Wendy Bucy
Global Alliance Marketing, Symantec
As Senior Manager of Global System Integrator Alliance Marketing for Symantec, I am responsible for driving marketing strategies that would increase partner revenue. In 2013 we were advancing the Symantec-HP Agility Alliance Partnership and event marketing was a key part of the marketing strategy. Attendance at the events was high; however, we found that most of the attendees held lower-level titles, such as director or IT administrator.
Because we weren’t connecting with the right type of audience we weren’t getting the best value for our marketing dollars. The lower level of interaction was hurting our ability to deliver quality leads that would enable the sales team to build robust pipelines and close bigger sales. Because sales was engaging at a lower level, they were unable to give a complete picture of the domain experience, technology expertise and thought leadership that the Symantec-HP partnership offers. Directors and administrators have limited areas of responsibility, so sales people found themselves taking a piecemeal approach to sales instead of proposing comprehensive solutions that would address more of an organization’s security challenges.
Not only were we losing the opportunity to drive bigger sales and develop the partnership with HP, but we were running the risk of losing sales opportunities altogether. Our competitors could potentially connect with the VP and C-level executives and engage in the types of conversations that we wanted to have.
Realizing that we needed to get the right people to attend our hosted events, I turned to Marci McCarthy and the T.E.N. team for help. Symantec had invested in ISE® Programs in the past and found the events provided an excellent forum to network and build relationships with high-level security executives. Partnering with T.E.N. allowed us to plan a full program of ISE® Private Dinners. By co-hosting the events with HP, we were able to have a focused conversation around the critical business issues that organizations are facing and which Symantec and HP together can solve. The informal nature of the dinner programs allowed us to be viewed as thought leaders and gave us the opportunity to connect on a personal level and develop the relationships that would enable us to serve as strategic advisors.
The ISE® Private Dinners delivered immediate results. The quality of attendees drew the attention of the sales team and paved the way for sales leadership at the highest level to become interested in and supportive of the events. Because of the quality of attendees and the ability to build relationships, we were able to increase both the pipeline and the number of partners. Also, the chance to increase awareness of the Symantec-HP partnership and get the word out to that level of attendee was a big plus.
As the global alliance manager, I run multiple alliances. I don’t have the bandwidth to be onsite for each event, so it was extremely beneficial to be able to rely on T.E.N. to manage the events from start to finish. The onsite staff was always well-prepared. Not only did they excel at making sure every detail was covered, but their follow-up and program management was impressive. With T.E.N. I know I’m working with a team that I can trust to deliver quality events, positive experiences and, above all, results.