Accela’s research goes deep – the rigour asset owners apply to a company’s financials, applied to its carbon. The clients who used it knew exactly what it was worth.
Growing beyond those clients was the harder question.
Conversations with new prospects were ending in “send us a brochure and we’ll share it with the team.” The team was explaining who they were, rather than the value they created. And with clients, funders, investor groups and media all asking for attention, there was no clear view of where to focus.
Strategy
We worked through Accela’s stakeholder groups one by one – clients, funders, investor groups, media. For each: their influence, interest and availability, their pains and gains, and what did or didn’t exist within Accela’s customer journey to serve them. Then we mapped them onto a single chart, so the team could see at a glance who to actively engage, who to keep satisfied, and who to simply keep informed.
The messaging would come from the people who already relied on Accela – captured in their words.
Action
I interviewed senior leaders across the stakeholder map – responsible investment advisors and portfolio managers at some of Europe’s largest institutions – capturing why they use Accela, what they’d tried before, and what the research changes in their engagements with companies.
Those interviews became publishable perspectives, key messages for each audience, potential service offerings, and a clear view of where the team should focus their attention and resources.
Then the commercial side. A defined customer journey from first contact through to referral. Coaching on finding the economic buyer and establishing objectives – so a “send us a brochure” could be recognised for what it was, and a better conversation had instead.
Lastly, training with the Executive team – preparing them for ongoing media creation, and introducing agile project management as a way to handle the competing demands of a scaling firm.
Outcome
Accela finished with the map, the messages, and the capability to run it themselves.
The client perspectives now do the explaining, so the team isn’t starting every conversation from zero. And the stakeholder approach feeds directly into their product development and communications strategy.
If your work is world-class but your reach hasn’t caught up – I can help you build the approach, and leave the capability with your team.
