How Matterport Can Sell More Pro2 3D Cameras5129
Pages:
1
 WGAN ForumFounder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| How Matterport Can Sell More Pro2 3D Cameras Hi All, When demand for Matterport Spaces 3D Tours exceed the capacity of Matterport Pros to create them - and Matterport Pros can charge top dollar for their services - Matterport will succeed faster. To help achieve this success, Matterport marketing, sales and new business development needs a significant shift in the company’s marketing, sales and business vision, if it is going to dramatically: 1. increase camera sales to Pros and real estate agents 2. increase processing and hosting 3. increase ancillary revenue (floor plans, CoreVR, Google Street View, etc.) 4. reduce support tickets 5. increase customer satisfaction My impression is that Matterport does not have a good customer fit business model because it has conflicting marketing and channel sales strategies. If you are a professional photographer, this is obvious to you when you see Matterport in the business of: 1. selling Matterport Spaces to clients directly 2. engaging Pros (This is NOT a good thing!) 3. anything that has to do with controlling, setting or suggesting Pro pricing 4. doing everything it can do to drive Matterport Service Provider pricing lower If you are a real estate agent/broker that wants to buy a Camera to scan your owner/brokerage – and start a scanning business too - it is obvious to you when you see Matterport in the business of driving prices down for scanning that it is drying up the potential for a profitable scanning side business. My impression is that Matterport believes it will succeed faster with discounts on its Camera and by driving prices down. To succeed faster, Matterport needs to do the exact opposite. Here’s how I suggest Matterport shift: 1. Change the price of the Pro2 3D Camera to $5,445 – an increase of $1,450 2. Marketing Focus: “Engage a Matterport Pro for a $500 or more project and receive a promo code for $500 hosting/process credit when you buy a Matterport Camera.” (Pro keeps the $500 or more). [If you are planning to buy a Camera, this makes the scanning demo feel like it is free.) 3. If the person that received the $500 credit buys a Matterport Camera, the Pro gets a $500 credit to his/her processing/hosting account 4. If a Matterport salesperson (employee) facilitates the demo above, the sales person gets $250 above and beyond how they are presently compensated 5. All Matterport marketing is focused on a test drive: “Engage a Matterport Service Provider for a $500+ Matterport project and receive a $500 credit towards buying a Matterport Camera” 6. Announce the program September 1, 2017 that will be effective October 1, 2017. One month advance notice of the price increase will give anyone in the Matterport Pro 3D Camera sales pipeline an opportunity to buy the Matterport Camera for $1,450 less (today’s price) than after October 1, 2017. 7. Immediately, Matterport picks up a ton of new Camera sales because it has clearly communicated that the price of the Camera will increase in price: not decrease in price (that it has trained its prospects to expect). 8. Use ReferralCandy.com to implement the unique promo code for dealers (Matterport Service Providers) 9. Camera buyer submits the Matterport Pro’s Invoice (that includes the Pro’s dealer code; coupon code and the Matterport Service Provider code (if any) Of the $1,450 price increase, $500 for the test drive; $500 for the Pro when it results in a Camera Sale; $250 for the Matterport Service Provider and $200 for administration of the program. (So, the roll-out does not cost Matterport $$$) These incentives only get paid out when Matterport sells a Camera. Matterport should focus on leasing the Camera to real estate agents. It could still provide the $500 credit as the final payment in the lease. By leasing the Camera, real estate agents will be less price sensitive to the $1,450 - less $500 - price increase. The new pricing - after discount - is just $27 per month more over the course of a 36 month lease. Plus, Matterport could mitigate this price increase by offering two more models processed monthly. This marketing plan aligns all interests (that presently compete with each other): 1. Empowers thousands of Matterport Service Providers to sell Matterport Cameras (and first-person training, support and peak-load management) 2. Empowers the Matterport Sales Team to work with Matterport Service Providers: not compete with us 3. Test driving experiences are more likely to result in Camera sales or repeat business for Matterport Service Providers. Regardless of the result, the outcome is good – and fair – for all. 4. Real Estate agents that buy a Matterport Camera after watching workflow - during and after - are likely to succeed faster and dramatically reduce Matterport support tickets. And, Real Estate Agents and Brokers that want to start a scanning business will be able to charge much more than when Matterport controls or sets or suggests pricing. Plus, Real Estate Agents/Brokers that decide not to buy a Matterport Camera, now have a relationship with a Pro that will result in more processing, hosting and ancillary revenue – and help generate ongoing business for the Matterport Service Provider. 