Can Tiny Customizations Really Change Your Business?

Years ago, I was struck by a presentation I saw at a marketing conference. The session was about gaining 5-star reviews on Yelp, Google, and similar platforms.

As the owner of DPS Telecom, a B2B company selling remote site monitoring gear, I’m chronically left wanting more at conferences that focus on B2C marketing. So when I find an idea that applies universally, I take it and move like lightning.

How a Locksmith Took Over His Market with a Drop of Oil

A New York City locksmith was a presenter at this conference. He described the cutthroat battle for five-star supremacy in the age of online reviews. Almost everyone has turned to researching virtually every purchase online, so the fates of entire companies now hung on every sliver of their five-star ratings.

So, what did this innovative locksmith do? Yes, he did the best job he possibly could on every job, of course – but that’s not enough. That’s not remarkable. That doesn’t drive many positive reviews and ratings.

He made his clients just a tiny bit more satisfied. After the job was done, he’d simply ask whether he could walk around the residence to check every door hinge for creaks and add a few drops of oil.

Think about that. That’s not rocket science. This is something most consumers know how to do on their own. Leading busy lives, most people don’t take the time to lubricate squeaky hinges. It’s a small problem that folks suffer through multiple times a day because no one took a minute to stop and solve it.

When a door squeak was suddenly eliminated, the locksmith’s customers got a little reminder every day about how awesome that locksmith was. They now had something tangible to talk about with friends, acquaintances and to add to their online reviews on sites like Yelp and Google.

With online reviews that boasted higher star ratings than anyone else in New York, this locksmith had a phone ringing off the hook.

Do B2B Customers Really Care About Tiny Customization?

I knew this was a powerful idea that I could use to drive DPS Telecom forward. And we were already well-poised to deliver on precisely these kinds of small intangibles. In B2B, these tiny improvements can actually have a big impact on bottom-line profits for my clients.

Let’s take a deep dive into how I’ve capitalized on this opportunity – and how you can apply it to your business.

Unless You to be the Low-Cost Option, You Must Offer Value

I sell remote site monitoring equipment for use at telecom sites (like cell towers and power substations). It’s something like selling insurance since my product is an investment you make today to protect yourself against unknown future hazards.

This isn’t a sexy product that anyone will buy based on flashy marketing. So I have to earn each sale by proving future ROI for my clients. (Example: Calling you a “client” instead of a “customer” is a reflection of the ongoing quality service I promise.)

Because DPS Telecom designs and manufactures entirely in California, I have both an opportunity and a need to deliver high quality and offer customization. My company will never be the industry's “Wal-Mart” or the rock-bottom price leader. Instead, I can succeed by providing the best possible product and post-sale support.

So, how do I find ways to do that?

In a Complex B2B Sale, the Little Things Have Big Value

If you’ve read my recent articles, you know that I love sending my engineers (both veterans and recent hires) to my clients' sites around the world. So, whenever we’re going anywhere, like a trade show or a paid client visit, we also make a point of visiting other customers and prospects in the same week.

For a small incremental investment (after all, the plane tickets are sunk cost), I can have our DPS Telecom engineers train the users at the site, meet their clients (who I consider their REAL bosses,) and see real-world use cases.

And when it comes to client visits, there’s nothing better than a full field trial. We often spend several days or even a full week on-site with our clients. Field trials help us find all kinds of “little things” that provide immense value, as we rediscovered on a recent visit that led to a big sale by two of my engineers.

Field Trials Reveal Opportunities

I recently sent two of my engineers to a major fiber internet provider. This company has used our “NetGuardian” monitoring devices for about 12 years.

We got an inbound call from a network engineer at this client company several months ago. They’ve used both my product and a competitor’s product in the last decade. My product has always performed (“You just set it up and forget about it”). However, the competing product they have used at some sites had proved to be unimpressive.

That’s what earned me the right to offer upgrades. But, as I noted earlier, doing good work is simply the cost of entry. If you can’t do that, you won’t be getting many calls.

This summer, we did an initial site visit to get our eyes on some fiber huts. Then, combined with a series of online meetings, we planned how we would use a combination of a new NetGuardian model and our dedicated battery monitoring system to monitor and protect each site.

I sent two engineers back to those sites to verify the design with field trials. They carried two of each product to test out at up to four different sites.

Of course, field trials done correctly are not about finding what you’re doing right. You also want to see what you’re doing wrong, and we found plenty of opportunities to make small product changes that would significantly reduce labor time for this client during installation. ?These kinds of improvements not only add value but they also make the decision to buy my product easier.

Our discoveries during the field trial included:

1.????We identified more digital communication with “smart” site devices than anticipated, so we knew our firmware support for specific communication protocols must be improved.

2.????We learned that the battery sensors must be flipped 180 degrees so that the cable ports face the battery terminals (and showing a fresh mock-up of the rotated design within hours was a big winner).

3.????Dangling sensors eventually degrade the adhesive backings. To avoid this, we agreed that the battery sensors should have a small clip to attach to each battery’s nylon handle.

These are just a few of the 25 big and small changes that we will now make to our product. Not only will these improvements benefit this specific client, but they will be employed to help the vast majority of my future clients.

When you show up to interact with your end-users, embrace the power of tiny innovations, and demonstrate a willingness to make their jobs easier, something amazing happens.

I Earned a $300,000 Order by Adjusting my Product to Make Installs Easier

Did tiny innovations make a difference in these field tests? Yes. After three days of demonstrating competence, my engineers earned a quick hotel-lobby meeting where the price was no longer a focus. In about 30 minutes, the client shared their available 2021 budget and asked how many units DPS Telecom could produce and deliver by December 31.

When you are committed to making a client’s experience better, they notice. While new product introductions or multi-million dollar add-ons feel great at the time, small, thoughtful improvements make all the difference in the field. When your clients know that you’re paying attention to the details, selling happens naturally without closing tricks or intricate price negotiations. Instead, you become a trusted partner who generates so much value that ROI will happen quickly at almost any price.

Do You Want to Compete on Price or Deliver Amazing Value?

Now that you’ve seen what I do to drive my business forward, what can you do? What little things can you do to save your customers time and energy during installation and use?

First off, if you don’t have enough client contact, create it. Have your staff visit customers. Use web meetings as a tool (we’re all pretty good at those now), but don’t underestimate the massive value of actually being there. When you’re physically present, you see opportunities to improve your product – and bosses often walk in for valuable introductions.

Secondly, we all want our vendors and partners to pay attention to the details. If you position yourself as a thoughtful provider of a constantly improving product, I promise you that you will drive your business to the next level.

As the installer-contractor said out at the fiber huts during our field tests, “This is amazing. I’ve never seen a manufacturer do anything like this.”

My client’s reply said it all: “Yep. That’s why we went with these guys.”