Meeting Changing Customer Needs
Discover how Kapron Consulting tackled a sudden drop in sales from an established customer by identifying their evolving requirements and providing solutions.
Situation
Sales from an established customer appeared strong in the two years prior to my start. Then, suddenly, in the months before I started, sales dropped off.
Kapron Consulting’s task was to regain the revenue and, if possible, increase it.
Action
The first step was to determine why sales had slowed.
In this situation, the established customer was no longer manufacturing systems that used my client’s product, a sensor (product "U" in the chart below). They simply had no orders for those systems, so it was not a case of competitive products taking wallet share.
In the first year, I worked with the customer to explore why they weren't receiving orders for their systems. We identified their biggest headache, for which I had a solution. They bought a new sensor system (product "M" in the chart below) from my client with risk-free assurances of success.
Delivery of the new product resulted in unforeseen issues that needed to be fixed. We addressed wiring, software, and process connections to ensure we could deliver on the promises made to our customer.
Result
Success with the first system resulted in single repeat sales. By the third year, we received orders for three to six units at a time with minimal additional effort.
Takeaway: Even established customers require time to build their confidence in products that are new to them.
