IoT (Internet of Things) customer retention value propositions transition an organization’s focus. Instead of devoting your time to acquiring a customer, start emphasizing how big data insights will be used to retain that customer throughout their lifecycle.
First, consider what your current selling value proposition sounds like. Next, ponder how suitable it is when selling to organizations currently operating within IoT environments.
Finally, assess whether your value proposition is limited to spieling what is necessary to land the deal.
A customer retention value proposition remains nimble and flexible throughout a customer’s lifecycle.
Customer retention value propositions expand the value of your offering, post-sale. These statements of value anticipate that more devices will become IoT-enabled on the client side. The value proposition assumes that additional software and analytics interfaces will be added to each client’s business and manufacturing stack over time.
There is nothing fixed, limited or static about IoT customer retention value propositions.
After all, each time a client’s IoT ecosystem is updated and upgraded, big data insights about the performance of your own products and services are impacted. Customers expect that your products and services will continuously become better and better due to these upgrades.
Perhaps it’s time for you to go back to the customer retention value proposition drawing board.
Start by creating an IoT Value Proposition.
The IoT ecosystem is dynamic, not static. It is one of continuous change, shift and improvement. Consider that customers become increasingly more connected each day, courtesy of the relentless pace of the IoT. As a result, your own company must demonstrate their continuous connectivity as well.
As I discussed in my June 8, 2016 post, IoT value propositions articulate how a client will extract, analyze and utilize big data when they deploy your equipment and software platforms.
Now consider the quality your current selling value proposition. It is IoT-ready? Is it IoT customer retention relevant, from your customers’ perspectives?
Does the tangible value customers derive from doing business with your company actually focus on where your IoT-connected customer will be tomorrow and in the future? Chances are your current value proposition is statically focused on landing the initial sale. Today. At this point in time.
Return to the drawing board and recraft your value proposition, my friend.
Customer retention value propositions for the IoT ecosystem are proactive and anticipatory.
When customer retention value propositions focus on the tangible value customers derive over time, the statement becomes more relevant and valuable to customers. That value is derived over multiple executions and iterations of that initial sales contract, in response to the continuously changing nature of the IoT ecosystem in which your products and services are deployed.
In order to execute your customer retention value proposition, you must remain connected to your customer post-sale. Post-sale customer abandonment is no longer an option. (IMHO it was a very poor sales strategy in the first place).
Collaboration is key to creating customer retention value propositions for the IoT ecosystem.
To remain connected to your customer, post-sale, you need to collaborate with all of the folks to whom you traditionally relegate the care and feeding of your newly won customers. I’m talking about the customer service, IT and engineering folks traditionally marginalized from the sales and marketing processes.
Within the IoT ecosystem, the post-sale team becomes the rock stars in the eyes of your customers.
Why? These individuals best articulate the enduring business value your products and services create, post-sale. The post-sale team is in constant conversation with the Voices of your Customers. This team is hands-on, day-to-day.
The post-sale team offers the greatest depth and breadth of insights from big data and predictive maintenance analytics to support your IoT customer retention game plan.
Do you incorporate the value of the post-sale folks into your current selling value proposition? Do you even consider the value these folks bring to your customers’ business tables?
My advice: you are long overdue to create relevant and valuable customer retention value propositions for the IoT ecosystems in which your client’s operate. Instead of waiting for your own organization to come up with this statement, create your own.
Babette Ten Haken is a management consultant, strategist, speaker and coach focused on customer success for customer retention in the industrial Internet of Things ecosystem. She traverses the interface between human capital strategy for hiring, developing and implementing teams of collaborative technical, engineering, sales and business professionals. She serves manufacturing- and engineering- intensive companies, catalyzing teams to create enduring business outcomes. Babette’s playbook of technical / non-technical collaboration hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon. Visit the Free Resources section of her website for more tools.
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