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| Lotus Professional Services, North America |
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| The North American division of Lotus was faced with difficulty in growing the revenue base of their services division. As a quasi-autonomous division of IBM, Lotus had experienced superb sales growth for its portfolio of software products (Lotus Notes, Domino, Notes R5) but typically lost the longer-term, more lucrative service assignments to IBM's larger Global Services group IGS. Internally, Lotus sales teams were not compensated on selling services, merely product, thus leaving many up-sell opportunities unfulfilled. Extensive research identified two distinct targets for the Lotus Professional Services offering. IT staff, who were likely familiar with the Lotus product and the staunchest advocates of the brand, and C-level executives (mostly CIO and Line-of-Business managers) who needed to focus on harnessing their IT investment to deliver strategic growth for the company. Both targets offered distinct challenges, as their communication needs and level of technical-savvy were very different. |
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| On a worldwide level, Lotus hoped to increase service sales by $185MM in 2000. However, research highlighted that at least 50% of Lotus customers had not bought services because they were unaware of what services they needed, or what services Lotus Professional Services offered. Additionally, LPS had lost opportunities by not nurturing existing customers through the life-stage of their products, electing to take smaller piece-meal assignments. An opportunity existed to also increase customer retention through a holistic program. |
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| Ogilvy Toronto developed a multi-tiered contact strategy designed to educate potential Lotus prospects whilst retaining existing clients. A detailed database cleanup was begun but revenue pressures meant that marketing programs were initiated before the cleanup was complete. Outbound telemarketing was considered, then rejected, as too costly a medium especially as Lotus had not established a deep enough relationship with any of these organizations. Research also highlighted a need to educate prospects in an objective fashion before attempting to close a service opportunity. Ogilvy Toronto subsequently embarked on executing a program of direct mail invitations to exclusive LPS webcasts, coupled with a print and electronic newsletter to keep customers abreast of LPS developments. To ensure objectivity, Ogilvy recommended a roundtable format of LPS managers and Lotus clients chaired by CTV business editor Linda Sims. Also recommended was an on-line forum hosted by Lotus "buddies" - third-party Lotus clients who could provide an objective sounding board for LPS prospects. Ogilvy recommended that, at a minimum, prospects and clients should receive at least two communication "touches" per year to ensure all contacts were being nurtured effectively. |
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| Three of the scheduled six webcasts were produced and aired, two of four newsletters completed before the campaign was abandoned due to a strategic shift at Lotus. However, attendance at all three webcasts exceeded target by 27% and the campaign itself contributed to a 22% increase in revenue for the LPS division. |
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