Alan Gonsenhauser

When you hear the names Nordstrom, Ritz Carlton, Amazon, Singapore Airlines, Wegmans, L.L. Bean or Apple, what comes to mind? Is the impression positive? But what about if you’ve been unable to get good customer service from these companies, or had to return a product that didn’t meet your expectations? How do you feel then?

It’s obvious to anyone who knows me: My biggest hot-button issue is customer experience, obsession and loyalty. I love reviewing company case studies with my… Show more

When you hear the names Nordstrom, Ritz Carlton, Amazon, Singapore Airlines, Wegmans, L.L. Bean or Apple, what comes to mind? Is the impression positive? But what about if you’ve been unable to get good customer service from these companies, or had to return a product that didn’t meet your expectations? How do you feel then?

It’s obvious to anyone who knows me: My biggest hot-button issue is customer experience, obsession and loyalty. I love reviewing company case studies with my graduate marketing students to discuss customer-centricity, company culture and the real actions required to get there.

Providing remarkable customer experiences should always be a top corporate responsibility. Ultimately, it’s the CEO’s responsibility to provide the leadership, culture and autonomy to drive a customer-centric enterprise. He or she can delegate that responsibility to the CMO or another to be the key customer evangelist, but must fully support the process. Show less

At the SiriusDecisions 2016 Summit, Brian Kardon, CMO of Fuze, gave an excellent presentation to CMOs, chief sales officers (CSOs) and chief product officers (CPOs) at our Executive Leadership Exchange. He discussed how it’s critical for marketing and sales to work as one unit to understand and drive customer lifetime value (LTV), and LTV’s relationship to customer acquisition costs (CAC).

You know the expression “less is more”? Allow me to recommend something that may seem counterintuitive to marketing leaders. Having been through more planning and budgeting cycles than I’d care to count, I’ll share an approach that can expand your credibility as a marketing leader and general manager.

Today, marketing is becoming more of a house of processes and a profit center than a traditional cost center. But historically, CEOs and CFOs have viewed marketing as a cost center and… Show more

You know the expression “less is more”? Allow me to recommend something that may seem counterintuitive to marketing leaders. Having been through more planning and budgeting cycles than I’d care to count, I’ll share an approach that can expand your credibility as a marketing leader and general manager.

Today, marketing is becoming more of a house of processes and a profit center than a traditional cost center. But historically, CEOs and CFOs have viewed marketing as a cost center and slush fund with discretionary budget dollars available to cut when needed as performance and priorities change. Sound familiar? Show less

Hopefully, as a CMO, you like an eclectic mix. Today’s CMOs need to be holistic conductors, balancing creativity with precision. You need a good balance of both to be really successful in today’s complex market. Let’s listen:

chaosBeing innovative and building strong connections with customers and prospects is like jazz. Remember Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis or Benny Goodman? Jazz requires expressing your creativity, using your gut, developing audacious breakthrough ideas, and taking… Show more

Hopefully, as a CMO, you like an eclectic mix. Today’s CMOs need to be holistic conductors, balancing creativity with precision. You need a good balance of both to be really successful in today’s complex market. Let’s listen:

chaosBeing innovative and building strong connections with customers and prospects is like jazz. Remember Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis or Benny Goodman? Jazz requires expressing your creativity, using your gut, developing audacious breakthrough ideas, and taking risks to connect with target audiences in a really memorable way. They won’t remember numbers as much as how you made them feel. You won’t get big ideas from spreadsheets, either. Creativity requires you to: Show less

Disruptive technological innovations have historically powered presidential campaigns
Candidates having the foresight and resources to leverage new innovations effectively secured an unfair advantage
It’s critical to have the right strategy and perfect timing, and to surround new innovations with the right people and processes

Problems can be defined, analyzed and solved in five easy steps
Key to problem analysis: define problem, evidence, impacts, causes and recommendations
When causes of problems are properly stated, your recommended solutions are simply the reverse of the causes

Savvy b-to-b CMOs know that the CFO can be their most critical organizational ally. CEOs lean heavily on their CFOs to balance and optimize operational and financial business performance and position the company to investors. Accordingly, CFOs are often the CEO’s right hand and have a great deal of corporate longevity and broad influence over functional operations and budgets.



