The troubled world economy has had a significant impact on buyer behavior. Heightened scrutiny and lengthy decision cycles are changing the effectiveness of different marketing and sales tactics. The key to success lies in understanding changing buyer behavior at each stage of the sales cycle and using that knowledge to craft the right marketing programs and vehicles to deliver better results.
ITSMA, in partnership with Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), conducted the 2009 version of its acclaimed How Customers Choose research across three continents. In this briefing, we will answer questions such as:
- How has the current economic situation impacted the way customers make buying decisions?
- What are the best ways to introduce new ideas and new approaches to customers?
- When customers have a need, how and where do they look for potential alternatives?
- When creating a short list of providers, what sources of information do they use?
- What is the most important criteria used to select solution providers?
About Julie Schwartz
Julie Schwartz is Senior Vice President for Research and Thought Leadership for the IT Services Marketing Association (ITSMA). In that capacity, she oversees ITSMA's thought leadership development and custom research. She has authored numerous reports and articles on technology services trends, marketing, branding, and sales topics, and is a frequent speaker at public events and client meetings. Schwartz created ITSMA's Solutions Roadmap and Services Competency Assessment, developed a balanced scorecard approach to measuring services marketing performance, and designed ITSMA's 360° brand assessment research, which helps companies better understand how their brands are perceived by customers, prospects, partners, employees, and influencers.
Prior to joining ITSMA in 1996, Schwartz was an analyst with State Street Research. Earlier, she was the director of professional services research for Dataquest and manager of research for The Ledgeway Group.
Schwartz holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated summa cum laude and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She also has a Master of Science in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she was named a Seley Scholar.