5. Matterport Services Providers will be happy that Matterport includes us in their Camera sales process. 6. Matterport Service Providers will be happy that Matterport no longer offers scanning services directly to our customers. (Matterport should empower 3rd party companies to offer this service: not compete with companies that want to offer one order for multiple markets.) Essentially, the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera sales funnel changes to empowering thousands of Matterport Pros selling the Camera with the incentive of $500 if the real estate agent buys a Camera – or the potential for a new scanning client. Even if the real estate agent buys a Matterport Camera, it’s likely the Pro will be happy to get paid twice: once for the scanning project by the client and once by Matterport if the “watch my workflow” demo results in a Camera sale. Plus, I could imagine agents and brokers engaging Matterport Pros for training, VIP Support, peak load management and even post production as Matterport Workshop offers more features. Matterport Sales Team will embrace this new process because they will sell more Cameras with less effort. It’s way easier to help coordinate a demo than ask for the order. And, a thousand fewer questions for both Matterport Sales Team and Matterport Support Team – which get answered by the Pro doing the demo. Plus, once the demo occurs (an actual project), the Matterport Sales Team can follow-up to close the Camera sale and get a $250 spiff beyond their existing compensation. Matterport Support tickets will drop dramatically when agents/brokers get a demo from a Pro. The existing Support team will be able to answer questions in minutes rather than hours or days. Reduce Support tickets will slow-up hiring of Matterport Customer Support Reps. I could imagine that as Matterport scales, it will be able to scale without adding as much headcount. This will be particularly important as Matterport scales in countries where English is not the first language. Simply imagine Matterport trying to add Japanese Support (which also requires Customer Support with 24/5 or 24/7 coverage rather than the present 9 am to 5 pm PT Support Monday through Friday. Now imagine a Pro in Japan - that speaks Japanese - offering in person or phone support in the same time zone. Lowering the cost of the Camera and driving down scanning prices has unintended consequences that - in the long term - are counter-productive to Matterport scaling its business (and Matterport Service Providers scaling their business). Matterport MUST significantly shift the company’s marketing, sales and business vision to succeed faster – and for Matterport Service Providers and Real Estate Agents/Brokers (and other verticals) to succeed faster as well. I can appreciate that my recommendation to increase the price of the Camera to $1,450 seems counter-intuitive – and could easily be dismissed by Matterport leadership – but it is exactly this major shift in thinking that is necessary. For Matterport employees that have options in the Company; bonuses that are based on the Company’s performance; and, annual raises that are depended on the Company hitting its likely aggressive sales goals, I encourage you to debate this topic with your peers and challenge management to defend, “Why not do this?” Keeping the status quo is not an option. It will result in less value in your Options; smaller bonuses; and a smaller annual raise. I could also image that not implementing my recommendations will result in a delay of another round of VC funding (if that’s the plan); or a delay or reduce the value of a exit (sale of the Company or going public), if that is the plan. With dozens and dozens of 360º Camera solutions – including serious contenders likely to begin shipping their Cameras in the 4Q17 or 1Q18 - empowering thousands of Matterport Pros to be the front line of satisfaction and selling Matterport Pro2 3D Cameras is the winning strategy: not dropping prices on the day the competitors’ Cameras begin taking orders or shipping. I hope a We Get Around Network Forum Member will play the role of devil’s advocate and push back on why the above will not work. I welcome the opportunity to handle those objections. If you were a Member of Matterport leadership, what would you do to help the Company – and its eco-system succeed faster? Best, Dan MatterBaby-in-Chief We Get Around Network, Founder P.S. Yes. I am on vacation this week. Time to think about beach time ...  |
||
| Post 1 • IP flag post | ||
Frisco, Texas |
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Love it. I would love to be part of the process for Realtors when they are deciding if they would like to invest in their own Matterport Pro-2 Camera. | ||
