Identifying Sales Opportunities of Service Contracts Throughout the Equipment Lifecycle

Abstract

The thesis focused on identifying sales opportunities for contractual services throughout the equipment lifecycle for the machinery company. The thesis was triggered by low attainment rate of contracts to the equipment and low revenue derived from contractual services in general.

The study is conducted using Applied action research methodology and mainly uses qualitative research methods, with some elements of quantitative data. The study is done through various data collection methods, such as internal documentation analysis, stakeholders’ interviews, customer survey, and conducted in three phases, namely the current state analysis, existing knowledge review, initial proposal building and its validation.

The current state analysis revealed that there are three main challenges related to sales. First of all, linking right contracts to the right customers, second, utilizing all available touchpoints that occur throughout the equipment lifecycle and automating sales processes. To improve these weaknesses, the study looked for suggestions from the literature and best practice on how to approach these issues. Suggestions from the literature pointed out the ways how to conduct customer segmentation, automate sales processes and utilize data to activate all touchpoints for sales processes.

The proposal was developed by addressing the challenges revealed in CSA, incorporating related available knowledge and best practice, and co-creating with the key stakeholders. All these inputs led to proposals on how to improve current sales activities of contractual services throughout the equipment’s lifecycle. The outcome of the thesis is a list of proposals for the case company, following which it should increase the sale of contractual services for cranes.