Commercial Integrator June 2022 - 80

AV AS A BUSINESS
Getting Your Company and
Your Customers on the Same Side
Focus on ways to get your teams and customers on the same page during each interaction.
By Kyle Habben
IN THIS EVER-CHANGING WORLD, end
users now rely on integrators to serve as
an extension of their team and solve their
toughest business challenges.
It's no longer about the technology
you can off er; instead, customers want
to know how you'll partner with them to
accomplish their goals. This shiſt in client
expectations has pushed industry leaders
to focus on ways to get their teams and
customers on the same page during each
interaction. These partnerships can be built
in several ways.
Developing a CustomerCentric
Sales Process
As the fi rst point of contact, your sales team
sets the stage for the future of the partnership.
From prospecting through to a closed
order, the sales process should be created
to align with customer expectations. This
process should include ways to fi nd and
engage with the right stakeholders, utilize
key discovery questions to uncover your
clients' business challenges and priorities,
and off er recommendations and solutions.
More and more clients are
turning to integrators to
establish a technology plan
they can follow now and in
the future.
Based on these recommendations and
client interests, you can then initiate the
design process. To assist in the design process,
you should develop tools that serve
as guidelines for your team as they interact
with customer stakeholders. Facility and
technology questionnaires, checklists,
assessments, site surveys, clear scopes of
work, unambiguous defi nitions, responsibility
delineations and available support
With a customer liaison in place - this
could be one of many titles or roles -
technical teams can focus on integrating
and supporting the technologies on time,
on budget and as specifi ed to address
customer technology needs and desired
business outcomes.
As an organization, it is important to
create a program that defines your
offerings.
options are all critical pieces of information
that can be collected and delivered as part
of the project packet. The packet will be
delivered as part of the project handoff to
the operations team once the project is
sold and the partnership starts.
Operational Alignment
with Customer Expectations
Operational alignment begins with having a
structure in place that serves as a foundation
for each customer interaction. This foundation
allows you to develop processes that
evaluate each internal and external customer
touchpoint for successful execution.
The structure also serves as an outline
for technical and non-technical roles alike,
empowering them to identify customer
requirements properly across roles. Putting
the right people in each of these roles is integral
to keeping the client and your team
headed in the same direction.
Each customer should have an
operations-based point person who serves
as the communication liaison and organizational
specialist. This person should assist in
keeping everything on track and updating
the rest of the team throughout the process.
Client Support Throughout
the Technology Lifecycle
More and more clients are turning to integrators
to establish a technology plan they
can follow now and in the future. This plan
could be in the form of a technology roadmap,
budgeting and fi nancing options, or
continual service and support.
It's important for you, as an organization,
to create a program that defi nes your off erings.
Moreover, you should build a team
dedicated to support, and you should
document support procedures to meet
the needs of your customers with every
interaction. This dedicated team gives you
additional customer-interaction opportunities
to ensure technology systems and
customer teams are up to date, trained and
running effi ciently.
In order for these partnerships to evolve,
it takes a concerted eff ort, excellent communication,
and a willingness to change
and adapt to clients' needs. Focusing on
the long game and trying to align people,
processes and systems with the customer
will be a work in progress that continues
to pay dividends to your company and the
clients you serve.
Kyle Habben is president of
Electronic Contracting
Company (eccoinc.com) and an
NSCA board member. Learn
about becoming an NSCA member at
NSCA.org.
Commercial Integrator, (USPS 005-160) (ISSN 2165-9850), Vol.12 No. 6, is published monthly by Emerald X, LLC., 100 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, New York 10005, 800-440-2139. Commercial Integrator
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Commercial Integrator June 2022

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