Stakeholder Management
Influencing without Authority to Defend
a Strategic Revenue Model
Starting Point
As the founder of Yummy’s, I led the development of a revenue model designed to prioritize long-term value for both users and business partners. Our model charged parents an annual membership fee, while allowing business partners to join the network free of charge in exchange for offering exclusive, ongoing discounts to our members. This approach was a deliberate departure from the models used by most competitors, which led to some resistance from key stakeholders. While I valued and respected their perspectives, I was confident in the strategic advantages of our original model, particularly its ability to address major industry pain points and differentiate us in a competitive market. As a result, I took the lead in advocating for and defending this model, aligning stakeholders around a shared vision for sustainable growth.
Role & Responsibilities:
As the founder of Yummy’s, I was responsible for guiding the company’s vision, defending our business model, and aligning stakeholders on the strategic direction. My role was to present a compelling case for the original business model, demonstrating its value and addressing concerns. I needed to convince stakeholders that the model would not only support long-term growth but also differentiate us in the competitive market.
Key Contributions:
Listening and Understanding Stakeholder Concerns:
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I took the time to listen carefully to stakeholder concerns, acknowledging their points of view while gathering insights into their objections. This helped me identify the key areas where they felt uncertain or misaligned.
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Data-Driven Presentation:
Armed with data from our user research and competitive analysis, I presented a clear, data-backed argument for the original business model. Which includes:
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User Research: I highlighted that our user research revealed a pain point where competitors' business partners attracted customers only looking for one-time deals rather than long-term loyal members. I explained that by charging parents an annual fee, we were able to build a community of engaged, loyal customers. This allowed us to create a membership full of people who truly valued small, independent or luxury family-friendly businesses and gave us the unique ability to continually refer people over to our business partners who were a part of their exact target market.
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Competitive Analysis: I shared insights from our Competitor Analysis, highlighting that we’d discovered that one of the main pain points regarding competitors' offerings was the unreliable quality of their business partners. Their user feedback revealed that there had been many times when competitor’s members had tried one of their business partners and been disappointed by their quality. All of our competitor's revenue models depended on acquiring new partners. This often led to compromising quality by accepting sub-par businesses for a revenue boost. I went on to explain that by utilising the original revenue model and relying on members rather than business partners for revenue, we were able to ensure we’d only ever accept businesses onto our network that reached our standards of exceptional quality. Solving this pain point & Positioning ourselves as the premium brand whose recommendations users could trust & rely on.
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Risk-Free Marketing Model for Business Partners:
I emphasized that our original model offered business partners a unique, risk-free marketing opportunity. Since businesses only provided discounts to members after members had already made purchases, this model ensured that businesses only paid for marketing when it had already proven successful. This removed the risk of wasted advertising spend and created a mutually beneficial partnership. I further explained how this model also enabled us to negotiate larger, ongoing discounts from business partners, something competitors couldn’t replicate due to their revenue model’s reliance on business partner fees.
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Competitive Advantage through Value and Trust:
I demonstrated that many competitors offered low-value, one-time introductory discounts, which left customers disappointed. By offering larger, ongoing discounts, our business model would stand out by delivering more value to customers and fostering loyalty. I illustrated how this would position Yummy’s as a premium brand offering the best deals at the highest-quality businesses, setting us apart from competitors who could not sustain such offers.
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Learning from Industry Examples:
To reinforce my argument, I pointed out a similar model used by an indirect competitor in a comparable space, which had proven exceptionally successful. This example helped demonstrate that the original revenue model was not only viable but had already yielded positive results in the market.
Results:
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By successfully advocating for the original business model, I was able to secure stakeholder buy-in and keep the revenue model that would help us solve major pain points and stay ahead of competitors.
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Over 96% of our initial business partners remained with us, and we began attracting inbound interest from other premium family-friendly businesses.
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The risk-free nature of the marketing model allowed us to secure l0-25% larger, more consistent discounts from our business partners which the constraints of our competitors' revenue models prevented them from being able to keep up with, giving us a competitive edge.
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As a result, Yummy’s was able to position itself as the premium membership service offering the highest-value discounts at the highest-quality businesses, which helped us maintain a leadership position in the market.
Conclusion:
One of the main takeaways that I learned from this is that while stakeholders bring valuable experience, they can sometimes offer a perspective that specifically focuses on only one area of the business rather than the company as a whole. In this instance, I knew that my holistic perspective helped me to understand how the original revenue model could solve multiple pain points from a variety of business areas and ultimately improve the business as a whole. This, along with the fact that I had data to support my position gave me confidence to voice a different perspective to stakeholders.
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This experience reinforced the importance of using data to support decisions, particularly when influencing stakeholders with differing viewpoints. By presenting a holistic, data-backed case and focusing on the long-term vision, I was able to align stakeholders around the original business model. The successful implementation of this model not only helped us retain high-quality partners but also positioned Yummy’s for sustained growth and differentiation in the market. This case has further solidified my approach to stakeholder management,focusing on shared vision, leveraging data, and emphasizing mutual benefits to gain support for strategic decisions.
