Delivering a word-of-mouth advantage
COMSS
Notes from a
positioning
workshop
Part 2 – message
development
Onva Consulting
10/09/2012
© 2012 Onva Consulting
1. Introduction
This is a companion document to the discovery section report sent on July 3, 2012 and follows a demonstration of the
products on July 9, 2012.
The messages developed below have been challenged using the following Onva message tests:
Cud Test
What is in your message that:
 Makes it compelling to the prospective customer. This is sometimes seen as the ‘so what’ test ie if the
customer can say ‘so what’ it is clearly not compelling.
Remember for messages to be compelling they must be expressed in the context of the needs of the
individual buyer and the role they perform in the buying process not be a description of what you do
 Makes it unique – or do you just sound like any one of your competitors
 Makes it defendable – in other words what processes support this message that allows your customer to
have a COMSS rather than a competitor experience. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TEST.
Mindset Milestones
Our experience demonstrates that when buyers buy they go through a cognitive process to reassure themselves that
it is a good purchase. We call these steps The Mindset Milestones. They are:
 Relevant – is the product or service relevant to my needs
 Understandable – does the product make sense and do I understand how it will help me
 Believable – does the provider of this product have the proof to match their claims
 Aspirational – will this product or service deliver one of my dreams/goals
 Accessible – is it is easy for me to buy this product or will it cause me other problems
Robert Cialdini’s Cognitive Shortcuts
 Majority/Social proof – is there a sector that COMSS can lead – can it show that companies of a certain
type prefer COMSS solutions
 Popularity – what can COMSS do to make it liked and admired
 Reciprocity – how can COMSS create a sense of indebtedness
 Scarcity – what can COMSS offer on a limited basis to create demand
 Authority – how can COMSS assume Expert status
 Commitment and consistency – what goals are clients trying to achieve and how can COMSS demonstrate
that it would be consistent with these goals to select COMSS
Explicit versus Implicit
Too often organisations make prospects and customers work too hard to understand the value that will be delivered.
This is usually because companies focus on describing what they do rather than the value that they deliver – in the
belief that the value will be implicit in the way they describe what they do. While some customers may draw the
desired conclusion, most will not. It is therefore vital that the value of the COMSS proposition is Explicit at every step.
Finally, and most importantly, the proposition and the supporting messages must convey in active terms the value that
the customer will receive and be built on the strengths the company possesses that cannot be matched by
competitors.
1.1 Strengths that are the foundation of the COMSS value proposition
Below we have listed the strengths that few competitors would do as well or better.
 Architecture of product suite – integration and focus on a record level enables COMSS to provide (with
creation of report dashboard) an integrated view of an organisation or individual within an organisation
o Central Master Control Panel (CMCP)
 16 modules – family of applications. No other vendor provides this exact mix
 New software – ie it does not have several iterations and workarounds that build-in inefficiencies
 Good work flow
 Most of suite is optimised for project-based businesses
 Well designed, unique and easy to use user interface
 Integration – the suite has been designed so that a record entered once is available to all the modules that
need it – thus saving time and increasing efficiency and effectiveness
These core strengths can be summarised as follows:
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Designed to enable LEAN businesses – In a recession lean companies need lean solutions - ie solutions
that focus on the core functions required to run the business; solutions that are easy to implement and easy
to run; solutions that allow you to make better-informed decisions by providing great operational insight into
the running of the business and thus deliver a true financial advantage. As a result, COMSS stripped down
their modules to avoid all the features that make systems hard to implement and expensive to run. Instead
COMSS modules are built around a much more efficient workflow that supports LEAN operations and
delivers maximum operational visibility and effectiveness.
