Running an Intuiface-based Business: Sales

Let’s get our hands dirty.

What Intuiface-related services can you sell?

 It could be any of the following or – for you visionary companies – all of them collectively, an all-in-one managed service.

1. Experience creation services. Become an Intuiface designer (typically a user experience designer) coordinating with a graphic designer and, depending on the app, a software developer for creating the interface assets used to connect your Intuiface-based front end with the client's back end, with peripheral devices, etc.
2. Software back-end development and integration services for any "connected" experience (e.g. an endless aisle retail app connected to the retailer’s product database), usually the forte of a System/Software Integrator.
3. Set-up and installation services for interactive devices and the connected infrastructure supporting these devices. Usually the forte of an A/V Integrator.
4. Deployment management, support, and update services for all components of the project.
5. "Business KPI" services built around the information collected through the use of Intuiface Analytics.

Although we hesitate to provide a project length estimate because no two projects are alike, we'll stick our neck out and say - on average - it'll take 6 to 12 weeks to go from concept to live environment first deployment.

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What is a typical client quotation structure? 

This is totally up to you, of course, but we’ve seen quite a few and have some opinions as a result. Consider itemizing the following:

• The creative work used to deliver and update the experience. This might include software back-end/integration.
• Device price, usually for each kiosk or display.
• Hardware and software license fees. You may choose to not itemize Intuiface Player licenses if you're taking the best kept secret approach.
• All the infrastructure install / set-up and experience deployment.
• Ongoing management and monitoring of the infrastructure, support (incl. service level agreements), fixes and (reasonable) changes to the app.
• Business KPI collection, analysis, reporting and optimization.

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Pricing structure and the subscription economy

Let's take a minute to discuss how you're going to bill your clients. We know, your instinct is to pick a big number and tie it to a particular set of deliverables. This will be coupled with additional charges for work outside the project scope.

There is another approach and its viability has already been proven in the software world by big guys like Adobe and Microsoft. It's time to bring the same mentality to services.

It's a subscription business model.

The idea is to charge an annual fee for each service rather than a single lump sum. This fee would be renewable on a recurring basis.

Risky? Only if you're concerned you won't be able to add value over the long term. Otherwise, subscriptions makes sense:

• Your revenue streams become predictable thanks to recurring payments.
• Your relationships with clients improve as they will understand you are motivated to continually deliver value over the life of a project.
• Your competitive differentiation will include lower up-front costs vs. your lump-sum competition. Of course, long term, you will likely earn more than you ever could have with lump sum pricing.

We understand you can't just turn your business on a dime so perhaps you should experiment with subscription billing on one or two projects, working out the kinks. We believe subscription-based pricing is the future upfront design and development services, not just things like ongoing maintenance.