$8M in pipeline in nine months. For port software that takes a whole terminal to roll out.

The client is a North American software company with two products: a yard management system and a port management system. Ports and terminal operators use them to plan and run container, vehicle and equipment movements.

Implementation touches operations, IT, finance and terminal leadership, and replaces processes that keep a port running. The company is not named in this case study.

A large rollout means a slow, careful buyer

Port software is not a trial purchase. Buyers need to see how the system fits their terminal, their volumes and their existing tools before they commit, so generic demand generation produces interest but not decisions.

The best-fit ports were hard to see

Large flagship ports attract every vendor. Mid-segment ports have real operational problems and budget, but they are rarely visible in databases or at conferences, so broad campaigns miss them.

Pick the ports others ignore

We deliberately targeted mid-segment ports that are largely not visible to vendors, building the account lists through research rather than off-the-shelf data.

• Port-by-port research on volumes, operators and leadership
• Priority given to ports with clear operational pain

Run account-based marketing by cluster

Instead of one global campaign, we grouped ports into tight clusters by region and profile, so every message referenced peers the buyer would recognise.

• Clusters in Dubai, the Netherlands, the United States and Canada
• Region-specific messaging and references

Host closed-door roundtables with CXOs

Port leaders were invited to private roundtables to discuss their problems with peers. The format was discovery, not a pitch.

• Small groups of senior port executives
• Problems captured and fed back into the sales conversation

Build simulations from the ports' own problems

The problems gathered at the roundtables became simulations showing how the yard or port system would behave in that operation. This carried accounts through a long evaluation.

• Scenario simulations per account
• A sustained multi-month journey for each stakeholder group

Move to proof of concept and solutioning

Accounts that saw their own operation modelled moved into proof of concept and solution design with the client's team.

• Proof of concept scoping
• Solutioning for a full rollout

Funnel build

A working funnel was already in place, so the program started at the stages below.

Top of funnel

Researched lists of mid-segment ports and cluster-based account outreach in four regions.

Middle of funnel

Closed-door CXO roundtables that gathered each port's operational problems.

Bottom of funnel

Account-specific simulations, proof of concept and solutioning for a full rollout.

The programme was intense because the software is a large rollout, and it moved fast for this category.

• An $8M revenue pipeline in nine months.
• Port clusters engaged in Dubai, the Netherlands, the United States and Canada.
• CXO roundtables that turned into account-specific simulations.
• Accounts progressed from roundtable to simulation to proof of concept and solutioning.

Go where the competition is not looking

The mid-segment ports that do not show up in databases or on conference stages were the best fit. Researching your own list costs more upfront and removes most of the competition.

Use roundtables for discovery, not pitching

Senior buyers join a room of peers to talk about their problems. Collect those problems carefully, because they become the raw material for every later sales step.

Let buyers see their own operation before the proof of concept

For a large rollout, a simulation built on the buyer's own situation lowers the perceived risk and makes the proof of concept a confirmation rather than an experiment.