Many CEOs and CFOs see marketing as a cost center and slush fund with discretionary budget dollars that… Show more

Savvy b-to-b CMOs know that the CFO can be their most critical organizational ally. CEOs lean heavily on their CFOs to balance and optimize operational and financial business performance and position the company to investors. Accordingly, CFOs are often the CEO’s right hand and have a great deal of corporate longevity and broad influence over functional operations and budgets.



Many CEOs and CFOs see marketing as a cost center and slush fund with discretionary budget dollars that can be cut when necessary as performance and priorities change. Sound familiar? A strong CMO/CFO relationship mitigates this view.

CMOs must engage CFOs as a real business partner year-round – not just during planning and budget season. Establishing a solid relationship with the CFO will help the CMO redefine the perception of marketing from a cost center to a strategic investment and profit center, serving both leaders with more efficient and aligned corporate growth. To effectively engage and build a strong relationship with the CFO, CMOs should use the following five strategies: Show less

To accelerate growth, B2B organizations must evolve from a product-centric to an audience-centric go-to-market approach
The SiriusDecisions Product Marketing and Management (PMM) Model provides a best-in-class framework to improve marketing, product, sales, and customer success alignment
Imprivata experienced dramatic international growth outside of North America with a regional focus and alignment of resources

B2B healthcare marketing and sales leaders are using proven best practices to drive demand generation and business growth
Strong cross-functional alignment between marketing and sales is foundational to accelerate productive demand generation, nurturing and revenue growth
Successful demand marketing processes and results contribute to more positive perceptions of marketing value

With limited resources, healthcare CMOs are under pressure to gain consensus with sales and product functions on where marketing should invest
To prioritize investment areas, organizations must consider their internal capabilities to succeed as well as external market opportunities
By using the SiriusDecisions Relative Targeting Framework, Change Healthcare achieved cross-functional consensus on strategic business priorities for marketing investment

Healthcare organizations realize higher revenue and profit when their pricing and packaging reflect value offered to their buyers
Most organizations lack a consistent, repeatable process to develop value-based pricing and packaging
The SiriusDecisions Pricing and Packaging Blueprint is a four-phase process for developing pricing and packaging that supports organizational growth and profitability goals

As B2B healthcare organizations move to value-based care and recurring-revenue models, more focus is being placed on post-sale customer experiences
Driving customer journey improvements cross-functionally requires an understanding of customer persona needs and a process for mapping customer touchpoints by lifecycle phase
The SiriusDecisions Customer Experience Design Framework provides a structure and process for organizations to improve customer journeys

Due to siloed behavior, process inefficiency and lack of consistent focus on buyer needs, B2B healthcare organizations waste significant funds on misaligned reputation, demand generation and sales enablement activities
An integrated campaign framework provides the construct for aligning marketing campaign activities with sales and product functions
Effective B2B campaigns drive revenue growth and improve buyer-centricity, sales productivity and the operational excellence of marketing… Show more

Due to siloed behavior, process inefficiency and lack of consistent focus on buyer needs, B2B healthcare organizations waste significant funds on misaligned reputation, demand generation and sales enablement activities
An integrated campaign framework provides the construct for aligning marketing campaign activities with sales and product functions
Effective B2B campaigns drive revenue growth and improve buyer-centricity, sales productivity and the operational excellence of marketing activities Show less

Data from SiriusDecisions’ 2018 Global CMO Study shows that 94 percent of B2B marketing leaders plan to change their marketing organization
Of that 94 percent, 33 percent plan to rebalance resources to optimize performance
Effective marketing organizational design requires robust processes, strong support and business-relevant KPIs

B2B organizations often over-rotate on existing buyers and market segments and miss the steps needed to understand new buyers and segments and improve growth and customer-centricity
The SiriusDecisions Product Marketing and Management (PMM) Model provides a best-in-class framework to improve marketing, sales and product alignment and commercial success
The SiriusDecisions PMM Model can be used as a diagnostic tool to identify crucial missing steps in the innovation, go-to-market and… Show more

B2B organizations often over-rotate on existing buyers and market segments and miss the steps needed to understand new buyers and segments and improve growth and customer-centricity
The SiriusDecisions Product Marketing and Management (PMM) Model provides a best-in-class framework to improve marketing, sales and product alignment and commercial success
The SiriusDecisions PMM Model can be used as a diagnostic tool to identify crucial missing steps in the innovation, go-to-market and product launch processes to achieve new product financial goals Show less

