Marketing del Bueno drives our bandwidth with a team that works throughout Latin America, through the congruence between marketing and psychology.
Jorge Hurtado
Vice-president of Sales Latam, Absolute
Absolute, is an indelible device protection platform, unique in the world thanks to its Persistence™ technology that returns devices to their desired state of safety and effectiveness after malicious attacks or user errors. Thanks to it’s unique location in the firmware, it’s present in more than 500 million devices built by most of the world’s leading device manufacturers. Absolute is an ally of brands such as Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, ACER, among others. In Latin America, they have a presence in more than 20 countries and work with more than 5,000 clients.
How are the first steps taken between MDB and ABT Latin America?
They are given by the knowledge that I had of Daniel’s work from before. We participated in projects together and I knew of the quality of him to start this project for Latin America with Absolute. In 2017 we met to shape this alliance and it was the beginning of something very fruitful for the company.
What were the main challenges for ABT Latin America?
The Latin American sales team had little staffing and a marketing budget that was used for different activities, but there was no centralized strategy. The budget was focused on commercial, to marketing it was only used for activations, events, etc. There was no vision beyond the commercial one, above all that is translated into the language and culture of Latin America.
After establishing the objectives together, how has the operation been working?
It has been a mutual growth. As MdB has become a centralizing axis and a support in the commercial area, it collaborated with the development of more and better businesses. Then it became a platform to help organize all the communications, translations of both language and culture, especially for a company based in North America for the Latin American market. Marketing del Bueno has helped develop a sensitivity focused on the characteristics of the particular markets where the commercial team is working.
What has been the feedback from the management teams and supervisors when working with these tools on a day-to-day basis?
It has been a gradual thing. This support has added a lot of value to us from the most common, such as having specific material for each culture, as well as communications for different markets within the region, communication for events both in the material part and in the creative part, to that platform of support for our commercial team that is the heart of the company.
Of all the challenges that have been presented, which do you think has been the greatest?
The biggest challenge was the growth in sales in such a large region, which there is and was. When MdB started with us, the team only had 5 members of the commercial team, to cover the entire region this was a challenge, but they were guiding, supporting and even training us in the process.
Has working hand in hand with the MDB team allowed for quick and easy daily reviews?
Yes, there is enough integration between our team and Marketing del Bueno now with more work time, this includes the understanding that they have the reviews, meetings, suggestions on their part, in some cases daily, the processes have been greatly streamlined.
What things do you think you could recommend to those companies that may be looking to improve their results or the integration between marketing and sales? What changes has ABT incorporated with the arrival of MdB?
For organizations that are not from Latin America or that are from different sectors of the region and want to expand, my recommendation is to link the marketing area with the commercial part, this sounds obvious, but sometimes the differences between these areas especially in the focus of one or the other, makes the results even if they are not expected or causes problems. This is where Marketing del Bueno helped us and continues to help us a lot since, through its Smarketing processes the objectives between both areas have become the same. What is it like to talk to our clients, attending to their needs and challenges.
Agregado a esto tenemos el entendimiento de la cultura en toda la región por parte del equipo de MdB, que eso nos ha facilitado la orientación en el departamento comercial y por último, poder identificar los elementos esenciales con los que nos pueden apoyar desde la parte comunicacional sobre todo para los diferentes actores del proceso, No es lo mismo hablar en Brasil o hablar en México o Chile, que haya un equipo que identifique eso ha sido magnífico.
Do you feel that the way you plan or generate strategies has changed?
Of course, before everything was focused on the commercial aspect, it was to sell, sell and sell to marketing. We had it set up for little specific tasks as I mentioned before, but since the arrival of MdB there is now a strategy that includes a total analysis of our objectives, challenges, what we do and so that we work in conjunction with marketing, which has allowed us not only to fulfill what we had set out, but also to overcome it widely.
What has been the tool that you find most useful for?
The adaptation that the MdB team has made, although learning all the company’s processes took time, once we were in tune with the commercial team there was an understanding, flexibility and constant suggestion making to our requirements from our commercial area in the different scenarios or situations that arise.
What things does MDB have that you think could be beneficial for other companies?
A committed, creative team that, above all, seeks to understand what the real need of its allies, clients, etc. are. And on that basis give contributions in communication, business development, that is, it becomes a right hand in a business hub.
Figures that ABT Latino America has reached with MdB
- In Mexico because of a channel we managed to achieve the biggest sale in history of the country with a governing body by more than 380k USD annually for a total of 1.5 Million USD in 4 years.
- The manufacturer vendor motivation program consistently contributes 40% of the revenue in run rate of the last 2 quarters (approx 200k USD).
- This fiscal year Lenovo has grown an average of 720% in its sales of Absolute technology and it is already a significant element of the sales share.
- In the 3rd quarter of 2020, sales revenues exceed one million dollars, which means the growth of the company by 1%.
- The sales team now has 10 members.
What MdB does for Absolute
- We are the Hub of different operations for Absolute regarding Marketing, events, communications, account development, personnel, among others.
- One member of our team is dedicated to the client in Coordination, Business Development and Commercial Role.
- The team has direct contact with the 3 manufacturers, more than 20 channels, more than 50 suppliers and more than 100 clients.
