows them to tailor their solutions to meet those needs. In contrast, product-based selling is a more traditional approach that focuses on selling specific products or services, regardless of the needs or goals of the customer.

There are several reasons why outcome-based selling is often considered to be a better approach than product-based selling:

  1. It helps salespeople build stronger relationships with customers: By focusing on helping customers achieve their desired outcomes, salespeople can build trust and credibility with their customers, as they are seen as being more concerned with the customer's needs than simply making a sale. This can lead to stronger, more enduring relationships with customers, which can be particularly valuable in industries where customer loyalty is important.

  2. It allows salespeople to differentiate themselves: In many cases, customers have a variety of options when it comes to purchasing products or services. By focusing on outcomes, salespeople can differentiate themselves from competitors who are simply selling products or services. This can help salespeople stand out in a crowded market and increase their chances of making a sale.

  3. It enables salespeople to create value for customers: By helping customers achieve specific outcomes, salespeople can create value for their customers. This can be particularly valuable in industries where the value of a product or service is difficult to quantify, as it allows salespeople to clearly demonstrate the value of their offerings to customers.

  4. It allows salespeople to be more consultative: Outcome-based selling often involves working closely with customers to understand their needs and challenges and helping them identify the best solutions to meet those needs. This consultative approach can be particularly effective in industries where customers value expertise and guidance, as it allows salespeople to position themselves as trusted advisors.

  5. It can lead to longer-term customer relationships: By helping customers achieve specific outcomes, salespeople can create value for their customers and build strong, trusting relationships. This can lead to longer-term customer relationships, as customers are more likely to return to the salesperson or company when they have additional needs or challenges.

Overall, outcome-based selling is a more customer-centric approach that can be more effective at building strong, lasting relationships with customers and differentiating salespeople from competitors. It allows salespeople to create value for customers, be more consultative, and position themselves as trusted advisors. While product-based selling can still be effective in some cases, outcome-based selling is often a better approach for creating long-term value for both salespeople and their customers.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Business Outcome-based Go-To-Client Model Innovation: Tips to Help You Achieve Success
Thinkers360
October 30, 2022

Business-to-Business (B2B) Outcome-based go-to-client models are gaining popularity as companies seek more effective, measurable and lasting ways to deliver meaningful, sustainable innovation and differentiation to underpin growth. These new go-to-client models, which focus on clients desired business outcomes instead of the products sold, help companies build fundamentally different relationships with their clients. This approach also enables sellers to identify and target high-potential clients in ways their competitors either can't or won't. By shifting from a product and/or service-centric strategy to a business outcome-based one, businesses can accelerate innovation, reach new clients and achieve growth results not previously achievable. This blog post shares 5 tips for business outcome-based go-to client model innovation that will help you as your organization transform.

What made you successful won't make you successful.

Success will be achieved through transformation, not incrementalism.

Organizational Buy-in and Commitment

Before you begin designing your outcome-based go-to-client models, you need to ensure you have the buy-in and commitment of key stakeholders across the organization. This means that business leaders, marketing and sales leaders, and customer service teams are involved and working towards achieving the same outcomes. To get buy-in and commitment, you need to demonstrate how business outcome-based strategies will benefit the organization and its stakeholders. The challenge here is intellectually every executive "gets it". In fact they may suggest they are already outcome-based. Yet more often than not the behaviour of the organisation is still product/service centric. The buy-in sought here is to consistently challenge the status quo. To consistently challenge "are we really there yet". This is required from every leader at every level.

Define Your Outcomes

Before you begin designing your outcome-based go-to-client model, you first need to define your desired outcomes. What is the problem you’re trying to solve? What are you hoping the new model will achieve? While you can select a few primary outcomes, you shouldn’t try to address too many goals at once. Doing so will make it difficult to prioritize efforts and achieve success quickly. It might also lead to more limited innovation and missed opportunities. often the simplest of all is opportunity creation outside of IT. Measured in highly qualified funnel (qualified using a 9 stage co-created business case approach). But it is not the only metric, another may be sales conversion / close rates (as an example).

Think big....start small....learn fast and scale success.

