And it is a promise which is being delivered. In our last issue we revealed how, by winning increased mindshare, HP has raised its forecast for sales through a single US retailer, RadioShack, by a staggering $350 million over the next few years.

This reflects the fact that we are now witnessing real breakthroughs in thinking about mindshare and how it can be applied. 

Take the article we publish on page 3 of this issue "How to measure and master mindshare" by Richard Gibbs.

This is, to my knowledge, the first time that anyone has produced a way of systematically measuring mindshare. Gibbs’ approach is totally different from channel satisfaction surveys.  These typically merely serve to highlight gripes. They are rarely actionable.

In contrast, Gibbs’ approach allows suppliers to come up with effective strategies and to set about altering attitudes. As it is based on the attitude of intermediaries, it is also predictive of their behaviour.

Perhaps its greatest power lies in the way you can start to profile your intermediaries by their attitude towards you.

The results are fascinating, and often frightening. Most large suppliers will admit that many of their largest intermediaries are what Gibbs terms "potential renegades" who sell their product purely because of the strength of the brand.  All too often, these companies feel indifference, even hostility, to their suppliers.  And yet, having diagnosed and recognised the problem, it is entirely possible to come up with a set of actions that can minimise the risk of rebellion. 

Above all, this approach provides an antidote to those who are obsessed with brand, product and price.  It enables you to explain to that impatient sales director precisely why you need to move away from channel stuffing towards new, more powerful techniques.
VIA is so taken with this approach that we are working with Richard to take his methodology to a wider market.  We are turning it into a diagnostic kit and we are talking to a group of suppliers who are interested in piloting the approach. If this is something you’d like to get involved with, please contact me!

Behind all this is a new way of looking at routes to market.  No longer do we see them as passive pipes down which products can be shoved.  No longer should we adopt a view which always, and unhesitatingly, starts with our own company. No longer should we view intermediaries as people who add no value.  Lars Erik Gadde expanded on this theme when we interviewed him – read the result on page 18.

Companies are quietly dividing into those who "get" routes to market and those who don’t.

Accountancy software vendor Sage, one of the top 20 software vendors worldwide is an interesting example of a company which has moved from the "don’t get" to the "get" camp in the last few years. A while back Sage was besotted with direct sales.  Intermediaries were perceived as parasites who added little value – certainly not people you would want to bother consulting.

Today, Sage’s approach has undergone a sea change. It has winnowed out the chaff in its channel, built consensus and dialogue and spent a great deal of time and effort training dealers on new products and encouraging them to enter new areas.

The result?  Sage’s first half 2005 profits saw a big upsurge, principally because of more price discipline and less channel discounting. That’s an upsurge which goes straight to the bottom line of Sage and its partners.

This is why intelligent routes to market thinking pays. Now, go shout it from the roof-tops.