What the Gartner Group can Teach Us

I am reading a Gartner report - you've heard the name Gartner, even if you've never read a report.

It's OK. I'd not read a Gartner report until this afternoon.

I'm reading the report on QlikView , and if you aren't a registered subscriber (I'm not) you can't download it, but take my word for it, the report is structured roughly like this:
Strategy: We therefore rate the company’s strategy as a positive one.
Financial: We therefore rate the company’s financial viability as positive.
Marketing: etc.
Organization: etc.
Product/Service BI Platform: etc.
Technology/Methodology: etc.
Pricing Structure: etc.
Customer Service/Support: etc.

Here's what I learned by reading the report.

In each section, Gartner gives its reason for its rating, thus:

• The price point of QlikView licenses is considerably lower than the equivalent components of established BI platforms (around 50%). Uniquely, QlikTech remains the only BI vendor to offer a money-back guarantee. We therefore rate QlikTech's pricing structure as strong positive.

Now "Gartner, Inc. is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. We deliver the technology-related insights necessary for our clients to make the right decisions, every day."

And they rate not only software (of deep interest to me), but also marketing, pricing and so on, which is of deep interest to all of us, no matter the size of our ship-of-entrepreneur.

If Gartner sees a money-back guarantee and a price at 50% of equivalent established platforms, it sounds to me like a good pricing tactic, if not strategy

If "QlikTech's central message of simpler analysis is compelling and clear" causes Gartner to "rate the company’s marketing as positive.", then that's good enough for me.

I could do worse than read a dozen Gartner reports to learn how the Real World views products and services, and what essential points make businesses feel good about purchasing from me, or, if you prefer, me making a sale to them.