Identify Your New Clients

After you’ve defined your desired outcomes, you need to identify who your new clients are. Business outcomes are not owned by IT. Ideas generated are designed to address the business outcomes, thus the buyers who care are the executives who own these outcomes. This will require a significant shift in the relationships your company and sellers have with your clients. Both cultivating and nurturing new relationships will be critical. Not just occasional pleasantry based meetings, but genuine relationships that have active action around unlocking latent opportunities for both. If your teams don't have highly detailed action orientated, measured and coached relationship action plans outside of IT, your company will never transform.

Massively Embrace An Ecosystem Approach

No company can unlock latent market demand on their own, in fact not even with a single partner. To change business models, operating models, customer experience models etc, companies often need many other companies to assist. In fact in a recent outcome-led opportunity changing just one critical (but broad reaching) business process it was identified that 8 external companies and 9 internal business functions would need to be involved. Becoming highly adept at partnering, quickly, effectively, with solid communication and shared goals is one of the keys to successfully executing an outcome-led go-to-client model. If you don't partner well, this will be a critical focus area for you.

Client Delight

In recent years Customer Success has been defined as a services based strategy. Shifting focus from make, sell and support, to a more in-depth services relationship. Especially as the world has moved to managed or "as a service" offerings. Customer Success, whilst an excellent foundation, however, is no longer enough. If everyone is doing it, how are you different? The new bar for success is Client Delight. B2C companies get this. Think about the most successful B2C companies in the world, their customers love them. Everything they do has the customer experience at the core of strategy, execution and innovation. B2B companies are far far behind. Whilst B2B companies often talk about customer experience, when you go and talk to their clients there is an overwhelming sense of "they are very hard to do business with". The winners, the B2B companies that will fundamentally change the game will put Client Delight, true delight, absolutely as the corner stone of every strategy, investment, focus and execution decision.

Conclusion

Business Outcome-based go-to-client models are the game-changer you've been looking for. But viewing it as an incremental evolution of your current model is the wrong approach. It is a shift in your business model, operating model, client delight model, economic model and risk model.

Transforming these models is not easy, but for B2B companies, there is a massive massive unmet market need, just waiting for a bold courageous organization to grab it.

Will it be yours?

See blog

Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Go-To-Client Model Innovation
Thinkers360
October 25, 2022

Drucker famously said results are obtained by exploiting opportunities not by solving problems.

In today's increasingly VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous), inflationary and COVID-recovering world many organisations are struggling to achieve the growth they desire.  Their portfolios are the richest and broadest they have ever been.  Their cost structures or more lean than ever.  Productivity is through the roof, in fact people are working harder than they ever have.

What made them successful will not make them successful.

The predominant go-to- market model remains a make, sell, ship, support style model.  It is 100% based in the selfish goal of a sale.  For many companies with heavy intense end of quarter focus to bring forward as much business as possible into the current quarter.

What is being missed is the massive unmet market need.  Most companies are simply not getting the business impacting results desired from their technology investments.

Change is now the key lever to success.  Both transformative and tactical change.  Research shows  that the large percentage of change efforts fail to deliver the desired outcomes.  Hereinlies the massive unmet market opportunity.  What companies are really selling is change.  The ability to help companies successfully change.

This requires a vastly different approach.  A shift from a go-to-market model to a go-to-client model that recognises change is hard, change requires an ecosystem, and a different set of mindsets and behaviours.

In a recent example for a 5G asset tracking idea, it was determined that 9 external companies and 11 internal functional groups would need to rally around the program of change to change the operating, financial, risk and commercial models including changes in business processes, technology and the ways in which people worked.

Helping your clients successfully execute the changes they seek is the ONLY path to future success. 

Those that continue to focus on selling, versus those that are deeply committed to change success, will fail to grow.

Those who embrace a differentiated go-to-client model, driven by client delight through change leadership will see significant growth.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Leadership, Sales

Opportunities

1 Business
Executive Sales Leadership Coaching

Location: Virtual    Date Available: October 01st, 2022     Fees: $10,000 per month (per team)

Submission Date: October 25th, 2022     Service Type: Service Offered

Proven executive sales leader coach in pragmatically shift the mindsets and behaviours of sales leaders and teams to a genuine outcome-based selling approach.

If your team is struggling to make the transition it is likely due to tactical operational pressures, short-term focus and a mechanical focus on process. To successfully make this shift requires new and different ways of thinking executed within the day to day operating environment. Essentially changing the jets on the plane at 25,000 feet.

Using our proven ALLURE model I can help your team build the desire, courage and insight to successfully become the sales leaders you wish them to become.

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