Financial and operational visibility – One of the core principles behind the original design was to enable
business owners/leaders to take better and quicker decisions and to avoid expensive mistakes such as
overpaying creditors or not recognising the potential for a bad debt before it is too late. As a result the
modules have a number of functions designed-in such as alerts and the ability to PO match at the point of
delivery to provide greater transparency, productivity and speed of decision-making
Improving project profitability and operational efficiency and effectiveness – because the system is
designed with project-based industries in mind, it is optimised to identify project profitability at key points in
the project. The integrated design of the modules means that projects can be managed with high efficiency
and effectiveness. The design also builds in flexibility to enable revisions at key stages in the project process
eg estimating or stage payments. Because COMSS was designed to support LEAN businesses, all the
functions are optimised to support increased project profitability
Because the COMSS system is designed around a single record it is possible to provide the user with a
‘single or integrated view’ of a customer/employee/or any entity that is based on a record. This would
require a report to be created via a Dashboard but the key point is that this is possible. Compared to older,
siloed systems this is a strong benefit that increases business visibility, decision-making, user productivity,
the ability to innovate services/cross-sell and up-sell and also customer service
Improved management decision-making – The integrated architecture, the streamlined workflow, the ease
of use and a number of the embedded features combine to deliver the visibility and transparency at both an
operational and financial level to enable business leaders to make better informed decisions. Because
COMSS has been designed to support LEAN operations, the information business leaders need to take vital
decisions is not obscured by non-essential information.
Excellent user experience – the COMSS system has been designed with the user in mind - rather than just
finding a technological way to automate a process. As a result the COMSS system both presents the
applications in a user-friendly format and in a logical flow that enables the user to do their job more easily and
efficiently. Therefore COMSS enables businesses to run with streamlined, LEAN operations that require
fewer people to operate the systems and which provide more timely information to support decision-making.
Having seen a demonstration of the system, this is a key point and the marketing and sales activities should
encourage/trigger user demonstrations
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Smooth/streamlined workflow – the modules have been designed to deliver an optimised workflow for the
business process that they automate. COMSS modules have been built to enable LEAN operations by
supporting the most important functions rather than clogging the systems with non-essential features that
over-complicate the operation of the system and which cost more to support. This is a considerable
advantage over some competitor offerings which have not been built with the user in mind
Eliminating waste through repetition – because all the modules draw on a common record, data only has
to be entered once – saving users – and the business significant time and money
Same integrated experience for all employees – because the COMSS system has been designed as an
integrated experience around a common architecture, users of different modules have the same experience.
As a result it is easy for people to move between modules without the need for significant user training
Better interface – optimised to improve the user experience
Ideal for construction and project-based industries. Because of the background of the original architect of
the modules, they are optimised for these sectors
Growth and scalability built-in – because the modules are designed around an integrated architecture, it
provides customers the opportunity to add services supported by additional modules without needing to
change the underlying system
Enhanced cash management – Because the system provides better financial visibility and decision support
– and draws on a powerful integrated accounting module – the COMSS system enables businesses to
manage their cash better
Very cost effective compared to purchasing a mix of other applications – Because COMSS has been
designed to enable LEAN operations, it is significantly more cost effective to acquire, implement and run than
older systems that are clogged with unnecessary features. Potential customers will make price comparisons
so it is vital that COMSS educates the market so that prospects make the right comparisons. A pricing check
against a financial package targeted at the PR industry (which includes job costing and time management)
shows that COMSS integrated financial module provides a competitive edge when part of a larger projectbased industry solution
Designed to be best in class – the following comments were made – which also point towards key
strengths
o ‘To save customer huge amounts of time and money by not repeating data inputs’
o “No limits business software – designed for growth”
o “Software designed for the user rather than to automate process”
o “COMSS family of products – provides integration”
o “Driver initially was the business man – don’t overpay creditors and keep in control of costs”
o “Real-time data – quicker flagging for Profit and Loss on a project”
o “Gives businesses manoeuvrability”
1.2 Summary and conclusions of discovery phase
The discovery phase was very helpful in refining thinking and identifying where COMSS was most likely to succeed if
it focused on accentuating its core strengths. The following are the main conclusions:
 Although some modules would work well for businesses that were not projects-based, the overall suite was
optimised for this sector. Consequently messaging that developed this strength would make COMSS more
compelling than trying to compete in other sectors
 The integrated architecture, workflow and usability of the products combined to provide excellent financial
and operational transparency and decision support. The messages need to accentuate this
 All the strengths of the integrated suite combine to provide a financial advantage to customers – through
more efficient operations, more effective people and asset utilisation and more informed decision making.
