Glossary
 

Action-based or Action-oriented Intelligence
Synthesized factors enabling a company to take direct action.  Action Oriented Intelligence is a result of deep primary research into a target company.

Buy Cycle
Vendors too often focus on the sales cycle / sales process and define this as taking 90 to 180 days or longer.  In fact, over 70% of pipeline deals never close.  Yet, when asked to describe the sales cycle, vendors often say, "It depends - sometimes a deal can be done in a month."  Of course, by now most know the reason.  When a customer is motivated to solve a problem or pressed by a trigger event - they are identified as being active in the buy cycle. They will purchase something as soon as they are comfortable to do so.  By focusing on "buy cycle" opportunities, vendors can better prioritize sales resources and improve pipeline yield.

Cache ^sm

Many companies market products or services that have a long sales cycle, up to 18 months and beyond, while the account team is measured on shorter term goals.  Under these conditions, clients need to track a target opportunity throughout the sales cycle, so the account team can step in at the right time.  Impole's Cache Product Line perfectly answers this need. Depending on whether the company markets a single solution or a group of solutions, Cache can accommodate long-term account probing using either Harpoon or Matchmaker. The same high standards of reliability are achieved. The added advantage of the Cache program is that the company can influence the evolution of the opportunity and thus have a high degree of confidence of winning the opportunity-with far lower overall costs.

Harpoon ^sm

With Harpoon, clients gain the necessary minimum primary (current) account data and information needed to rapidly differentiate the timing and probability of a sale. Harpoon programs focus on deriving sales opportunities from one solution only. The core execution methodology is a one-on-one, bi-directional marketing approach in order to query the appropriate decision makers and differentiate the sales opportunity. This expertise allows Impole to ruthlessly identify and rank contacts to provide the "best-fit" sales opportunities for your specific solution - not your competitors'. Clients can count on Impole's unparalleled experience in a wide range of markets in applying the Harpoon line to fuel virtually any offering growth.

Information Engineering Methodology
Applying analytical reasoning to market-driven information in order to formulate action-based intelligence. Information engineering converts primary information from a subjective view into objective, verifiable data that is processed into intelligence at 3 Sigma standards.

Market-facing
Refers to activity by individuals or a group that has direct interaction with markets and market players.

Matchmaker ^sm

Matchmaker is a best-fit prospecting choice when a client offers a range of solutions that may be applicable to a target account. The Matchmaker probes for needs and pain where any of these varied solutions can fit in the target account landscape. Matchmaker probes for opportunities on behalf of these different target solutions simultaneously.

With Matchmaker programs, you get not only the immediate identification, but also in-depth primary information on organizational needs. Matchmaker draws a rich, accurate map of the "buy" readiness of an enterprise, providing human information that you could not obtain otherwise.

Opportunity Intelligence
Opportunity Intelligence includes all the necessary information to engage with clients when they are ready to buy. This requires presence of a sales trigger, an undertanding of the customer needs / environment and a willingness to engage with the vendor / supplier.  Opportunity Intelligence is a sales lead on steroids - where 75%+ engagement ratios can be expected.

Primary Mode
Gathering information directly from the market (account by account) by an interactive professional dialogue.

Reverse Engineering
Reviewing results in "disassembly mode" to identify patterns and processes that affect revenue growth, and determine practices to maximize revenue gains, increase channel productivity and lower SG&A costs.

Sales 2.0
The world-wide web has radically changed the "art of selling". Prospects are often completely educated on vendors and solutions long before that first sales call.  Early qualification is often done by Webex with leads coming from SEM and SEO techniques.  This has transformed how companies sell and this has been coined "Sales 2.0".   Yet, complex B2B sales simply cannot be accomplished over the net.   A mix of old and new techniques are needed to restore the vendor / customer balance.

Sales Opportunity
A sales opportunity is a broad front of enlightened facts and information qualifying the buying intentions of a prospect in regards to the seller (client).  It includes three dimensions:

1. High probability of moving to action
2. High probability of client participation in the opportunity
3. Timeframe appropriate to the client solution

Servo-mode Control
A closed-loop revenue generation process that incorporates a reverse engineering technique and produces continuous adjustment of output.

SG&A
The portion of revenue expended to gain that revenue. It is not a "true" indicator, but rather an approximate measure, of marketing efficiency, as it incorporates administrative costs.  A better indicator would be to look only at the sales and marketing component of SG&A.

Strategic Account Map
A narrative and graphical document summarizing "buying" decision process and involved decision makers to determine revenue opportunity.

Stay - Go

Stay-Go Programs are directed to resolving one of the most pressing problems for companies; how to anticipate and prevent customer defection. In highly competitive markets, competitors target each other's installed base to gain revenue. To prevent this costly "churning" of your customers and loss of recurring revenue, Stay-Go programs are a key tool to foster customer retention.

Stay-Go Programs capture and monitor market dynamics, identify dissatisfied customers and their concerns, as well as give insight into inroads competitors have made in individual accounts.  This provides an objective view of competitor's strategy, tactics and solution.

Six Sigma / Three Sigma Standard
Six Sigma is an analytical expression of quality that uses Statistical Process Control (SPC) techniques to yield 3.4 non-conformities per one million opportunities in manufacturing.  Impole has adopted a Three Sigma standard to assure our customers get a very high quality service, with timely opportunity knowledge, at a reasonable price.   We believe the 93%+ conformance offered by Three Sigma strikes the right balance due to the time sensitivity of our output and the inherent variance due to human factors.

Win - Loss Programs

Win-loss programs provide unbiased primary intelligence regarding the "buy cycle" crucial to to a company's revenue growth.  The best Win-Loss programs provide dynamic feedback about the marketplace environment rather than a conventional, static view of a company's market effectiveness.  Clients gain an understanding of the impact of existing and new market players, their tactics and solutions, in addition to the performance of their marketing and sales teams.  Dynamic win-loss programs can be leveraged for both account and market strategies.