| Post 2 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Metroplex360 Do you see any downside from Matterport's perspective? I could also imagine that Matterport will sell better at a higher price because of "The Theory of Leisure Class" by Thorstein Veblen. According to a recent Wall Street Article that sites the Thorstein theory, "... products contrary to logic, sold better when their prices went up." Dan |
||
| Post 3 • IP flag post | ||
|
Frisco, Texas |
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @DanSmigrod I think it's an interesting proposition that you've spent a lot of time on and explained step-by-step on how this plan would work. I could imagine Matterport discussing this. I also 100% agree with you that Matterport should focus more on LEASING the camera to Realtors instead of selling. I would assume that Realtors generally lease their vehicles so that they are always showing up in a new model. |
||
| Post 4 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Metroplex360 Any thoughts on how to make this proposal win-win-win? Win for Matterport. Win for Matterport Service Providers. Win for people thinking about buying a Matterport Pro2 3D Camera or engaging a Pro. Best, Dan |
||
| Post 5 • IP flag post | ||
|
isabel private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Before ordering my Pro 1 camera back in February, I had a couple of phone and email exchanges with someone from their sales department. We'll call him Bob, which is not his real name. I contacted Bob again once details on the Pro 2 upgrade program came out. I was willing to accept a lower credit in exchange for upgrading to a new, instead of refurbished, Pro 2. I also wanted to get my hands on a new camera immediately, rather than wait 2 months. Bob complained that Matterport execs don't give their salespeople any decision making authority. Nor do they listen to their sales staff's feedback. I was referred to the "upgrade team", whose email address was support@matterport.com. In other words, Pro 2 sales don't seem to be a high enough priority for inquiries to be handled separately from tech support requests. I ended up just ordering a new Pro 2. At no point did anyone from Matterport reach out to let me know it's on the way, see how I like it, or ask whether I had good customer feedback to share or colleagues who might also be interested in a camera. This kind of communication should be routine for a company selling a $4,000 product! @DanSmigrod, I LOVE the price increase play. But Matterport doesn't seem to have the sales leadership/infrastructure to implement any kind of strategy. Which is super sad because they have a great product. |
||
| Post 6 • IP flag post | ||
|
Frisco, Texas |
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by DanSmigrod Convince one of the executives that they thought of the idea instead of you maybe? In a recent conversation, an unnamed staff member told me that it's their goal to 'drive adoption' of the technology and cover their operating costs (payroll, manufacturing, investors). Now, based on this premise, I think your plan stacks up well. The question is would it really work? @isabel As I've recently posted, I can't really say anything positive about sales/sales leadership - or salespeople in general. I am very confident in Matterport's leadership, development team and marketing folks. They are all very passionate about the platform, cameras and about the MSPs. Just like Dan, they are constantly trying to come up with ways to succeed faster. We just don't always agree with everything they are doing or have the patience for it in our own personal ambitions. |
||
| Post 7 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Metroplex360 It may seem counter-intuitive that raising the price of the Camera - and what Matterport Service Providers can charge - but clearly, by lowering the price of the Matterport Camera and setting rates that Pros can charge - by competing with Pros - Matterport is not achieving its targets and creating all kinds of unintended consequences ... It's time for Matterport to shift its marketing, sales and new business development strategies (as outlined above) so that we all can succeed faster. Hi All, Anyone want to defend Matterport's present stategies or argue why what I propose above will not work? (Or, how to improve on the above?) Best, Dan |
||
| Post 8 • IP flag post | ||
|
|
isabel private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Metroplex360, as you recently posted, you've never met anyone in sales at Matterport. Maybe that's because they don't have enough people in sales? In July I scanned more spaces than my quota allows. If Matterport were any other company, their sales department would try to convince me to upgrade to a higher priced plan. What could be better than increasing recurring revenue? How can this not be a priority if they want to cover their operating costs? @DanSmigrod, you proposed that "once the demo occurs, the Matterport Sales Team can follow up to close the sale". There are a whole lot of MSPs out there, doing many scans for many realtors every hour. It'd take a strong and sizable sales team to respond to these opportunities. At present, they're having upgrade inquiries go into the support queue, which shows they haven't invested enough in their sales organization. Until they address that, I don't see them being able to implement your (or any) strategy to drive adoption. |
