Command of the Message

Overview

Force Management's definition of Command of the Message is "being audible ready to define your solutions to customers’ problems in a way that differentiates you from your competitors and allows you to charge a premium for your products & services.” Critical sales skills to demonstrate Command of the Message include:

Uncover Customer Needs
Articulate Value and Differentiation
Negotiate Value

Customer Value Drivers

Value drivers describe what organizations are likely proactively looking for or needing and are are top-of-mind customer topics that exist even if GitLab doesn’t. Value drivers may cause buyers to re-allocate discretionary funds, and they support a value-based customer conversation. Organizations adopt and implement GitLab for the following value drivers:

Increase Operational Efficiencies
Deliver Better Products Faster
Reduce Security and Compliance Risk

Resources: Core Content

Asset Title	Why / When Use
GitLab Value Framework	primary asset with in-depth information on GitLab's value drivers and defensible differentiators
GitLab Value Framework Summary	1-page quick guide, also great for sharing with internal champions
GitLab CXO Digital Transformation Discovery Guide	3-page conversation guide for executive discussions
Proof Points	don't take our word for it–3rd party validation from customers, analysts, industry awards, and peer reviews
NEW Customer deck based on GitLab value drivers	alternative to the standard GitLab pitch deck that starts with the customer's perspective and aligns to the 3 value drivers. Video here

GitLab Differentiators

Differentiators can influence a technical buyer's decision criteria in defining the required capabilities for the solution they are seeking. Effective differentiators must be perceived as valuable by the customer and be defensible.

GitLab Differentiator	Description
Single Application for Entire DevOps Lifecycle	- Complete DevSecOps platform delivered as a single application - One interface, one user-model, one data model - A software ‘factory’ that supports the entire DevOps lifecycle - Deeply integrated, making developers happier and more efficient - Centralized collaboration for a wide variety of roles (collaborate without waiting)
Leading SCM and CI in One Application	- The backbone of a DevOps toolchain in one application - Streamlines code review and collaboration - Start with SCM or CI (or both) - One interface, one user-model, one data model - Interoperable with other tools (continue using tools you love!) - Proven enterprise scale
Built In Security and Compliance	- Security features out-of-the-box (code scanning, dependency scanning, secrets detection, etc.) - Automated security testing and audit controls to facilitate policy compliance - Shift left: move security testing earlier in the development lifecycle; security testing at the point of code commit - Developers get immediate feedback about new vulnerabilities they introduce - Enables better collaboration between development and security teams - One interface, one user-model, one data model for DevSecOps
Deploy Your Software Anywhere	- Deploy to any environment, any cloud - Support for GCP, AWS, Azure, OpenShift, VMWare, On Prem, Bare Metal, etc. - Workflow portability: one deployment workflow regardless of destination
Optimized for Kubernetes	- Enables adoption of modern cloud-native development patterns such as microservices and serverless - Minimizes the Kubernetes learning curve by enabling setup and use of clusters from the GitLab user interface - View and manage Kubernetes deployment pod details and logs from the GitLab user interface - Automatic monitoring of every Kubernetes deployed application and the clusters they are deployed to - Built-in canary and incremental deployment strategies with automatic canary metric collection and display - Active contributor to the future of cloud native technologies (through the Cloud Native Computing Foundation)
End-to-End Insight and Visibility	- Common data model uniquely allows for insights across the entire DevSecOps lifecycle - Configurable insights dashboard that shows status of work items over time - Cycle analytics data helps identify areas of improvement of cycle times - Security insights provide a roll-up of vulnerabilities - Program level insights help keep projects on-track
Flexible GitLab Hosting Options	- Use in the cloud or install in your own environment (cloud or on-prem) - Feature parity between GitLab.com and self-managed - Migrate from one hosting option to another when needs change - Implement hybrid hosting models to support scaling (like CI Runners in the cloud) - Easy to upgrade and maintain in any environment
Rapid Innovation	- Releases every month, for 100+ months running - A constant stream of new features –> GitLab gets more valuable over time - Uniquely transparent product development process; customers, partners and community can contribute
Open Source; Everyone Can Contribute	- Open core development model allows anyone to contribute to the functionality of the product - Uniquely transparent product development process engaging customers, partners and the community - Strong and growing community (100K+ organizations and millions of users) - Harness open source innovations within the product experience (eg. Prometheus)
Collaborative and Transparent Customer Experience	- We operationalize our core values into how we develop our product and engage with our community and customers - Extreme transparency around roadmaps, issues, company meetings and processes - We use GitLab for collaborating with customers in a transparent way, for both issue resolution and roadmap iteration - GitLab provides an evolving case study of DevSecOps and agile practices at scale, accessible through the public handbook

Command of the Message Mantra

The Mantra is a framework you can use to clearly demonstrate that you have a complete understanding of your customer's goals, needs, and metrics for success. It also provides you with a customer-focused context to transition from the customer's needs which you have clearly articulated into how GitLab helps meet those needs. The Mantra is also a very good meeting prepartion tool to determine how well you know you're customer. If you cannot clearly articulate a customer-specific mantra, then you are not ready to progress the deal and you need to do more research. Below is a breakown of the CoM Mantra framework which can be adjusted and articulated in your own words.

