The opportunity to capture value exists across the entire customer lifecycle, and manufacturers are cleverly differentiating themselves in the market by taking full ownership of their entire solution ecosystem to capture total value. The ability to execute efficiently and at scale, however, is what keeps most enterprises from maximizing their revenue. These four strategies will help you more effectively monetize the entire lifecycle, from initial engagement to post-sale and expansion.
1. Engaging Buyers Before the Discovery Call
Most manufacturers still wait for customers to initiate the buying process, but modern B2B buyers expect self-service tools that let them explore solutions independently before engaging with sales. While lead forms and brochures provide information, the modern buyers seek interactive, personalized experiences that empower them to make informed decisions on their own.
A self-service experience lets potential buyers explore their options easily on your website with deeper product information. A strong self-service configurator will do the following:
- Ensures all product variants are configurable so customers can explore solutions without the risk of incompatibility.
- Uses visualization tools like AR and VR to help customers see how products fit into their specific working environments.
- Enables customers to share potential solutions internally before requesting a quote, helping them gain buy-in from key decision-makers.
Manufacturers that offer these experiences early in the sales cycle will accelerate decision-making and drive higher-value deals before a sales conversation even begins.
2. Eliminating Revenue-Leakage During the Purchasing Stage
Manual and inefficient sales processes are some of your biggest sources of revenue leakage. Sales teams without proper product expertise or real-time pricing data often introduce costly errors into the quoting process that slow down deals and revenue growth.
To drive more value during the purchase stage, manufacturers need a faster, more disciplined approach to quoting that improves accuracy, protects margins, and eliminates inefficiencies that hold deals back. A manufacturing specific Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) tool enforces product and pricing rules, so that your sales team can simplify complex configurations and approvals and ensure consistent pricing.
Manufacturers like Metso, a sustainable technologies manufacturer, increased their quote volume by 20% by automating sales processes through CPQ integration. In addition to more quotes, manufacturers that invest in purpose-built CPQ systems are reducing the resources needed for technical approvals and proposal management. Now, those technical resources can be used for value-add activities and innovation.
3. Integrating Product and Aftermarket Sales into One Solution
In addition to streamlining their quoting process like Metso, commercial printer manufacturer Durst has been able to integrate their printer, software, and service contract configurations into one unified configuration. In such a competitive market, they’re differentiating themselves with a holistic solution and embedding capital equipment sales and aftermarket sales into the initial quoting process.
Rather than waiting for customers to manually reorder spare parts, for example, make services and aftermarket sales part of the initial value package. That means:
- Configuring service plans as part of the original equipment sale rather than selling them separately.
- Using equipment usage data to forecast maintenance needs and translating those insights into a configurable service offering alongside your capital equipment.
- Integrating additional services into your revenue model, like consumables, break-down support, training, or software upgrades.
The goal post-sale is to keep your customers in your ecosystem. You can start to plant these seeds at the buying stage by offering value at every level of the solution. When customers see continued value in your solution, they’re likely to become a recurring revenue stream for your business.
4. Optimizing for Future Revenue Opportunities
Your last sale can tell you as much about your next revenue opportunity as it can about your new customer. Use it to understand how you can maximize revenue more efficiently across the customer journey.
- Turn lost deals into future wins. Use lost vs. won data to refine pricing, adjust configurations, and target similar prospects more effectively.
- Focus on high-value customer segments. Identify where you win the most profitable deals and optimize sales strategies for similar buyers.
- Proactively drive renewals. Track contract status and engage your current customers before service agreements or subscriptions expire to prevent churn.
- Create expansion sales through product updates. Use past purchase and service data to offer relevant upgrades, add-ons, or efficiency improvements at the right time.
Monetize More of the Customer Lifecycle with CPQ
Maximizing revenue doesn’t have to mean that you’re simply selling more. It means that you’re selling smarter and more efficiently to capture value across the customer lifecycle.
CPQ enables manufacturers to engage buyers earlier, accelerate the sales cycle, and more effectively monetize the full solution ecosystem. Tacton’s CPQ, built for manufacturers that sell highly configurable products, ensures that businesses capture every revenue opportunity while simplifying complexity.
Tacton offers many ways to capture value:
- Self-service integration with your website or distributor’s website
- Configuration and pricing automation to streamline quoting and eliminate errors
- Service sales in the same place that you configure capital equipment
- Real-time sales performance data to help you optimize future sales for even greater revenue
Learn how you can drive greater revenue growth with smarter deal structuring, seamless integration, and a frictionless buying experience.