Creating a successful subscription model won’t happen just by selling different things. It will require your organization to sell differently. Moving to this type of integrated, long-term oriented model is complex. One of the most overlooked challenges is cultural. And often one of the biggest sources of pushback comes from the people most responsible for revenue: sales. The author describes three challenges that can come up and how to address them: 1) The sales organization lacks confidence in the new solutions. 2) The sales organization doesn’t fully understand the go-to-market strategy for the new offerings. 3) The sales organization is concerned that your strategy shift is the wrong direction for the company.
In these difficult times, we’ve made a number of our coronavirus articles free for all readers. To get all of HBR’s content delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Daily Alert newsletter.
If there is a lesson in the current unpredictable economic environment, it’s the importance of recurring revenue streams for businesses of all kinds. Having a subscription product or service that customers will reload, renew, or reorder repeatedly can smooth intermittent cashflow and keep a business alive. The Subscription Impact Report: Covid-19 Edition indicates that nearly 90% of subscription businesses are flat or growing membership during this time.