 COMSS was conceived at the onset of the recession and was therefore designed to enable and support
LEAN operations by providing a streamlined workflow, optimised for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
2. The Creation Phase
2.1. A proposition to make COMSS Compelling, Unique and Defendable
The proposition development process sought to identify specific qualities that would be valued by customers and that
would help COMSS employees to focus their day-to-day action and behaviour. The choice of words is designed to be
the foundation for more detailed messages and client conversations. It needs to include active words and subjects
that will be compelling to customers and that draw on the core strengths.
After a period of debate and testing various options, we narrowed it down to the following proposition
COMSS provides businesses the financial visibility and operational insight to make better-informed decisions
and/or to grow profitably
However, it was agreed that this proposition should be subject to further review after the session as, although it
highlighted the key value of visibility and better decision-making, there were other strengths that could be highlighted.
2.1.1
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Facts about COMSS strengths to focus on for the proposition statement
The value that is returned to customers increases with the number of modules used because of the process
efficiencies and enhanced decision-making enabled by the core design
The accounting module is the foundation module required to be able to deliver on the design and functionality
of the other modules. This inevitably brings an implicit financial element to your value that we need to make
explicit
The fact that some modules could be sold as standalone modules without finance being a key component
should not detract from the point above because the business has been created to deliver business
advantage through the delivery of an integrated suite of applications
The functionality of many of the additional modules is optimised for:
o Project based businesses
 Particularly construction businesses
The core design of the applications and the CMCP enables businesses to get a single/complete/summarised
view of a customer/employee/supplier/transaction because all the applications share a common record
This single view will be a powerful differentiator over older software packages which are process oriented
rather than ‘record or entity oriented’
The ability to interrogate the various modules to identify potential threats or opportunities, aids more informed
decision-making
The streamlining of process flows delivers a number of benefits:
o Increased user efficiency
o Cost savings
o Early availability of invaluable information for decision-making
Cash is king for business success – particularly today – and the integrated nature of the suite enables
customers to understand the potential cash implications of customer behaviour such as slowing payment or
an estimate on hold etc.
The suite was conceived at the onset of the recession and was therefore designed to be optimised for LEAN
businesses that needed to be able to run super-efficiently whilst having the insight needed to outsmart their
competitors
2.1.2
New proposition statements
There are two new proposition statements below. The first has been developed by Brian and the second by Onva.
“COMSS provides financial visibility and operational insight to make better-informed decisions by providing
a single view of transactions relating to business activity.”
This statement extends the value by highlighting the single view of transactions. This is a key strength that will be
valued by business leaders.
“COMSS delivers a financial advantage to project-based businesses by enabling lean operations, improved
operational insight and faster, more informed business decisions.”
These propositions have a number of components. The value of every element will be brought to life, not just in the
messages used but also by the people employed, the behaviour they display and the processes they use.
“COMSS delivers…”
This is a powerful part of the value COMSS delivers – i.e. you make things happen. On the face of it ‘delivers’ is
a commonly occurring word. Where it will really pay-off is when it is a quality that is embodied overtly by your
people and a guiding philosophy i.e. we hire people who ‘deliver’ – i.e. remove any barriers to delivering outcomes
by developing, deploying and supporting software applications that focus on enabling desired business outcomes.
“…a financial advantage….”
This is a very compelling statement for business owners who are looking for any way they can access a financial
edge. This element has two key components – finance and advantage. It is vital because it underpins the core
value that you deliver and also explains why you are worth the fees you charge. For example it shows that you
are not just an ordinary software company that automates processes but one that does so to deliver a better
financial outcome. It also says that businesses that choose COMSS could get an edge over the competition.
It is also a bold claim that demands attention. This can be brought to life through customer proof. The beta
customers should be expected to provide financial proof in return for any special deals provided.
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“…to projects-based businesses….”
This element is perhaps the one which will stimulate the most debate. On the one hand it appears to limit the
scope for COMMS from every business to those that are projects or contracts based. In reality this latter segment
is huge and sufficiently large to provide plenty of revenue opportunity to COMSS. On the other hand it will reduce
the cost of sale because it immediately indicates where COMSS can add value. Perhaps more importantly, the
suite of modules was conceived with projects based businesses in mind. Therefore many (if not all) of the
strengths identified are optimised for this sector. To make the proposition broader and more general will mean
these strengths are not being leveraged.
“…by enabling lean operations….”
