The challenge
Tandberg had strong technology and an established position with IT and A/V buyers. But the company was largely selling video conferencing on technical superiority — the features and “speeds and feeds” of the technology.
There was a structural problem with that go-to-market approach. IT purchased the technology, but business teams were the people who actually used it and benefited from it. To accelerate growth, we needed to expand the conversation beyond the technical buyer.
Expanding the buying committee
We identified the business leaders whose priorities could be advanced through video collaboration and developed segment-specific value propositions around the outcomes that mattered to them.
Instead of simply asking IT to buy more video infrastructure, the strategy created demand among business users — giving IT stronger internal justification for investment.
Buyers were grouped by their business and role needs: the “Executive Experiencer” C-level who needed more communication with leadership; the “Productivity Champion” team leader that had to bring experts in and make decisions fast; and online-savvy employees demanding remote work.
The shift was straightforward:
- From: technical features and product superiority
- To: business outcomes tied to the priorities of different members of the buying committee and influential users
Aligning GTM around the buyer
Changing the message wasn’t enough. Sales needed to sell differently.
Training and Culture leadership worked with Sales and Marketing to activate the strategy globally. Sales teams were trained on segment-specific narratives, equipped with practical tools and coached to engage business decision-makers alongside traditional technical buyers. Sales leadership reinforced the approach, while successful field examples were used to build adoption across the organization.
This created a more connected GTM system: shared ICPs, buyer-specific value propositions, consistent messaging and sales activation.
The result
Expanding the buying committee contributed to Tandberg’s growth — including a seven-point gain in market share — as the company reached more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Cisco later acquired Tandberg for approximately $3.3 billion.
View Cisco’s acquisition announcement →
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