||
| Post 9 • IP flag post | ||
 WGAN StandardMember Las Vegas |
VTLV private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @isabel - If there's no budget for sales department and camera sales are there to fund sales department for a short period for the next sale, while monthly is short and drops off within a few months with the cameras becoming paper weights or listed on Ebay. It's simply not working. You're spot on to where Amazon is at. You like something, they follow up. Dan's proposal alleviates the need for a large sales team who can coach the current MSP's to have incentives to drive the sales for Matterport. I posted a piece before on Gary Vaynerchuk showing how marketing and sales rarely correlate. Marketing is full of ideas and sales is stuck with trying to make those ideas work. Marketing can take one piece and crush sales. This is where Marketing and Sales can come together to help sell the idea of Matterport to one hotel chain and expose Matterport much further and than selling a couple cameras. The hosting revenue can stay for years instead of months. And the sales team being coaches now have a pool of MSP's helping them close the deal. Marketing can find the lists of people to contact in other markets and take on some advertising. Sales can spend their remaining time following up with sadvertising pushes marketing placed in these areas. What they don't get traction on,they could share in their coaching to MSP's to try out near corporate or franchise. Take this idea to places across the country or globe that sell reservations, night club chains, Movie theater chains are struggling and local management's hands are tied up for marketing and advertising back at corporate. They're gong Blockbuster. When people see the product being used, they will want to be cool like that too. The possibilities are endless for showing large chains that can use the product. Many marketing managers for large firms won't talk to one guy. This is where the middle men are picking up steam. It's a hole that Matterport is completely missing when focusing efforts on agents to sell cool, easy to use gadgets to. Agents get about 5 spam calls a day and endless emails for lead sales ranging from $5-$75/lead. They're exhausted by us advertising to them as well as Matterport and other sales pitches. When managers or their kids begin to use the tools. The word will come back to the office they work at. When secretaries use the model to book a show, a room, night club, sky box or 5-star restaurant they will share the experience with the boss. Those are the people who tell their minions in marketing to "look into this" and the budget gets created when the pitch comes around at a future meeting. BlackCreative is already in my market and Matterport could be there too. They used to be in a lot more, but the room shoot were about 2k a piece a couple years ago. |
||
| Post 10 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @VTLV Thank you for your insight and sharing that spot-on Gary V video. Dan |
||
| Post 11 • IP flag post | ||
|
jfantin private msg quote post Address this user | |
| A lot of good ideas and interesting points of view in this thread. I believe that to define a business model you first need to understand what your goals are, and before that you need to create a solid vision and purpose. Reading in the Matterport's web site we find that their vision is: "creating a complete virtual model of the world that changes the way individuals and industries interact with physical spaces." Despite the fact that, as a vision, this statement is really flawed, it gives us some useful information to work with. Creating a "complete virtual model of the world that changes the way..." means a lot of models! This means that they are seeing a future where Matterport technology will be in the hands of millions and not in thousands. Which also means that for Matterport the future are not the MSPs but the millions of users that will create interactive 3D models (I mean, end users). Perhaps something like what is happening with the 360 photography that once was the territory of complex cameras and now can be done with a mid price smart phone. Will they develop a consumer version of their technology? Will they invite others to manufacture Matterport compatible machines? Will they create a "Nespresso like" business model where the business is in the capsules but there are several Nespresso coffee machines manufacturers out there? A few months ago the Matterport's VP of Marketing said to me that they were thinking in a "Intel Inside" kind of strategy. That is, to create some sort of standard that the market would follow. And this is in line with their vision. In the case of Matterport the thing "inside" would not be a thing (a camera) but a software. If this is true, then Matterport efforts should be in selling its technology to camera manufacturers and create a business around