This is a vitally important part of the proposition because it enables you to accentuate when the suite was
conceived and why it has been designed to perform the way it does – ie to help projects based businesses
perform more efficiently and effectively so that they make more money. Business leaders will understand the
thinking behind the product and appreciate the benefits that it delivers to their business. By introducing the concept
of lean operations, COMSS is able to accentuate that its modules are simple to implement, low cost to use and
reinforce the streamlined operations that are essential to survival and success in today’s tough economy.
“….improved operational insight ….”
This is an important element of the proposition because:
 it provides something that older, more siloed, applications do not
 it aids better decision-making
 it assists efficiency and effectiveness
 it enables COMSS to accentuate key design strengths of the suite
 it shows that COMSS is designed to be used in real time to help business leaders run better operations.
“….and faster and more informed business decisions.”
This is a vital part of the proposition – particularly in today’s recession hit world. It shows that the advantage that
COMSS delivers is born out of the ability to take smarter decisions more quickly. The combination of speed and
intelligence could mark the difference between success and failure for businesses.
By breaking down the statement into its constituent parts, it is possible to see how what, at first glance, may look
like a fairly generic statement actually provides COMSS with:
 The opportunity to develop several layers of value – each with its own supporting proof, methodologies,
behaviour and outcomes
 Key themes that can be leveraged in the sales process to make COMSS win more often.
This will:
 Allow COMSS sales and marketing messages to start from a point of differentiation
 Allow COMSS messages to start from a high level business value and then add increasing levels of
commercial and technical detail – depending on who COMSS is talking to in the sales process
 Give a clear direction for sales and marketing action
 Make it possible for employees to know where to focus their efforts to deliver on the business plan.
 Highlight the importance of the type of people that you employ. Making this change possible comes down
to the people COMSS employs and their expertise. This can be projected by ensuring that COMSS
delivers its service with speed and certainty, providing its clients with a commercial advantage that puts
them ahead of their competition.
 Highlight that every business decision could deliver an advantage if the decision maker has all the facts
early enough to steal an advantage. It will be important to get this basic truism understood by business
leaders.
Based on the messaging above we recommend that the strapline for COMSS is as follows:
“COMSS – no wasted effort - just financial advantage”
When this strapline is accompanied by supporting messages on the website and in other marketing materials it will be
clear which sector COMSS serves.
2.2.
Supporting Messages to bring the expression of customer value to life
This level in the message cascade is designed to achieve three things:
 Add depth to value captured by the proposition statement
 Provide ‘hooks’ to accentuate the relevance of key product features and functions
 Accentuate COMSS’ difference from its competitors so that as the message cascade develops, this
difference grows in clarity and power.
We do this by identifying the points of difference for COMSS that are:
 Procedural – ie the special processes that are unique to COMSS that make the expression of customer
value possible.
 Behavioural – ie the attitude of COMSS people that shapes the way that they deliver the customer value.
Note: Internal and external PR processes can profile this behaviour to make it better understood and to add
depth to buyer perceptions.
 Human – ie the type of people that work at COMSS to make the expression of customer value possible and
that are essential for the 5 Steps to be deployed.
During the workshop some implicit supporting messages were identified and discussed. We have developed some of
these above and below to show how the proposition can be fleshed out. At the next stage we will need to aggregate
these into key message themes so that COMSS can focus on developing a small number of themes for maximum
impact.
2.2.1. Outline supporting messages
“COMSS delivers a financial advantage to project-based businesses by enabling lean operations, improved
operational insight and faster, more informed business decisions.”
COMSS does this by:
Procedural
 Building in functions such as alerts and the ability to PO match at the point of delivery to provide greater
transparency, productivity and speed of decision-making
 Optimising the software to identify project profitability at key points in the project. The integrated design of the
modules means that projects can be managed with high efficiency and effectiveness. The design also builds
in flexibility to enable revisions at key stages in the project process eg estimating or stage payments
 Designing the software around a single record so that it is possible to provide the user with a ‘single or
integrated view’ of a customer/employee/or any entity that is based on a record. Compared to older, siloed
systems this is a strong benefit that increases business visibility, decision-making, user productivity, the
ability to innovate services/cross-sell and up-sell and also customer service
 Creating an integrated architecture for the software suite to deliver the visibility and transparency at both an
operational and financial level to enable business leaders to make better informed decisions
 Designing the COMSS system with the user in mind. Rather than just finding a technological way to automate
a process COMSS has been built to be used by people of all types and skills in a projects based business. It
is therefore simple and intuitive. As a result the COMSS system both presents the applications in a userfriendly format and in a logical flow that enables the user to do their job more easily.