COM Mantra	Description
What I hear you saying Mr./Ms. Customer is that these are the Positive Business Outcomes you’re trying to achieve…	Have you clearly captured your customer's business goals?
In order to achieve these positive business outcomes, we agreed that these are the Required Capabilities you’re going to need..	Have you clearly captured and documented the customer's requiremet and aligned them with Gitlab's products and features?
And you’ll probably want to measure these required capabilities using these Metrics	Have you worked with the customer to determine what metrics will measure success?
Let me tell you How We Do It…	Can you articulate how the GitLab product works?
Let me tell you How We Do It Better/Differently…	Did you research and align GitLab's Defensible Differentiators witih the customer's needs?
But don’t take my word for it…(Proof Points)	Can you offer tangible evidence that you’ve been able to satisfy the Required Capabilities?

Command Plan

Opportunity Management Requirements
Command Plan templates

Resources: Additional Job Aids

Overview resources
- Comprehensive GitLab CoM & MEDDPICC training slide deck
- GitLab CoM & MEDDPICC Participant Guide
Prepare
- Pre-Call Plan
Discovery
- Customer Call Notes Template
  - You may also choose to utilize the Role Play Notes template
Qualify
Role Play materials
- Role Play Prep Sheet
- Role Play Notes
GitLab sales professionals and Sales Development Reps (SDRs) may access additional information in the Force Management Command Center (password protected since resources contain Force Management intellectual property). In particular, the Channels section of the Force Management Command Center contains supplemental instructional videos, podcasts, and blogs).

Resources: Sales Manager Materials

GitLab Manager Coaching slide deck (Aug 2019)
Manager Certification: Training slides & Coaching Best Practices (Feb 2020)
Manager Certification: Core Command of the Message concepts for teach back (Feb 2020)
Manager Coaching & Reinforcement Playbook (Feb 2020)
Opportunity Coaching Guide (Aug 2019)
Coaching & Reinforcement Template (Feb 2020)
GitLab CoM & MEDDPICC Fast Start Program Manager Playbook (Aug 2019)

Over time, the GitLab Value Framework and associated content above will iterate and evolve. To ensure these changes are easily consumable, iterations will be made on a predictable cadence. We will start with a quarterly cadence.

At the start of the last month of a fiscal quarter, Field Enablement will announce a Call for Feedback to solicit input/feedback on suggested iterations and improvements to the GitLab Value Framework and associated content (but feedback may be submitted at any time)
To share feedback, submit an issue using this issue template
Field Enablement and Product Marketing leadership will review feedback during the middle of the first month of a new quarter. Additional stakeholders and subject matter experts will be pulled in as appropriate.
During this review, Field Enablement and Product Marketing will determine the disposition for each issue submitted with three possible outcomes
1. Accepted (label: vff::accepted) - Value Framework feedback that will be actioned on
2. Deferred (label: vff::deferred) - Value Framework feedback that will be deferred until more information is gathered
3. Declined (label: vff::declined) - Value Framework feedback that is declined (no action will be taken)
When the vff::accepted label is added, a version label will be applied (ver::1.1, ver::1.2, etc.) to indicate the version of the Value Framework in which the improvement will be implemented
When the improvement has been implemented, the vff::completed label will be applied
Around the end of the first month of a new quarter, a summarized update of accepted feedback will be shared with the field and implementation of those updates will be tracked in the issues

Value Framework Iteration

The below table summarizes enhancements made to the GitLab Value Framework and CoM materials since the original version 1.0 launch in Aug 2019.

Version	Timing	Enhancements
1.1	May 2020	- Created this stand-alone CoM Handbook page - Exposed mantra, GitLab value drivers, and differentiators in Handbook - Adjusted core content sharing settings to make available for public consumption - Integrated Professional Services value proposition into the GitLab Value Framework - Introduced Discovery Questions for Selling GitLab Premium/Silver and Ultimate/Gold - Updated proof points
1.2	Aug 2020	- More Proactive and Robust Metrics Guidance - Additional Proof Points update