As a result, the future of making things is changing rapidly. Manufacturers are looking to bring agility and greater collaboration into the design and manufacturing process, resulting in solutions that are more tailored to their customers’ needs and preferences. But of course, everyone is a customer to someone else along different points of the supply chain: from the consumer to the production line workers and suppliers of tools. This same principle of customisation must also be applied to heavy manufacturing. What therefore are some of the best consumer practices we can bring to industrial machinery to encourage greater customer engagement?
The changing manufacturing sales landscape
As a recent McKinsey report points out, the digital revolution is transforming the B2B sales process just as much as once-predictable consumer purchasing paths. In fact, industry circles are becoming much less linear as customers research, evaluate, select, and share experiences about products. As a result, providing the right experience needs to be much more about understanding customer values and what they actually want, rather than winning a simple price war. Here are three ways to do this:
•Get to know your customers: While retail chain giant, Starbucks, has faced much ridicule for its push to ask every customer their name; the principle behind the move to bring back traditional corner-shop values is laudable. And, while it might not be possible to learn the names of each customer in heavy manufacturing, companies should still take the time to get to know who they’re dealing with, the challenges they’re facing and what they hope to achieve. This will enable solutions to be designed and manufactured that are better customised to specific needs.
•Provide tailored solutions: Offering personalised solutions enables you to not only get closer to your customers but increase revenues at the same time. Normal for instance, has moved from a model of selling simple in-earbuds at the cost of $20 to producing earbuds that are highly customised; made possible by a smartphone snapshot of the individual’s ear. This has enabled the company to sell its products for 10 times more than previous versions.
•Talk regularly: It might seem obvious, but close communication with customers will result in more intelligent designs and solutions being manufactured.Waterless toilet manufacturer Loowatt for instance, used cloud services to ensure both its UK and Madagascan teams could work together on designs in real-time. This level of collaboration helps to transform the traditional supply chain into a value chain that includes the end-user and delivers greater value than just optimising costs. It also drives greater opportunities for transformative innovation by connecting more people in real-time.
In an increasingly digital world, the pressure is on to deliver personalised solutions. But bridging the gap between industrial manufacturing and customisation in consumer circles doesn’t need to be difficult. By following these core principles, manufacturing companies can shift from selling products to selling experiences; redefine the idea of the supply chain and move much closer to the customer in the process.
