Burgess Bev - Executive Engagement Strategies

Bev Burgess has the rare talent of being able to unravel complex topics and spell out a practical way forward. This book is about how to build relationships with the most senior prospects. She writes brilliantly and with great clarity, and has filled a major gap in our knowledge.

Malcolm McDonald, Emeritus Professor, Cranfield School of Management

Bev Burgess has done it again and produced a comprehensive overview of how to approach a game-changing services marketing activity.

Ian Hunter, Vice President, North West Europe Marketing, Fujitsu

Bev Burgess, one of the industrys top thought leaders on marketing and selling complex services and solutions, has written an insightful, pragmatic and consumable playbook on executive engagement that will help anyone looking for new ideas, great examples and a structured process for developing successful business relationships with target executives in todays hypercompetitive market.

Barbara Robidoux, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Dell Technologies

Relationships matter. And this book makes an overwhelming case for this, contrary to what many might have you believe, now more than ever. But a successful business relationship demands a strategic, disciplined, structured and intelligent approach. Bev Burgesss latest how to is accessible, compulsive and bang on the money. Dont leave home without it.

Allan Evans, Global Head of Business Development and Marketing, BDO International Limited

Bev Burgess has a talent for breaking down the complex and sharing pragmatic advice that anyone can follow. This book is no exception, so if youre serious about building great relationships with your customers, this book is a great place to start.

Stella Low, Chief Communications Officer, Cisco Systems

In a B2B context, building meaningful relationships with business executives across the organization requires more than just random acts of engagement. You have to consistently learn from the relationship and then apply those lessons to how you execute all touchpoints. Bev Burgess provides a wealth of ideas, practical insight, industry research and real-world examples on the critical aspects of orchestrated executive engagement. Whether you are looking to up your companys game around executive engagement or your own personal success, this book is a must read.

Keith Pranghofer, Director of Account Based Marketing & Engagement, Microsoft

In a world where business executives are becoming ever more cynical, time-poor and media-blind, this is a vital and urgently needed book. Given her experience as a marketing practitioner, consultant, author, educator and advocate, there isnt anyone better placed to write this book than Bev Burgess. She writes as she presents at conferences: in a way that is clear, compelling, uncomplicated, unpretentious, engaging and inspiring. She concisely and methodically unpacks and explores the issues relating to this complex challenge. If you only read one book at marketing or business this year, make it this one.

Joel Harrison, Editor-in-Chief, B2B Marketing

This is one of those rare business books thats both thoughtful and accessible. Its packed with clear insights into the increasingly complex world of business-to-business marketing, but what really sets it apart is the wealth of practical examples from which organizations of every size and shape can learn valuable lessons.

Fiona Czerniawska, Joint Managing Director, Source Global Research

This clear and easy to follow book is essential reading for managers seeking to create and sustain business relationships and successfully engage with key business stakeholders. Bev Burgess distils many years of deep practical experience in complex B2B marketing. An important book for top management, senior marketers and students.

Adrian Payne, Professor of Marketing, University of New South Wales, Australia and visiting Professor in Marketing, Cranfield School of Management

Bev Burgess demonstrates that selling successfully to businesses need not be a matter of chance. Rather, by understanding how to engage with senior executives, it can be the result of a carefully considered and controllable marketing strategy. With plenty of real-world insights and practical examples from someone whos been there and done it themselves, this excellent book shows you how.

David Sharp, CEO, International Workplace

As an EMEA CMO in the real estate industry, I can see that this book is going to be on my desk as a core reference to support the practical delivery of our marketing and business development plans. It reinforces the client focus messages for every element of executive engagement, demonstrating that the client journey and experience can be strategically managed to influence success in building relationships and directly supporting the sale.

Nigel Pyke, Head of EMEA Marketing and Communications, Cushman & Wakefield

Yes, consumer experiences influence the behaviour of business buyers, but business buyers are truly different. Bev Burgess explains these differences and provides guidance on engaging with executives to create mutual value. Compelling writing, terrific case studies, and action-oriented advice. A great companion piece to her book on account-based marketing!

Jonathan Copulsky, former CMO, Deloitte Consulting and Lecturer in Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

For Andy, with love

Bev Burgess is an industry expert in marketing business services, predominantly in the technology sector, and captured that expertise in her book, Marketing Technology as a Service (Wiley, 2010). She is best known as an authority on account-based marketing (ABM), which is a strategy to help companies focus on and engage with their most important customers.

In 2017, she published A Practitioners Guide to ABM: Acceleratinggrowth in strategic accounts (Kogan Page).

In addition to running her own strategic marketing consultancy and leading the IT Service Marketing Associations (ITSMA) European operations, Bev has held senior marketing roles at Fujitsu, British Gas and Epson. Today, she leads ITSMAs Global ABM Practice, and delivers consulting and training to companies around the world that are designing, developing and implementing ABM and executive engagement programmes. She is also a principal at strategic brand consultancy Manasian and Co.

Bev is passionate about the role of marketing in business and is a regular contributor through her speaking, training and writing. She holds an MBA in strategic marketing, incorporating an in-depth study of the implications of culture to perceptions of B2B service quality. She also holds a BSc Honours degree in business and ergonomics. Bev is a Chartered Marketer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and has served as an international trustee.

LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/bevburgess
Twitter: @BurgessBev

The world is increasingly moving online. As consumers, its where we look for ideas and inspiration, to explore the brands we aspire and relate to, research purchase decisions and engage with potential suppliers and their content. Its where we buy things, then arrange to have them delivered or to collect them locally.

Some would have us believe that the same is true when were buying for our businesses. And for small businesses, for low-value, consumable things like office stationery, it probably is, but not for the larger services and solutions that big businesses and public sector organizations rely on. When it comes to the accounting, payroll, banking and insurance services, or the property, facilities, energy, communications and technology they run on day to day, these are high-value, complex solutions. As such, the way they are bought is still mostly offline. People buy from people. Such purchases usually involve a group of buyers and influencers, take weeks or months to complete, feature a range of potential suppliers competing through a structured procurement process, and result in a multi-year, multi-million-pound contract negotiation.