Who we talk to
Before anyone buys what you sell, they have to understand it.
Managed services, cloud, integration, software: nobody buys any of it from a web page. The buyer has to work out how it fits, what it replaces and what could go wrong. That takes a conversation, and how well that conversation goes has a lot to do with who wins the deal.
The conversation has changed. Many buyers now use AI to research their options before they speak to a seller, and arrive already knowing a lot. A pitch that could have been given to anyone tells them nothing new. What works is a conversation about their situation, and that starts with listening.
We listen in two places. Market listening is research: what buyers value, and what makes one provider meaningfully different from the next. It shapes your positioning, your message and how you go to market. Prospect listening is discovery: conversations with the people involved in a purchase, with each call analysed afterwards. It shapes the next questions, the content for that account and the closing presentation. Power Listening™ is the method behind both. People do the thinking and write the content. AI helps with the analysis and the first drafts. It never does the listening.
Market listening
Research
What buyers value, and what makes one provider different from the next.
What it shapes
- Your positioning
- Your message
- How you go to market
Prospect listening
Discovery
Conversations with the people involved in a purchase. Each call is analysed afterwards.
What it shapes
- The next questions to ask
- Content written for that account
- The closing presentation
Power Listening
Machines can hear; only people can listen.
If you deliver other vendors' technology
You have the same logo, badges and case studies as every other partner. The buyer still has to pick one.
This is for managed service providers, Microsoft cloud solution providers, systems integrators, implementation partners and resellers. You share a vendor with every competitor, so the reason to choose you has to come from somewhere else.
01
The vendor's marketing money got spent and you got a list of names, not deals.
Vendor funding pays for activity, not for results. A campaign built on the vendor's message brings in leads that any other partner could have got.
02
Your team is in discovery calls all week and nobody can say what was learned.
The CRM shows the deal stage and the deal value. It does not show what the buyer said or what to do next.
03
The final presentation is last time's deck with the logo changed.
That presentation is where the buyer compares you with the other partner. A generic deck leaves them to work out for themselves why you are the right choice.
What listening changes
Market listening finds the one or two things buyers weigh up when choosing between partners, and where you are genuinely different on those things. The difference is usually there. It just has not been written down anywhere a buyer would see it. We turn it into positioning the whole team can repeat. Prospect listening goes deal by deal: questions for each discovery call, analysis of what was said, content written for that account, and a closing presentation built on what the buyer told you. We stay with your team right through to that presentation.
What an engagement typically looks like
We prefer to start with market research: how you should be positioned, what makes you different from the other partners, and how to get buyers to notice it. Research alone typically takes about four weeks, and a full Positioning and Messaging Framework about ten. Sometimes a client's situation calls for starting with a live deal instead, where we prepare the next discovery call with your team and stay with you through the closing presentation. The listening comes first either way, and the content and campaign work follow from what we hear.
"Blacfox has been hands-on from the start of the campaign. They also play a vital role in the introduction meetings by being energetic and knowledgeable of the products and services. It has been a pleasure to work with them."
How buyers choose
“Buyers compare you with the next option. They choose on the differences.”
From our positioning brief
If you sell your own software
You know exactly what you built. The buyer is still working out where it fits.
This is for independent software vendors, whether you sell direct, through partners, or both. Your product is the whole business. The gap between what you know about it and what the buyer understands is where deals are lost.
01
Buyers cannot place you in a category, so they compare you with the wrong things.
If a buyer cannot say what you are, they cannot say why they need you. Then the decision goes to price, or to doing nothing.
02
You win when the founder is in the room and struggle when it is anyone else.
The understanding of why customers buy sits in one or two heads. Everyone else sells from the feature list.
03
Partners sell what they already know. Your product gets added to their list, and that is where it stays.
A partner will not work out your story for you. They need a reason to sell your product, in words they can use with their own customers.
What listening changes
Market listening starts with the category question: what do buyers think you are? Everything else depends on the answer: what buyers value, which alternatives they weigh up (including doing nothing) and the one or two differences that give them a reason to choose you. Prospect listening treats each opportunity as its own piece of work: discovery questions, analysis of what the buyer said, a document written for that account, a deck for the stage you are at, and a closing presentation built around their situation. Your partners get material from the same research.
What an engagement typically looks like
We prefer to start with positioning, because it is hard to prepare a good discovery call for a product the market cannot place. Once that is in place, we work on a handful of live deals with your sales team, so they learn the method on deals that matter. If your situation calls for it, we can start with a live deal instead.
If you grow through a channel
Your growth depends on people who do not work for you.
This is for vendors and distributors who sell through partners and resellers. We have done this work since 2017: partner recruitment, partner training and lead programmes for Crayon, Liquid Telecom and Westcon-Comstor. One lesson has held true every time: the partner is a buyer too.
01
You pass leads to partners and the leads go quiet.
A name and a phone number is not a lead a partner can close. If the partner does not know what the customer said, they start from cold.
02
Resellers list your product and pitch the two they already know.
A reseller keeps selling the products they can explain. Yours has to be easy to explain in their words, to their customers.
03
The partner sits between you and the customer. You never hear what the customer said.
The channel gives you reach. It also puts someone between you and what the customer says, unless you set up a way to hear it yourself.
What listening changes
Market listening runs in two directions: with end customers, to find the reason to buy your product, and with partners, to find what makes them choose to sell it. Prospect listening applies to partner recruitment, where the partner is the prospect, and to the deals partners bring you, where we prepare the discovery calls, analyse what was said and write content for the shared account.
What an engagement typically looks like
It looks like the work we have done before, with the listening done first. For Crayon, which was expanding across Sub-Saharan Africa, we ran a 48-week campaign in which every lead was called and qualified, with a briefing video for the partner on each one. For Liquid Telecom, we selected the partners and ran a national roadshow. For Westcon-Comstor, we ran a campaign that created end-customer demand to attract new partners, and their first webinar for customers and partners together. Ask us about any of them.
Before you call
Questions we get before the first conversation.
Do you guarantee the deal closes?
No, and we would be wary of anyone who did. A deal closes because the buyer decides. What we work towards is a better chance of closing: a team that walks into every conversation having listened, and out of it with a clear next step.
Do you work outside South Africa?
Yes. We are based in Cape Town and work with technology companies in English-speaking markets across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States. We have done so since 2017. We are a level 1 B-BBEE contributor. Clients and partners have included Microsoft, SAP, Google, Huawei, Crayon, Liquid Telecom, Westcon-Comstor and Adept ICT.
Tell us where a deal is stuck, or where your positioning is not landing.
Whether the problem is how you should be positioned, how you differ from the next provider, or how to get the market to notice what you are worth, we will listen first and tell you plainly whether we can help.