Written by:
Jordi Zaragoza, Partner
Luis Montalban, Consultant

For decades, organizations have thought of after-sales as one opportunity to gather additional revenues after the sale of a product. This opportunity however, relies heavily on the satisfaction of the customers. But what can organizations do now that customers have evolved and are more empowered, wanting faster services and more options while also increasing expectations?

Yes, digitalization aids organizations in answering the changing needs of customers, maintaining the constant stream of additional revenues. Smart connected devices provide organizations more information of the products, allowing companies to execute more preventive services.

The advent of new technologies however, has stemmed more opportunities for aftersales than just garnering additional revenues through satisfying customer needs.

Quality use and knowledge of these new technologies will allow organizations to maximize these new opportunities and add value to current services that raise revenues and obtain improvements in execution that, in turn, reduce operating costs.

We believe that these new opportunities will arise from 3 main activities that organizations can adapt.     

Identifying new sales opportunities generates new sources of income through a detailed analysis of the information available from the customer base. Utilizing all the data sources provides better insights that will aid organizations to establish new products or services. For example, these can be done through an extension of guarantees to specific customers or by offering a comparative benchmarking of equipment.

Increasing the value in the services provided adds additional income on top of the provided service by offering premium services or selling complementary products. Organizations must first identify which additional products or services technicians can upsell during their visits.

An efficient operational model responds to the needs of the service by optimizing the costs of operation. Organizations must reassess the after-sales model and incorporate digital tools across the value chain. For example, organizations may shift the execution model from centralized to decentralized or by using mobility tools.

Digitalization and IOT have evolved the service model of after sales, providing more sources of additional revenues and a potential to reduce costs. Organizations must fully utilize these new technologies and cultivate a digital mindset across the entire value chain to fully reap the benefits of these new opportunities.

Haven’t gone through your digital transformation journey just yet? We’ve got you covered. Check out our previous post on How to prepare yourself for Digitization in After-Sales.