B2B healthcare organizations waste significant funds on content creation and management, letting up to 70 percent of content go unused
Many healthcare organizations have no idea how much is spent on content creation and management, how many sources exist or which content is used
Successful marketing leaders are creating and deploying content centers of excellence to improve content effectiveness, lower costs, drive operational efficiencies and enable sales

As B2B healthcare organizations target complex provider, payer and pharma entities, more focus is being placed on account-based marketing (ABM) models
ABM fosters improved alignment between sales and marketing and improves marketing contributions to business retention and growth goals
The SiriusDecisions Account-Based Marketing Framework provides a structure and process for organizations to create and deploy effective ABM programs

CMOs can build strong cross-functional relationships by understanding what drives product peers, the language they speak and how to align to mutual goals
Solicit a common understanding of buyers and customers, their critical needs, and how to turn superior customer experiences into strong corporate growth
Translate transformational initiatives with metrics that demonstrate efficient and mutual progress toward meeting key corporate goals

Savvy CMOs know that the chief sales officer (CSO) is a critical organizational ally. CEOs lean heavily on their CSOs to drive revenue growth – the lifeblood supporting corporate infrastructure and ultimately the CEO’s tenure. Accordingly, CSOs often have broad influence over functional operations and budgets. Historically, CSOs and even CEOs have sometimes viewed marketing as a cost center, with discretionary budget dollars available to cut as financial performance and priorities change, or… Show more

Savvy CMOs know that the chief sales officer (CSO) is a critical organizational ally. CEOs lean heavily on their CSOs to drive revenue growth – the lifeblood supporting corporate infrastructure and ultimately the CEO’s tenure. Accordingly, CSOs often have broad influence over functional operations and budgets. Historically, CSOs and even CEOs have sometimes viewed marketing as a cost center, with discretionary budget dollars available to cut as financial performance and priorities change, or when the CSO would like to fund more sales reps.



CMOs and CSOs need to engage each other continually as real business partners. A strong relationship helps the CSO with sales productivity and deal success, and benefits the CMO by redefining marketing from a cost center to a strategic growth center. This serves both leaders with more efficient and aligned corporate growth. Here are seven key areas in which CMOs and CSOs should engage effectively to drive profitable growth: Show less

To enhance alignment in finance-led organizations, marketing must become more revenue- and profitability-focused, operationally efficient and customer experience-centric
Marketers must understand what drives the CFO, the business language finance speaks, and key metrics and KPIs that demonstrate the impact marketing contributes to strategic goals
Transform marketing by changing dated perceptions and practices, adopt general business language, co-create a marketing dashboard and… Show more

To enhance alignment in finance-led organizations, marketing must become more revenue- and profitability-focused, operationally efficient and customer experience-centric
Marketers must understand what drives the CFO, the business language finance speaks, and key metrics and KPIs that demonstrate the impact marketing contributes to strategic goals
Transform marketing by changing dated perceptions and practices, adopt general business language, co-create a marketing dashboard and collaborate with CFOs Show less

Modern technology significantly improves people’s lives – and often saves them
Nonprofit organizations need help with marketing and positioning to better understand and serve their personas
CMOs must re-think how they envision and connect their brand identities with social responsibilities

Now that I have your attention, let me explain what I mean by leveraging millennials.

Our recently published CMO NextPoint piece titled “Millennials Will Dominate the Global Workforce in Five Years” discussed the rise of Millennials in the workplace. You know, the 19- to 35-year-olds who can be both frustrating and amazing – much like my 19-year-old and 22-year-old daughters. The most disruptive generation since the Baby Boomers must be accurately understood and led differently than… Show more

Now that I have your attention, let me explain what I mean by leveraging millennials.

Our recently published CMO NextPoint piece titled “Millennials Will Dominate the Global Workforce in Five Years” discussed the rise of Millennials in the workplace. You know, the 19- to 35-year-olds who can be both frustrating and amazing – much like my 19-year-old and 22-year-old daughters. The most disruptive generation since the Baby Boomers must be accurately understood and led differently than previous generations.

