Hi, I'm MICHAEL GRANT

Challenge:

I had a thesis to test: enterprise buyer enablement methodology works outside of tech. Rather than run another proof of concept on paper, I took it live. I approached Liaison Creative cold, using former-client standing to open the door. The relationship got the meeting. The data got the funding. They needed a better way to develop new business. I had a model that could deliver one. We made a deal.

Approach:

• Pitched a net-new business concept cold to agency leadership, securing full internal funding within two weeks without holding an internal role.

• Built a 60-point AI-enabled Buyer Impact Analysis (BIA) tool to replace subjective creative pitches with scored, data-backed diagnostic roadmaps. The AI scores publicly available buyer signals. The strategy is entirely human.

• Validated the model using the agency owner's own documented frustration buying a corporate firewall — quantifying the problem before making the ask.

• Designed a one-week diagnostic turnaround to generate fast insight and enable rapid pilot-to-client conversion.

• Repositioned the agency as a buyer transition partner, targeting the selection phase where 80% of vendor decisions happen before first contact.

Results:

• Secured full internal funding for a net-new practice after several months and a pilot proposal

• Delivered 33 Buyer Impact Analyses in 90 days following launch

• Converted 3 Fortune 500 strategic engagements within the first six months

• Revived a major account dormant for five years

Challenge:

NetApp's AI and analytics portfolio was ready. The sellers were not. Most avoided AI conversations in established accounts, afraid they would expose a knowledge gap or stall deals already in motion. The problem was not product awareness. Sellers had no confident path from a storage conversation to an AI value conversation. 

Approach:

• Diagnosed the core blocker as value translation failure, not an awareness gap, and rebuilt the GTM motion around it.

• Replaced infrastructure-centric messaging with an Outcome-First model built around vertical-specific AI business outcomes for both technical and non-technical buyers.

• Unified sales and marketing on shared data systems and qualification rules before scaling — eliminating the misalignment that was stalling pipeline.

• Validated the narrative through two MVP iterations with select teams before global rollout, compressing risk without stalling momentum.

• Activated 600 non-specialist sellers in AI deals through a targeted enablement motion with unified qualification and coverage rules.

Results:

• Grew quarterly deal volume 30% in two quarters — from 75 to 97 deals

• Expanded non-specialist seller participation 112% — from 283 to 600 active sellers

• Held average revenue and margin per deal while volume scaled 30%

The Problem 

NetApp's storage and data management portfolio had grown past what the market understood. Buyers researching hybrid cloud storage, data protection, and cloud optimization were landing on competitor pages first. NetApp's content spoke to IT storage buyers. But the actual decision makers — information architects, data platform leads, and end users — had specific questions about how moving to cloud would affect their teams. They weren't being reached.

The Gap 

NetApp needed to shift from broad brand messaging to a buying framework. One that showed cloud as a visible business advantage — within reach, and explainable to every stakeholder in the room.

The Approach 

Cloud buyers evaluating data migration don't move in a straight line. Technical buyers and business buyers ask different questions. Buying committees rarely arrive at a decision aligned.

We built a three-stage buyer enablement program for NetApp. First, we mapped their storage and data management capabilities to the specific questions each buyer type was asking, by role, by stage. Second, we created a buying vision: a step-by-step picture of what the migration process would look like, so decision-makers had no reason to hesitate. Third, we built consensus content, materials that gave internal champions what they needed to bring the full buying committee to confident, informed agreement.

We tracked content engagement across committee members to confirm adoption before deals advanced. Getting the technical and business buyer tracks aligned required close coordination between product marketing and sales over the course of several weeks. After all groups agreed and we launched the program, we saw positive results almost immediatly

Specific Changes We Made:

• Mapped buyer roles across storage purchasing committees (end users, storage architects, cloud ops leads) and identified the proof points at each decision stage

• Created ungated technical and business case content targeting storage-specific search intent: cloud optimization, data fabric architecture, hybrid storage economics

• To demistify cloud-based data management, we launched "The Specialists" creative strategy, using self-deprecating humor to credibly own the cloud storage specialist position to position the company as a trused guide to moving data from on-prem into the cloud

• Partnered with ESG, IDC, and Gartner to produce analyst validation assets aligned to storage and data management positioning

• Built the Cloud Overspend Analyzer and ROI calculators to surface unconsidered needs and help buyers reassess decisions they didn't know were costing them.

• Built a measurement framework tying content engagement to pipeline by storage product line

• Expanded media to new channels — esports, podcasts, connected TV — to reach business and technical buyers outside of work hours.

Results:

• $1.1B pipeline influenced by storage and data management content programs - 29% of all won pipeline and 35% of cloud ARR.

• Drove 882,000 net-new site visitors (84% new to brand) with 65% year-over-year traffic growth in the first quarter.

• 24% ungated download rate (3x industry benchmark for enterprise storage content)