What does customer retention IIoT style look like? The industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) ecosystem challenges how we work, sell, engineer and communicate.
On April 18, 2009, I launched the Sales Aerobics for Engineers® Blog. This month, I celebrate with you dear readers, as we journey together into the blog’s 9th year. And what a journey it continues to be!
Something big happened along the way. In 2011, Industrie 4.0 was born in Germany. The US version is named the industrial Internet of Things circa 2013.
One of the biggest catalysts of this palpable pace of change in our sales and engineering world is due to the pervasive connectivity of the Internet of Things (IoT) age. Not only is everyone potentially connected to everyone else. Also, everything in our workspaces and manufacturing plants communicates with everything else.
As a result, the quality of collaboration and communication remains an even more critical deal maker or deal breaker for customer retention IIoT style. Where you left your clients yesterday may not be where you find them today.
Customer retention IIoT style represents one of the more perplexing issues we continue to address together. Yet the discussions we began in 2009 remain evergreen.
For starters, two challenges continue to frustrate us:
- How can technical and engineering professionals communicate more articulately and understandably with non-technical colleagues?
- Next, what is the function, if not future, of business and sales conversations when the majority of information necessary for buyer decision-making is discoverable online?
However, this scenario is not that straight-forward within the industrial Internet of Things professional ecosystem, is it?
Legacy mindset, business models and infrastructure still pervade the majority of the companies we work for and work with. Not only that. The dynamics of the interface between sales and engineering, business and operations, are more dynamic and complex than they were back in 2009.
As a result, the increase in technological velocity, competitive significance and business value of the deliverables we create on behalf of our customers are in a constant state of flux.
When it comes to customer retention IIoT style, are you competitive, conversant and collaborative?
This week, we kick off the 9th year celebration of Sales Aerobics for Engineers® Blog. I offer three sets of posts, addressing three sets of evergreen questions.
- What does a rock-solid Customer Experience, Customer Success, Customer Loyalty and Customer Retention look like in the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) ecosystem?
- How can we optimize and execute a finely-tuned Technical Workforce Hiring Strategy to fulfill IIoT Human Capital Strategy?
- Why are clients and colleagues still unable to grasp the relevance and value of what sales, technical and engineering professionals are trying to communicate? Perhaps more importantly, why do we continue to communicate in a legacy manner when no one truly understands what we are saying in the first place?
My professional mantra continues to be: Depending on where we sit around the business table, we see the same things differently. When these differences create synergy, instead of barriers, we collaborate to create innovative and enduring outcomes for our customers.
Today, I’m re-setting our business table for customer retention IIoT style.
I offer these select articles for you to chew on this week. I welcome your questions. Let’s continue the conversation we started on April 18, 2009.
Read these articles. Ponder the variables that are the same and those which have become different within the IIoT business ecosystem.
I can’t wait to see where our journey leads us next. How about you?
How and Why C-List Customers are Killing your Business!
Minimum Viable Team Leadership for Business Growth and Expansion
Does Legacy Mindset impede Customer Retention Strategy?
Realistically delivering Credible Customer Experience
Do You have an IoT Value Proposition? Is It time to Rethink?
IIoT Customer Loyalty reflects IIoT Decision-Making Processes
Babette Ten Haken is a catalyst, corporate strategist and facilitator. She writes, speaks, consults and coaches about how cross-functional team collaboration revolutionizes the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) value chain for customer loyalty, customer success and customer retention. Her One Millimeter Mindset™ programs draw from her background as a scientist, sales professional, enterprise-level facilitator, Six Sigma Green Belt and certified DFSS Voice of the Customer practitioner. 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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