Original Research on The Skills Connection

The Skills Connection Customer Satisfaction Rating

A Sales/Director/Business Development at a medium enterprise computer software company would be very likely to recommend The Skills Connection for this reason:

The Skills Connection Case Study

Medium Enterprise Computer Services Company

Introduction

This case study of a medium enterprise computer services company is based on a June 2019 survey of The Skills Connection customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service. The profiled company asked to have their name blinded to protect their confidentiality.

We would recommend The Skills Connection without hesitation, they did a truly outstanding job and it was great value for the money.

We used The Skills Connection to assist us in the preparation of our responses to the Magic Quadrant. Our score improved over the prior year as we went from the Challenger’s Quadrant to the Leaders Quadrant and we attribute much of that improvement directly to their efforts. That is what we hired them to do and they were successful. They can think like the analysts which is invaluable in terms of ensuring that responses hit the mark. They were also very flexible with their time and willing to work around our schedules which we greatly appreciated. We will use them again.

Challenges

The business challenges that led the profiled company to evaluate and ultimately select The Skills Connection:

Engaged with The Skills Connection for the following reasons:
- Wanted to learn how to effectively differentiate themselves from their competitors when talking with analysts
- Wanted to change their position in the MQ/Wave/Marketscape to generate new business

Use Case

The key features and functionalities of The Skills Connection that the surveyed company uses:

Uses The Skills Connection to:
- Show them how to gather the right information for analysts
- Show them how to effectively communicate their story to analysts
- Help them improve their position in an MQ/Wave/Marketscape
- Provide the tools and best practices needed to build a strong case for analysts
- Create compelling evidence-based cases for analysts
- Did an excellent job analyzing their prior MQ responses to see where they fell short

Results

The surveyed company achieved the following results with The Skills Connection:

Experiences gained with The Skills Connection:
- Confidence communicating the unique value of their solution to analysts
- The ability to create a strong evidence-based case to analysts covering their product / service
- The skills needed to communicate with analysts in the future
- Unique insights about their solution that were instrumental in winning over analysts
- Helped them effectively frame our MQ responses in the ways that would best resonate with the analysts
- Helped them to understand what the analyst wanted to hear rather than what they thought they should say
Benefits from working with The Skills Connection:
- Positively shifted their position in the MQ/Wave/Marketscape
- Received better results than when they had engaged with analysts
- Effectively communicates the unique value of their products / services
- They did a great job of helping them distill their responses on the MQ to the elements that would most likely hit home with the analysts
- Their objective review of their work led to many improvements they would not otherwise have achieved
Agrees with the following statements:
- Met their internal schedules and deadlines: strongly agree
- Ensured they met schedules and deadlines for the analysts: strongly agree
- Facilitated the co-ordination of activities across their internal response team: strongly agree
- Acted as an extension of staff: strongly agree
- Enabled them to focus on what was needed and avoid wasting time on anything else: strongly agree
Agrees with the following statements:
- Collaborative: strongly agree
- Knowledgeable: strongly agree
- Service-oriented: strongly agree
- Value for money: strongly agree
- Best practice focused: strongly agree

Why People Say They Recommend The Skills Connection

An Analyst & Influencer Relations of a large enterprise computer services company is very likely to recommend The Skills Connection for the following reason:

The Skills Connection Customer Research

Check all of the following statements that describe how you used The Skills Connection.

We used The Skills Connection to …

Give us the necessary expertise to effectively engage analysts	80%
Show us how to gather the right information for analysts	55%
Show us how to effectively communicate our story to analysts	93%
Help us improve our position in an MQ/Wave/Marketscape	80%
Help us enter an assessment such as an MQ/Wave/Marketscape for the first time	34%
Focus just on what was needed, and avoid wasting time on anything else	39%
Create an internal learning environment so that our team can be more effective in the future	25%
Provide the tools and best practices needed to build a strong case for analysts	64%
Create compelling evidence-based cases for analysts	70%
Other	5%

Working with The Skills Connection Team

Please indicate your company’s experience with The Skills Connection.

Gave us confidence when communicating the unique value of our solution to analysts	61%
Gave us the ability to create a strong evidence-based case to analysts covering our product/service	94%
Gave us the skills needed to communicate with analysts in the future	65%
Gave us unique insights about our solution that were instrumental in winning over analysts	34%

Case Study: Medium Enterprise Computer Software Company

Introduction

This case study of a medium enterprise computer software company is based on a March 2016 survey of The Skills Connection customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service. The profiled company asked to have their name blinded to protect their confidentiality.

“We use The Skills Connection as an extension of our Marketing team to manage our analyst relations.”

“They have deep experience, are easy to work with, and are clearly very knowledgeable on analyst relations.”

“The biggest value-add has been to educate the team on evidence-based proof points and on how to create a narrative that analysts understand and would publically recognize.”

“I absolutely, and often, recommend The Skills Connection. They’ve transformed how we interact with, and communicate to, the core analysts in our industry. They have helped us hit our Gartner Magic Quadrant goal and as a result, have allowed us to give our sales team the ammo they need to be more aggressive in their positioning of us against our competition.”

Challenges

Engaged with The Skills Connection for the following reasons:
- Wanted to learn how to effectively differentiate themselves from their competitors when talking with analysts
- Wanted to change their position in the MQ/Wave/Marketscape to generate new business

Use Case

Uses The Skills Connection to:
- Show them how to gather the right information for analysts
- Show them how to effectively communicate their story to analysts
- Help them improve their position in an MQ/Wave/Marketscape
- Provide the tools and best practices needed to build a strong case for analysts
- Create compelling evidence-based cases for analysts

Results

Experiences gained with The Skills Connection:
- The ability to create a strong evidence-based case to analysts covering their product / service
- Unique insights about their solution that were instrumental in winning over analysts
Benefits from working with The Skills Connection:
- Positively shifted their position in the MQ/Wave/Marketscape
- Received better results than when they had engaged with analysts
- Provided their internal team the tools and skills to effectively engage with analysts
Rates The Skills Connection 4.5 out of 5 stars.

TechValidate Research on The Skills Connection

These pages present data that TechValidate has sourced via direct research with verified customers and users of The Skills Connection. TechValidate stands behind the authenticity of all published data. Learn more »

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Medium Enterprise Computer Services Company

Introduction

Challenges

Use Case

Results

Company Profile

About The Skills Connection

Why People Say They Recommend The Skills Connection

Working with The Skills Connection Team

Case Study: Medium Enterprise Computer Software Company

Introduction

Challenges

Use Case

Results

Company Profile

About The Skills Connection

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About The Skills Connection