Top 10 TipsIn recent CMO roundtables, some older executives have expressed frustration with Millennials who seemed to avoid tasks not seen as valuable, resulting in frustrated responses like “just do it!” Other executives have embraced and understood the younger generation’s differences, resulting in a highly valued two-way relationship.

What should CMOs do to tap awesome potential of Millennials? Here are 10 keys for successfully mentoring employees in your marketing organization and modifying your brand to appeal to future Millennial decisionmakers for your products and services: Show less

To enhance alignment in sales-led organizations and assist in retention and growth, marketing must become more account and revenue focused, operationally efficient and customer-experience-centric
CMOs must understand what drives salespeople, as well as the language they speak, their territory go-to-market model, prioritized segments and targeted personas
Transform marketing with strong demand and marketing operations centers of excellence aligned to sales operations, robust lead… Show more

To enhance alignment in sales-led organizations and assist in retention and growth, marketing must become more account and revenue focused, operationally efficient and customer-experience-centric
CMOs must understand what drives salespeople, as well as the language they speak, their territory go-to-market model, prioritized segments and targeted personas
Transform marketing with strong demand and marketing operations centers of excellence aligned to sales operations, robust lead qualification, service-level agreements and needs-based campaigns Show less

Effective collaboration between the CMO and chief human resources officer (CHRO) is critical to acquiring, engaging, developing and retaining talent across an organization
Enabled and engaged employees bolster corporate brands and accelerate revenue, productivity and profitability
Strong alignment and ongoing collaboration between the CMO and CHRO can model successful leadership for the entire company

An organization’s CMO and CIO should work together to drive cross-functional alignment and productive technology deployments
Marketing and IT should pool their expertise to satisfy the expectations of today’s B2B buyers and customers
Shared goals supported by common metrics can boost the collective impact of marketing and IT

SiriusDecisions has identified five areas of opportunity that should drive the priorities of healthcare marketing leaders in 2019
Strong cross-functional alignment is the foundation of accelerated growth and improved sales, marketing and product productivity
Health IT, device, biotech, diagnostics and payer organizations should work across silos to improve customer focus, fix redundancies and manage content effectively

October 21: I've Fallen and Everybody Knows. The Market for Seniors

Creating and Commercializing Disruptive Technologies Assisting Seniors

There are new robust technologies and business models to keep seniors safer, healthier, and improve secure access to Protected Health Information (PHI). With the tsunami of baby boomers reaching maturity and the largest growth area of the population 80+, we need to keep our seniors living independently at home for as long as possible… Show more

October 21: I've Fallen and Everybody Knows. The Market for Seniors

Creating and Commercializing Disruptive Technologies Assisting Seniors

There are new robust technologies and business models to keep seniors safer, healthier, and improve secure access to Protected Health Information (PHI). With the tsunami of baby boomers reaching maturity and the largest growth area of the population 80+, we need to keep our seniors living independently at home for as long as possible.

Come hear CEOs of 3 innovative MetroWest companies describe their business models and value propositions, disrupting healthcare to improve peace of mind and the quality of life for seniors.

Alan Gonsenhauser moderates, with panelists:

Piali De, CEO of Senscio Systems will describe how their Ibis system uses sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to helps users follow their daily home care plan and manage their chronic diseases interactively.

Yogendra Jain, Founder and CTO of Senticare will discuss Pillstation, their unique approach to medication adherence, driving complex medication regimen self-administration of prescriptions.

Michael Neece, CEO of FlowLogic will outline their unique approach to paper and EHR integration, avoiding costly and time consuming efforts of traditional systems implementations to address the three challenges of interoperability, security, and privacy of medical records.

Following our panel discussion, join us to hear – or even present – at our STARTUP STANDUP!, the 2-minute pitch opportunity to describe your company, technology and value proposition to attendees and solicit help feedback and help! Networking and light dinner begin 5:30. Show less

Today the world of marketing is confusing. What works, what doesn’t? Is your marketing producing bottom line results? Are you reaching your target audience? In this workshop, Alan Gonsenhauser discusses how marketing has morphed over the years and come back full circle. You’ll leave with new knowledge of how to use today’s powerful marketing tools to give your firm the strategic advantage it needs to succeed.

