It Can Pay to be Picky

There are several ways to better manage your customer pipeline – from tracking initial interest through to completion of the sale. We’ve drawn our advice from the experience of one of our invested companies, Ateios Systems, a battery technology company near Indianapolis. Let’s take a look at how they’ve done this successfully.

Managing your customer pipeline, a case study?

Summarize the situation. Ateios developed a proprietary dry electrode material that allows batteries to be “printed” and then die-cut into whatever shape is required. This produces a Lithium-Ion battery which is thinner, lighter and more flexible than any other format.?

Ateios-based batteries are an obvious fit for so many industries – from medical devices to flashlights, car keys and electric airplanes. The question is where to focus first. Ateios started dealing with the conundrum of too many potential customers by first asking questions like this:?

Ateios took a very stepwise approach to build an integrated customer management process. Here’s the approach:

Define the right customers. Ateios debated long and hard on a definition of customers where their Ateios thinner/lighter/flexible features would convert to product benefits for specific end users.

Market Type. Does the customer fall into one of our internal target markets (Medical, Micro Mobility and IoT)? We will be a great fit for EVs, etc. at some point, but only after we’ve produced much more.

Company Size. Can the potential customer pay for Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE)? We can’t afford to customize products for specific applications unless customers pay for them.?

Company Age. Is the company well established? Younger companies can create additional risk from a financial and market acceptance standpoint.?

Company Location. Is the company based in the U.S. or Europe? If not, there will be more challenges with customer travel, local support expectations and regional regulatory processes.

Application Types. Is the application appropriate for our technology? In other words, will a flat, shape-conforming battery really be a benefit for their end users or can they get away with traditional batteries??

Fund the right customers to “apply.” This is a work in progress for Ateios. They focused on getting one channel right first (LinkedIn) before developing SEO or other tools. After the last round of network invites, followers on their LinkedIn page went up to about 1,000. For 2023, they are targeting 2,000 followers. The Ateios team found subscription-based graphic design services at Penji and Flocksy. These services offer a wide range of designer “quality” for only $500-1,000/month, which requires less management because it eliminates the need to negotiate a price on individual contracts.

Screen out the wrong customers. Next, Ateios had to figure out how to weed out customers that don’t fit. To do this, they designed their own online “Battery Builder” which helps them eliminate customer applications that require power, lifespan or size requirements that Ateios can’t deliver.?

How does it work? Ateios uses the HubSpot customer stage definitions to manage customers who fit their “right customer” definition.?

Initial Qualification. A supporting company contact record is created in HubSpot . Ateios works to gather/enter additional contact records associated with the deal. They work to get an NDA in place quickly to speed up discovery and qualify the deal by gathering the business and technical application information, using the HubSpot? application worksheet.?

Then, based on the findings from the initial qualification process, a “go/no-go” decision is made. If it’s a “go”, they send a quotation for review and approval. If it’s a “no-go”, the deal is moved to the stage of closed lost.?

Quotation sent.? Ateios’ team works with the customer to answer any additional questions during the quotation review process.?

Quotation accepted. A customer-signed confirmation of quotation acceptance has been received, along with any specific Ateios terms and conditions.

Close won. The customer has provided an official signed purchase order tied to the active deal. A generic email will not be accepted.?

Closed lost. Customer is no longer active. A detailed explanation is tracked for analysis.?

Sometimes less is more?

We estimate that less than half of our invested companies have done this level of sales planning. One reason is that some companies and their boards don’t want to “miss out” on a customer opportunity that they didn’t anticipate. It’s true that companies don’t always know what the “highest and best” market fit is, so they want to stay open to a lightning strike customer.?

Unfortunately, this keeps a lot of companies from focusing on the most likely customer. Don’t get bogged down chasing every phone inquiry, trade show contact and investor introduction. CEOs who have trouble staying focused drive everyone around them crazy!?

Ateios’ approach has not cut them off from moonshot ideas – it’s just allowed them to focus on opportunities with the biggest return.?

We hope this is helpful.

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