Making the Case for Convincing Case Studies

There are various ways of helping a company tell its story to the wider world and part of the role of Public Relations is to support sales initiatives. Case Studies showcase the true benefits of a company's products and services, which helps to warm-up prospective clients. If you use case studies in sales quotes and proposals, they demonstrate your track record and give insight into your capabilities.

Since a case study is a written form of recommendation and referral, it is very powerful and persuasive. Such hard evidence of success gives buyers peace of mind!

Any company with a successful project can produce a case study and it’s a great idea to do this as soon as possible after delivery, before the client's memory fades. Future buyers need reassurance they are making the right decision and in psychology, this is called ‘cognitive dissonance’. People buy on the basis of three main factors; Price, Quality and Service. A buyer goes through a lengthy internal process of evaluating different options and suppliers to eliminate doubts. The higher the price-tag, the greater the risk - and this is where case studies provide reassurance.

Price, quality and service are held in tension and may vary from job to job depending on the buyer's brief. For example, I ran a £1 Million design and repro budget while I was Packaging Manager for Bluebird Toys. The flagship product range for exhibition at Toy Fairs worldwide needed better quality production values than a run of the mill range. Service levels and reliability were vital because late delivery would have been catastrophic. Although one company hungry for our business offered to do the job for £10,400, the best printer wanted £15,000 for the same job. While I did negotiate hard, I was still prepared to pay more to our preferred supplier because I knew he was so reliable and would provide a high-gloss finish. This is a case where an untried/untested supplier would have found case studies might have assuaged my doubts and may have clinched the deal for him.

When someone is going to commit to a large financial purchase, they need to be able to trust the supplier. How do they know you will deliver on time and on budget? Sales people are generally renowned for telling a client what they want to hear, but a client-approved case study and testimonial are solid proof that the company is as good as the salesman says. Factual and objective, a well-written case study answers the buyer’s unspoken questions, subliminally reducing or even eliminating cognitive dissonance and doubt.

Delivering Microsoft Gold Partner Status

There are other reasons for case studies – selection as a vendor or channel to market, or gaining and maintaining preferred supplier status for large corporates. In 2002 Microsoft were offering Gold Partner status to UK IT Training partners that demonstrated a strong track record of delivering high quality training solutions to blue chip companies. There are literally hundreds of IT Training companies of all sizes in the UK so competition was extremely fierce!

According to Marko Jergic, former Director of IT training company Aris Education, "We were in a race to get Gold Partner status and it was crucial to have well-written case studies. Microsoft set the bar very high in order to obtain Gold status and case studies were an important pre-requisite for recognition as preferred suppliers."

He adds "We had to outline our capabilities in different technologies to show we could train on cutting edge technologies especially around .NET. We needed a writer who understood technology and could translate complex concepts into easily understood business language. We needed someone to write from our client’s perspective, showing how we structured technology solutions to develop their business. Rhona Jack wrote plain English, not computer ‘geek-speak’!"

After 12 months of handling PR for Aris Education, they had risen from 18th place to 9th ranking in the industry (independently verified). However, they rose in Microsoft's estimation and were second to achieve Gold Partner status because of case studies I wrote on their training solutions for Marconi, European bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Rebus HR (now Northgate).

One of the keys to success was getting agreement from giants of the banking and telecoms/engineering industries to do joint case studies, thereby endorsing Aris Education. Leveraging their company brand by association with such world-class companies created priceless value in the mind of the reader!

Questions, Structure & Benefits

Probing questions develop compelling case studies and you need to set the scene, explain the client’s problem, your solution and clear benefits. The Microsoft case studies were the toughest brief I have ever had. Case studies are usually 500 to 1000 words but Microsoft’s template was 3,500 words. It is notoriously difficult to prove the benefits and return on investment of training but together we managed to quantify it.

So much hinged on the outcome. Securing Gold Partner status determined my client’s future earning power. The selection process set winners apart from competitors and secured significant revenue streams for them, so failure was not an option!

The Importance of Quotes and Approvals

Case studies enable you to employ a written form of Recommendation and Referral. The idea is to get your client to say good things about your work and results. When you relay the praise someone else has given you, it is far more convincing than blowing your own trumpet!

A skilled writer can probe the issues, summarise the project and craft a good quote that your client approves smoothly. You can provide a "suggested quote" to trigger their thoughts. The most important thing though, is to ensure you get full approval of the entire document. If you are a supplier to a large company, this may mean the case study must go through their Marketing or PR department for approval. This can take days or weeks because it's not their top priority. However, it's well worth the wait.

Layout

A well-produced case study is convincing; but you need to consider your audience. On a website all you need is a 250 word summary. However, for face-to-face high-level sales meetings involving big commercial deals, you need something much more substantial. A thousand word case study can be laid out on a double-sided sheet of A4 with professional photography. More about this in the next blog.

A case study will not necessarily help you close a multi-million-pound deal, but it may very well earn you the right to pitch to the client. Case studies and long-term investment in PR are very effective at opening the door for your salespeople. So, if you’d like to find out more, give me a call or drop me a line. Wishing you all the best.

Rhona Jack, The PR Catalyst, July 2017.