 Designing the modules to deliver a smooth and streamlined workflow for the business process that they
automate. This is a considerable advantage over some competitor offerings which have not been built with
the user in mind and which are clogged with non-essential features and functions that cost more to operate
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Ensuring that the software enables lean operations by eliminating wasted effort by removing repetition of data
entry – because all the modules draw on a common record, data only has to be entered once – saving users
– and the business significant time and money
Delivering the same integrated experience for all employees – because the COMSS system has been
designed as an integrated experience around a common architecture, users of different modules have the
same experience. As a result it is easy for people to move between modules without the need for significant
user training – thus enabling leaner more effective operations
Ensuring that the software is optimised for construction and project-based industries. Because of the
background of the original architect of the modules, they are optimised for these sectors
Providing the ability to grow and add services. Because the modules are designed around an integrated
architecture, it provides customers the opportunity to add services supported by additional modules without
needing to change the underlying system. This means that as modules are added the potential for financial
advantage increases
Providing the visibility required for enhanced cash management. Because the system provides better
financial visibility and decision support – and draws on a powerful integrated accounting module – the
COMSS system enables businesses to manage their cash better
Designing the software suite so that the value that is returned to customers increases with the number of
modules used because of the process efficiencies and enhanced decision-making enabled by the core
design
Providing a single accounting module with all the financial functionality required to underpin financial
decision-making. Unlike other systems that separate financial transactions into separate modules, COMSS
provides this in a single integrated module
 Particularly construction businesses
Providing the ability to interrogate the various modules to identify potential threats or opportunities and thus
enable more informed decision-making
Streamlining of process flows to deliver:
o Leaner operations
o Increased user efficiency
o Cost savings
o Early availability of invaluable information for decision-making
Creating an integrated suite that enables users to understand the potential cash implications of customer
behaviour such as slowing payment or an estimate on hold etc.
Behavioural and Human
 Employing people who are committed to delivering desired outcomes
 Having an effectiveness based attitude that employs the 80:20 rule to ensure that effort is focused where it
will deliver the greatest value for the client
 Employing people who have a genuine understanding of the needs of projects based businesses
 Employing people who understand the financial imperative behind the design of software systems
 Employing people whose default communication style is to simplify and clarify so that COMSS can deliver
software that is easy to use and to understand
3. Recommended message flow
We recommend that COMSS messages are developed to connect with the reality that all software purchases start at
the highest level with a core business priority, and that organisations then activate a chain of events that flow through
the organisation.
 Business priority – what the leader of Board demands
 Operational response – what function heads have to implement
 Decision support requirement – what information is required to help people at all levels do their job and move
the business forward.
The message cascade below shows how a single expression becomes the foundation for:
 Increasing levels of detail
 Increasing levels of customisation to buyer needs and sectors
Message cascade
 Level 1 - A specific customer-facing value – the proposition
 Level 2 - Procedural and behavioural actions that make the starting value possible
 Level 3 - Proof that makes Level 2 believable
 Level 4 – Solutions to specific customer challenges in specific market sectors
 Level 5 – Ways to make all the above meaningful to customer personnel with different roles.
We will need to build messages that satisfy levels 2-5.
4. Next steps
Based on what was created in the workshop – and subsequently developed further, we recommend the following:
 Approval of Level 1 – the proposition
 Feedback on level 2 messaging and then development of these messages in detail
 Draft Vision Document - designed to capture the proposition in a yesterday, today, tomorrow story that can be
used to bring the proposition to life for both customers and employees
 Develop a communications strategy with prioritised programmes to bring the message cascade to life both
internally and externally – and in particular on the website
 PR & Marketing plan
-END-
Onva Consulting Ltd
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Epsom, Surrey KT19 0HD
© 2012 Onva Consulting
T: +44 (0)208 224 7973
[email protected]
www.onva.co.uk