Trimble Fuelling global expansion by proving success in an influential market

A step-by-step ABM playbook to help Trimble’s marketing and sales teams execute end-to-end campaigns to spark, qualify and accelerate valuable conversations and build business with target accounts.

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Trimble is a leader in precision hardware and software engineering products for construction and wanted to scale their business globally.

They knew they needed to start small and prove success in a key region first. Because the Nordic region is home to some of the world’s most innovative engineering and technology companies, they decided to focus their efforts there, testing the waters with forward-thinking prospects who want the latest solutions on their terms and within their timing.

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The challenge

Trimble, through acquisitions, had expanded their reach in the region and was poised to help smart, data-driven construction progress in an already tech-forward area.

However, whilst they are a known brand in the US they didn't have much recognition in Scandinavia.

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The strategy

Trimble needed to establish a foothold with some of the biggest construction firms in the region, then build on it.

The Age of the Buyer demands sales strategies that are ever-evolving and customer-centric. To sell enterprise solutions across the “construction continuum,” from roads to rails or ports to airports, industry leaders have to prove value and relevance to their prospects immediately. With this in mind, Trimble tasked The Marketing Practice with creating a roadmap to help their sales and marketing teams sell enterprise-wide solutions, starting by targeting the five most promising partnership opportunities in the Nordics.

We knew we needed Trimble’s insights in order to identify these five key accounts, so we hit the tarmac and flew our team to Norway. Working directly with key Trimble stakeholders, we used discovery, purchase decision models and experience mapping to identify key prospects, understand their pain points and discover how Trimble could alleviate them.

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Key deliverables

  • Product insight

    We found that many of our prospects viewed Trimble as a potential new vendor, when in fact, they were already leveraging Trimble solutions under outdated brand names. This revelation helped us speak confidently to each of our audiences, knowing Trimble’s technology and software would work seamlessly with their current solutions. For example, all of the target organizations had existing Building Information Modeling (BIM) strategies that would integrate with Trimble’s solutions. This was a conversation-starter that helped us reposition Trimble as a unified brand, thought leader and holistic partner to forward-thinking customers in the Nordics, providing a strong messaging foundation which could be scaled outside the region.

  • ABM playbook

    To build on this momentum, we created a step-by-step ABM playbook to help Trimble’s marketing and sales teams execute end-to-end campaigns to spark, qualify and accelerate valuable conversations and build business with target accounts. Not only was this campaign framework scalable, but it could be used as a foundation to expand into lookalike accounts. Its strategy could be used to foster sales enablement. Its key messaging could be leveraged in lead generation and nurture. Its influencer mapping would help us identify the next top prospects in a region. Ultimately, starting small and proving success in one region gave Trimble the power to expand its pipeline and customer base across the land.

This is amazing. It’s so thorough, it’s almost overwhelming (in a good way) and the team didn’t miss a single thing.

Michelle Chessler
Director of Integrated Marketing Strategies