In our 2008
Enterprise Industry Specialization Benchmarking
Study, 100% of participants agreed that
industry specialization is a "must-have for
enterprise sales." In early 2008,
approximately half of the companies reported that
they were increasing their industry focus,
re-aligning more resources to specific verticals,
and improving their industry-specific go-to-market
strategy. Nowhere did we see evidence of
decreasing specialization.
Also among our findings in 2008:
Marketing and sales functions tend to be more
specialized than other parts of the business, with
marketing usually being the catalyst for
specialization efforts. (In the chart below, 5
meant completely aligned to industries, while 0
meant completely cross-industry.)
Industry
marketing groups reported spending just over 1/3
of their time supporting sales in deals.
They the rest of their time among a broad mix of
activities, from messaging and go-to-market
strategy to design and execution of
lead-generation campaigns and alliance
development.. An IDC Vertical leadership survey
released in 2007 noted that industry-specific case
studies were considered the most valuable among
industry marketing tactics. Based on Shirman Group
research, the average industry revenue per
industry marketing staff member was approximately
$25 million
. While only 1/3
of companies said they have industry-aligned sales
reps for all enterprise accounts, all respondents
had industry-aligned reps for their top accounts.
B-to-B technology vendors reported that
investment in industry focus was paying off in
better relationships with senior buyers, improved
win rates, and larger deal sizes. We found
that to realize the full potential of industry
investments, companies need a long-term view of
their industry objectives, and a collaborative,
cross-function team to develop new processes and
support specialization efforts.
Buy 2008
Industry Specialization Benchmark
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