When you think of fax, you probably don’t think of up-to-date high-tech or innovative advancements, but fax technology is being used in fresh ways, particularly in healthcare.
“Most importantly, fax software can convert paper-based documents into a more secure and efficient digital means of documentation,” explained Alan Gonsenhauser, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Biscom, in an interview with TMC. “This is done by converting the data in fax documents with OCR and… Show more

When you think of fax, you probably don’t think of up-to-date high-tech or innovative advancements, but fax technology is being used in fresh ways, particularly in healthcare.
“Most importantly, fax software can convert paper-based documents into a more secure and efficient digital means of documentation,” explained Alan Gonsenhauser, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Biscom, in an interview with TMC. “This is done by converting the data in fax documents with OCR and barcode technology into metadata and uploading the data into Electronic Medical Record (EMR), ePrescription and Practice Management systems. Show less

Article discusses new innovations in Fax over IP technologies.

How to keep patient records (PHI) safe in the age of HIPAA. Little known Facts about Fax tied to EMR.

In the healthcare realm, fax has also flaunted its feisty figure amidst a burgeoning epoch of innovative health information technology. According to the annual National Physicians Survey released in June this year, fax still remains the predominant form of communication for 63 percent of healthcare providers, and some experts say it will continue to feed into the future.

Biscom's hybrid fax platform, a combination of Biscom's FAXCOM server and FAXCOM Anywhere hosted cloud-based systems, offers a business continuity solution that gives users the dual benefit of cloud technology with the performance of a dedicated on-site server, overcoming the limitations of traditional methods, said officials.

Collaboration among hospitals and health networks, health plans, research institutions, and government agencies, as well as intradepartmental collaboration, is a mission-critical necessity. But the high-tech environment that’s been created to facilitate this collaboration and data exchange is often filled with security challenges. How can healthcare institutions ensure physician and patient data are kept secure? How can these organizations ensure efficient, timely, and safe collaboration with… Show more

Collaboration among hospitals and health networks, health plans, research institutions, and government agencies, as well as intradepartmental collaboration, is a mission-critical necessity. But the high-tech environment that’s been created to facilitate this collaboration and data exchange is often filled with security challenges. How can healthcare institutions ensure physician and patient data are kept secure? How can these organizations ensure efficient, timely, and safe collaboration with outside institutions?

Healthcare today depends on sharing protected health information (PHI) to drive clinical efficiencies and provide better patient care. Secure collaboration and intradepartmental PHI sharing extends from hospitals to practices, specialists, payers, pharmacies, labs, research institutions, and government.
Show less

Today's technology facilitates secure compliance and fast user adoption.
It's no secret that collaboration and sharing of protected health information (PHI) is a daily, mission-critical activity. Today's healthcare landscape depends on sharing PHI to drive clinical efficiency and provide better patient care. Secure collaboration and intra-departmental PHI sharing extends from hospitals to practices, specialists, payers, pharmacies, labs, research institutions and government.

In the age of electronic health records and remote-monitoring apps, faxing is still alive, especially in health care. But you'll find the old-school technology being used in the cloud by companies such as Barnes Healthcare Services, a medical equipment company based in Valdosta, Ga. - See more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Health-Care-IT/Cloud-VOIP-Faxing-Lives-On-in-Health-Care-With-Faxcom-Anywhere-338245/#sthash.K1DOCCdu.dpuf

Technologies to keep seniors safe such as medication adherence technology and firms.

Outsourced Sales Channel Strategies for Speed to Market. How to set up the marketing plan, CRM strategy, and outsource a field salesforce in as little as 45 days.

“Outsourcing makes companies more nimble when the business landscape shifts,” says Alan Gonsenhauser, vice president and chief marketing office of Salience, an Andover, Massachusetts sales force outsourcing vendor. “We can provide a much speedier entrance or exit.” Salience guarantees it can assemble a dedicated outsourced sales force in 45 days to take advantage of sudden windows of opportunity.

- See more at:… Show more

“Outsourcing makes companies more nimble when the business landscape shifts,” says Alan Gonsenhauser, vice president and chief marketing office of Salience, an Andover, Massachusetts sales force outsourcing vendor. “We can provide a much speedier entrance or exit.” Salience guarantees it can assemble a dedicated outsourced sales force in 45 days to take advantage of sudden windows of opportunity.

- See more at: http://outsourcing-center.com/2001-03-outsourcing-in-uncertain-times-article-38831.html#sthash.OGg8IiNu.dpuf Show less