The POI is interested in software and consulting solution providers that play in the promotion cycle of the consumer goods industry. We want to hear about what you are doing and what you have to offer. If you bring us a great customer story or something that we feel is interesting or unique, we might (with the permission of all involved parties) share the story via our weekly newsletter, POI Pulse. But even if we don’t, being involved with solution providers is key to our understanding and better serving this industry, whether in TPx, Retail Execution, or Analytics capabilities. If you have an interesting product or service related to promoting or distributing consumer goods then we would like to hear about it with no expectations beyond learning more about your company and keeping you top of our minds when we talk about different capabilities in a specific space. Naturally there are benefits to joining POI as a member, but our knowing or writing about your offerings is not contingent upon being a POI member.
Click here for guidelines on having a quality briefing / update with our POI Team.
Slides
Please have them but give us a copy beforehand so that we can capture some of your talk track and make notes directly on the slides. But please don’t make the presentation “show only” because we can’t take notes very fast and we really want to walk away with as much information as possible.
Content
Here is how the best briefing goes, but creativity in delivery is always appreciated:
- Overview of your company and your leadership.
- How you solve challenges related to some aspect of pricing/promoting/distributing.
- A look at your roadmap.
- A demo is always very useful.
- Your go-to-market strategy.
- What you consider to be your differentiators. This always leads to a strong close.
- Unlike other situations you may have encountered, we will give you feedback. It is our pleasure to do so.
- We find that 60 minutes is usually sufficient but if you think that you will need more time, just tell us and we will work to accommodate you.
Confidentiality. We typically don’t deal with confidential information in Solution Provider Updates. This is because as we help you to share your story it strengthens the market. But we frequently have Solution Provider Updates in which the entire slide deck is market as “Confidential” at the bottom. This is not the basis for a quality interaction. We need you to sort out what is confidential and try to share the important aspects that we can in turn share with CG manufacturers. If you do have something that is confidential then simply tell us during the briefing/update and we will mark it as such (on the paper copy that you were kind enough to provide us beforehand) and abide by confidentiality. But be prepared for us to ask you how long the information will be under embargo. We have found 60 days to be sufficient. If it is confidential beyond that then there is a good chance that it isn’t mutually beneficial for you to share it.
Follow-Up
Interacting with us is not the end, it is the beginning. Even if you never become a POI Member, you have an impact on the industry, and we want to keep up with what you’re doing. Put us on your press distribution list (don’t have one? Start one). Touch base with us more than once a year. What is the right number of interactions? It really depends on the company. Large companies with multiple solution areas need more interactions than single-product line companies. Generally, 2 per year is good – frequent enough to generate familiarity, but not so frequent that nothing has happened in between. Quarterly works if you’re a larger company. And any time there is a major announcement – a new product offering, a major customer win, an acquisition – these all count as “major.”
Interested in telling us about your offering? Connect with us below.