Summary
Johnson Controls is a global leader in smart buildings and building equipment. Safety and sustainability are cornerstones of its mission. Johnson Controls wanted to better understand the decarbonization journey that companies go through when making their buildings more sustainable.
Johnson Controls brought Evalueserve on to conduct Voice of the Customer research. A best-fit go-to-market (GTM) strategy was created based on the insights gleaned. Johnson Controls has a better sense of what customers want in a sustainable building solutions provider, why businesses embark on the decarbonization journey, and what areas of the journey are high-quality opportunities for them.
The Challenge
Increasingly, as the effects of climate change have become more apparent and more businesses are committed to decarbonizing and reducing emissions, companies are looking to make the buildings in which they operate more sustainable.
Johnson Controls envisions companies’ path to decarbonize buildings as an eight-step journey. They wanted to better understand how customers navigate that journey and gain insight into customer buying preferences.
Johnson Controls also wanted to learn what steps of the journey customers particularly prioritized or where customers were most likely to start their decarbonization journeys. They wanted to understand why companies embark on the decarbonization process and who makes and influences decisions around decarbonization. They aimed to determine whether potential clients were interested in using one provider for multiple steps of the journey and, if so, for which steps they would most want to use the same provider. Lastly, they wanted to know how the competition was positioned in the different areas of the decarbonization journey.
Johnson Controls asked Evalueserve to conduct Voice of the Customer (VoC) research to understand what core competencies they should build or improve upon to expand their business. Additionally, they wished to pinpoint areas of cross-selling potential based on customers’ interest in bundled solutions for various steps.
Our Solution
Evalueserve’s sustainability-focused analysts conducted numerous VoC interviews with sustainability leaders across various industries and companies with significant manufacturing operations or expansive facilities. The interviews included questions about whether the interviewee would be interested in hiring one company to complete multiple parts of the eight-step decarbonization journey and which journey steps seem like the highest priority to address first.
The insights collected helped Johnson Controls understand its positioning relative to the competition and its advantages and disadvantages in the market for the different steps of the decarbonization journey.
The VoC interviews were divided by sector, number and type of facilities, amount of revenue, etc., to help Johnson Controls understand how buying preferences and decarbonization journey priorities varied by vertical market or customer type. In this way, the VoC research served as a sales enablement pathway, as the insights gathered helped Johnson Controls develop strategies specific to the customer segments identified in the research.
Business Impact
Evalueserve created a best-fit GTM strategy for Johnson Controls using the unearthed insights. The GTM strategy included customer buying scenarios, information on where prospects enter the decarbonization journey and why, a breakdown of market players and their relative strengths and weaknesses, and knowledge of what areas constitute high-quality opportunities, either by expanding solution offerings or partnering with or acquiring another player.
Johnson Controls has a heightened understanding of customers’ needs, wants, and priorities along their building decarbonization journeys. Johnson Controls knows what draws businesses to start their journeys, where they are most likely to begin the process, what steps they are currently focused on, and what steps, if any, they have plans to start.
