Blog: Craig Schiff

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Interesting Marketing Strategy

We recently came across a BPM vendor with a fairly unusual go to market plan. I can't tell you their name because that is the crux of their strategy - secrecy. Basically they believe they have a very unique offering and want to keep it a secret from competitors, analysts, consultants, and other third parties. Prospective customers must sign a confidentiality agreement. The thinking goes that once this special functionality becomes public the competition will try to copy it. We became aware of them while helping one of our clients find their ideal mid-market BPM solution. Their name was on the client's list of vendors to look at. So, as part of our normal procedures we contacted the vendor and asked them to come in and do a custom demo. Their sales rep informed us they could not do that with us in the room. Our client insisted we be present to help them evaluate the product. The vendor declined to participate and walked away from the potential business. I couldn't believe this so I contacted the CEO.

He went on to explain their secrecy strategy to me. Having been in senior roles at two BPM software companies myself I realized this strategy is inherently flawed. First of all, someone will eventually leak the information about their 'secret sauce'. If it is easily duplicated then they really don't have any significant market advantage. The fact that they are trying so hard to keep it a secret tells me they must believe that it is fairly easy to copy. Secondly, I'll bet that whatever it is it's not that unique after all. In the BPM world vendor after vendor thinks they have some special unique functionality that differentiates them from the pack (and most vendors shout this from the roof tops, not hide it), but it often turns out not to be the case. Lastly, there is a battle for market share going on in the BPM space right now. If they are not working with consultants and analysts they will not get their fair share of attention and will ultimately lose market share to more open and aggressive competitors. Am I missing something? Do you think this is a viable strategy?

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