Top 10 Considerations to Set Up Your Demand Unit Waterfall™
June 25, 2018 | By Vicki Brown
- The SiriusDecisions Demand Unit Waterfall offers a new and improved way of operating demand management processes
- Organizations must understand which areas must be reviewed before setting up their Demand Unit Waterfall
- Consider buying roles, reports, service-level agreements and other important elements before debuting new demand processes
Whenever you install any technology device within your home, you always get a sheet of instructions. And on that sheet of instructions, you typically get a list of tools you’ll need to complete the installation of your technology device.
When it comes to setting up the SiriusDecisions Demand Unit Waterfall, most organizations want a set of instructions or, at the very least, a list of items needed to complete the setup. Based on many successful implementations of the Demand Unit Waterfall and lots of client requests for an implementation checklist, here’s a tried-and-true list of the top 10 things to consider when setting up the Demand Unit Waterfall within your organization:
- Demand units. Reach consensus on the number of demand units within each of your target accounts and when those demand units should be created as opportunities in your sales force automation system.
- Buyer roles. Align on the key personas that make up the buyer roles within the buying groups for each type of demand unit. Consider how you’ll group these individuals into buying groups within your systems so you can track the movement of demand within your organization.
- Stages. Define your Demand Waterfall stage definitions and outline the triggers for demand unit progression through the Demand Waterfall to systemize the movement of demand units.
- Scoring. Determine how to use your current individual scoring model and establish engagement scores of your buying groups to migrate demand units from the engaged to the prioritized to the qualified stages in the Demand Unit Waterfall.
- Service-level agreements (SLAs). Set the rules and define the responsibilities that govern demand unit interactions when hand-offs are made by marketing to tele, marketing to sales, and tele to sales.
- Reports. Establish the types of reports needed to support your new Demand Unit Waterfall measurements, and outline the requirements to support your reporting needs.
- System and process updates. Outline the systems within your organization that need modifications to measure and monitor demand units within your Demand Waterfall. For example, you may need to include new fields, update existing field values, create custom objects to house your buying groups or add custom code to support the grouping of individuals in your buying groups within your systems and processes.
- Technology resources. Determine which technologies need to be added or modified to support the measurement and tracking of demand units in your Demand Waterfall. For instance, you may want to consider adding a technology resource to monitor intent of buying groups or predict the intent of members of your buying groups so you can move demand units from the target to active stages within your Demand Unit Waterfall.
- Change management. Prepare the organization to successfully adopt new processes, technologies, system updates and measurements as you roll out your Demand Unit Waterfall. As with any change in technologies and processes, this step can take more time than expected and require more political clout than anticipated. Make sure you adjust timelines within your project plan for the socialization of specific items, and remember to consider incentives, metrics and dashboards in your change management plans.
- Programs, tactics and content. Take full advantage of a Demand Unit Waterfall approach by adjusting programs, reconsidering tactics and tuning content to attract, validate and accelerate buying group members. Determine how you will listen to their signals, plan for the best response and make updates with the best action for your demand units.
As you embark on the journey of implementing your new Demand Unit Waterfall, consider this top 10 list as a sheet of instructions or list of tools you’ll need to complete the installation of this new device within your organization. Just as many retailers provide installation and setup support for technology devices, please call your SiriusDecisions representative if you need additional support setting up your new Demand Unit Waterfall.
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Vicki Brown
With more than 20 years of marketing experience, Vicki Brown joined SiriusDecisions as a marketing executive and technology consultant with extensive b-to-b technology marketing experience across a range of disciplines including strategy, planning, demand creation, events, reputation, teleservices, content creation and marketing operations. She has also led many large professional services projects in the technology, financial services, healthcare, higher education and non-profit industries through implementation and optimization of their marketing automaton platforms.