InfoElectro Fall / Automne 2017

Fall 2017 InfoElectro 9 By Rick McCarten, VP, Operations Electro-Federation Canada M y favorite marketing author is Theodore Levitt, former Harvard Business editor and author of “Marketing Imagination” (1983). Levitt’s most famous quote captures this idea, and I paraphrase: the railroad sector lost business while transportation was growing exponentially, because they thought they were in the railroad business, not in the business of transportation. They saw themselves as a product—not a service, so they fought change rather than embracing it. This short-sightedness caused them to resist change and to lose overall market share. The world is full of examples of this short-sightedness. Take for instance, BlackBerry; they offered an innovative mobile device that gave users access to emails and a phone service. The Blackberry platform was secure, reliable and efficient. Then came along the Apple iPhone, which required more bandwidth, cost more and provided novelty features that users did not yet know they needed: a camera, Safari, apps for everything. These novelties were first of low importance to users, until they began relying on having access to these features—and other apps such as CNN, Uber, Facebook, Waze, Twitter and Facebook. At that time, BlackBerry was reassured by its major carriers that there was no need to offer a similar product; it was important enough that they offered core email and phone functionality. Again, Blackberry was encouraged to be product-oriented, not customer-oriented. During Levitt’s time, it was all about designing products to meet the needs of customers. Today, there is a shift. While products still need to be customer-oriented, so much of a product is now supplemented with services, which also need to be provided with customers’ needs in mind. One would think that service has also been that way, but recent reports shows that this is not necessarily the case. Take B2B sales for example. A report published by CEB/Gartner found that a typical B2B purchase process is 57% complete before customers even engage with a supplier. 1 This change in the sales pipeline is critical because it shows that customers are doing their own research about products and deciding on what features they think they will need for their business. B2B customer engagement is becoming less reliant on sales and more on content marketing. This changes is reflected in the B2C market as well. The best example of this change, is the automobile industry. Customers now research cars first before they even step into a showroom. In an article by McKinsey & Company, the authors suggest that B2B purchasing decisions are increasingly undergoing complex journeys, challenging the long-standing practices of many sales organizations. 2 Companies can offer multiple models of service to customers by providing accurate product details online so customers can begin their purchasing journey, while still providing services that address the different levels of decision makers who have various levels of needs. Companies might consider categorizing their customers and providing them with the level of service that best fits their purchasing process. Product is what the customers wants, service is how the customer wants it—and that is changing. Too often, we fall into the assumption that customers want what we offer. We become product oriented, not customer oriented. If we are to service our customers, we must know what business we are in. We must also be aware of what our customers want to purchase, what services they require and how they want to purchase it. The Internet is to service, what the automobile was to trains. It requires us to move beyond our old ways of selling, and instead, have constant focus on our real business purpose: our customers and the products they want, with the services they require. New Service Orientations Customer Focus 360 MEETING ROOM SOLUTIONS. Because floor, wall and ceiling pathways work together, integrating with your environment while connecting you to all the A/V, power and communications you need. The Evolutio n Series. Pathways to the future. Learn more at legrand.ca/evolution . MEETING ROOMS 360 EVOLUTION COMES FULL CIRCLE. EVOLUTION ™ SERIES A typical B2B purchase process is 57% complete before customers even engage with a supplier. (CEB/Gartner) 1 https://www.cebglobal.com/blogs/b2b-sales-and-marketing-two-numbers-you-should-care-about 2 http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/do-you-really-understand-how-your-business-customers-buy