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Why Sales Force Effectiveness Eludes Industrial OEMs (And What to Do About It)

For industrial OEMs, achieving true sales force effectiveness for aftermarket services teams is an uphill battle. Despite 71% of industrials talking positively about aftermarket services, most manufacturers struggle to efficiently identify and capture this lucrative opportunity.

The root cause? Disconnected Installed Base data spread across multiple source systems in different formats and structures.

Sales Force Effectiveness

From equipment histories to parts transaction records, service interactions, and more – the data trail customers leave behind is both vast and fragmented. This disconnected data landscape prevents aftermarket sales teams from gaining the complete customer perspective to effectively identify and pursue service opportunities.

The Challenges Disconnected Data Creates 

Without the ability to normalize and unify data about assets, parts, service histories, and more in one place, aftermarket sales reps face several effectiveness roadblocks:

Blind to Intelligent Opportunities

When critical data like bills of materials, parts lists, equipment configurations, and more is absent or difficult to correlate, reps miss out on pertinent upsell, cross-sell, and renewal opportunities tailored to each customer’s specific equipment makeup and usage patterns.

Unable to Prioritize Outreach

With limited visibility into customer health metrics, buying propensities, and service consumption trends over time, reps can’t intelligently prioritize which customers to pursue and when based on the likelihood to buy.

Inefficient Processes & Prep Work

Due to disconnected data sources, reps lose time gathering and aligning background data across multiple systems as prep work for each customer conversation instead of actual selling time.

As a result of these disconnected data hurdles, Industrial OEM sales teams commonly face suboptimal revenue attainment, lower service attach rates, and missed aftermarket growth opportunities.

Bridging the Data Divide to Empower Sales Force Effectiveness 

So how can OEMs overcome the disconnected Installed Base data challenge? By implementing a purpose-built Installed Base Intelligence platform designed specifically for industrial manufacturers’ unique needs.

Sales Force Effectiveness

Unlike generic CRM platforms, dedicated Installed Base management solutions provide the critical capabilities OEMs need to empower sales force effectiveness:

  • Unified Data Foundation capturing all Installed Base data sources in native formats (assets, parts transactions, equipment configs, BOM, etc.)
  • Native models and hierarchies purpose-built for Industrial OEM products and services
  • Customer 360° view with embedded analytics surfacing predictive service needs
  • AI/ML models optimized for aftermarket services sales cycles
  • Intelligent tool to recommend focused customer and opportunity pursuits
  • Integrated quote-to-cash workflows aligning incentives across all teams

With the right Installed Base intelligence platform in place, industrial manufacturers can tear down data silos and empower aftermarket teams with complete visibility into customers, equipment intelligence, and predictive opportunity identification.

The result is a streamlined, high-impact sales motion that replaces blind engagement tactics with precisely targeted outreach prioritized by likelihood to buy. Reps can shift from data crowd-collecting to focusing on actual customer interactions armed with intelligent talking points.

For OEMs struggling with sub-par sales force effectiveness for aftermarket services, successfully capitalizing on the lucrative Installed Base opportunity requires conquering the disconnected data hurdle first.

Also, read our article on Build vs Buy an Installed Base Intelligence Platform – Strategic Decision Framework.

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