hosting and processing services. Of course, this strategy should be based on cheap cameras and millions of "photographers" and this would go against of those that believe that Matterport is a professional thing to be aimed only to professionals. This will go against the direction of increasing the price of the cameras as one of the hypothesis in this thread suggested. In my point of view, and I insist on this every time I have the opportunity to say it, the business goal of Matteerport should be to focus on more models and more hosting fees, and not on selling more cameras per se. Now, the key resides in the definition of "more". If by "more" we mean optimizing the current business model, then the strategy shold go after encouraging the pros to work more and discouraging end users to purchase cameras because we know that the pros can produce hundreds of models per year and the non professionals get tired soon and will stop paying monthly fees. Under this assumption increasing the camera price and focusing on professionals would make sense. But if by "more" we mean millions or tens of millions, then the strategy should be focused on reducing camera prices and licensing the core technology to other camera manufacturers. |
||
| Post 12 • IP flag post | ||
|
WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @jfantin Thank you for your insight. Spot on. I always look forward to your insight. I could imagine ... Phase 1 - Focus on Pro Community with Matterport Camera Phase 2 - Open Platform to Camera companies as discussed here Phase 3 - anyone can scan a space with Matterport Scenes smartphone app Phase 4 - anyone can scan a space with smartphone that licenses Matterport Scenes technology (processing and hosting) Enjoy your weekend, Dan |
||
| Post 13 • IP flag post | ||
|
Frisco, Texas |
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'd like to draw a little, simple parallel here. Google Street View's Business View / GTP program used to be invite only. The requirements to qualify were high resolution panoramas with close spacing. Would-be GTPs applied and would be added to a list and received referrals. GTPs were able to set the start location of tours and provide clients with a 'See Inside' icon. Google's vision for GSV is to map the entire world, and the program is now anything goes. The resolution requirements have gone way down, and Google has provided a consumer level app. The cost of Street View is nothing - you can use your phone to make a panorama -- or a Ricoh Theta S, which is best used as a selfie cam, to shoot scenes at decent resolution with a shallow depth of field, and publish instantly. GTPs are now struggling to show why they provide value when ANYONE can shoot a 'tour.' Quality on a Ricoh Theta S looks similar to a DSLR when you are on a mobile device -- Google's target platform. Now Matterport users are jumping into the GSV game. What's a GTP to do? It's the same scenario. Differences? - Matterport have not opened the platform to 3rd party cameras (no 3rd party camera has the features of the Pro-1/Pro-2 that are necessary for the automatic creating of a 3D Model with 2D Panoramas that are mapped precisely within the model). - MSPs have purchased a $3500 - $4500 camera (depending on the sale). Realtors / Business owners that want to shoot Matterport Spaces also have to pony up on a high dollar item and SAAS subscription - which still leaves a healthy barrier that separates consumers from pros arbitrarily by a needed investment. - Matterport is still looking for opportunities for MSPs, even if they are (pilot program) sometimes divisive and what we feel is not in our best interest. -- Matterport is in a league of their own and it's their mission to make 'Matterport' the defacto standard for 3D Tours. Accomplishing this may at times not be in the best interest of the small businesses that want to be unique in what they offer - thus, we may see direct sales to markets that MSPs have low penetration in due to a lack of a large nationwide presence and ability to offer services in multiple markets with one point of contact and one payee. As long as Matterport stays profitable and healthy, we continue to be able to serve clients who use our services for marketing. Matterport continues to innovate and find solutions that help us increase what we can offer. We will continue to adapt. I'm just happy that it's not a GSV situation wherein Matterport turns into an API and 3rd parties (courageously) have to step to the plate to allow us to continue working while we fight against low ballers with Ricoh Theta S cameras. ImmoViewer is the only comparable thing there, but people recognize the difference in the two platforms and can make an easier choice with what they want based on brand recognition. |
||
| Post 14 • IP flag post | ||
|
mori private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Great discussion and topics. I still think MP should honor the (very) early adaptors and buyers of a Pro1 with a very very special upgrade deal, so these ones can also benefit from the new Pro2. |
||
| Post 15 • IP flag post | ||
Pages:
1