VR FleetCare expands internationally with a new product strategy
IONA helped VR FleetCare, a Finnish rail maintenance provider with over 150 years of experience, expand internationally with a refreshed product strategy.
Case VR Fleetcare
VR FleetCare (FleetCare) is a heritage train maintenance company and a subsidiary of Finnish Railway company VR, a government-owned railway company and one of Finland’s leading players in public transport. With a net turnover of 200 million, FleetCare is transforming rail traffic using state-of-the-art technology and new data and analytics solutions to improve, prolong and modernise railway transport. IONA helped VR FleetCare secure its first international deal in the SmartCare product portfolio by redesigning its sales process and crystallising its core messaging for selected products to achieve growth.
The Challenge
Although well recognised for its 150+ years of experience, one of FleetCare’s core service areas struggled to succeed commercially. In a conservative industry, convincing buyers to consider a more modern approach is difficult. Convincing FleetCare’s clients to adopt new types of digital products is difficult because it requires them to review and refresh pre-existing processes to adopt new technologies. The value of FleetCare’s SmartCare offering - a new type of product in the market - needed the right messaging and stellar communication if their sales team were to hit their targets.
FleetCare expanded its service offering to include all areas of lifecycle and maintenance. While many of their services performed well, certain services within the SmartCare portfolio had challenges. Client acquisition was difficult. FleetCare was losing business to more traditional players. IONA realised the challenge was multifaceted; introducing a new product to a traditional market would require a renewed sales approach.
The Solution
IONA deconstructed the problem to understand which parts needed to be polished. Great products solve challenges elegantly. To define the benefits of the SmartCare solution, we looked at how FleetCare’s products addressed industry trends and challenges and benchmarked against the main competition. We also interviewed FleetCare’s partners and former clients to better understand the service value.
Once we understood the reasons behind lost deals, we worked with the FleetCare team to redesign the sales process - creating value propositions that resonated with the key audience and mock-ups to help the sales team visually communicate the product's benefits.
The Results
Our refreshed product strategy and sales process helped FleetCare better communicate the value of the SmartCare service. The new positioning, redesigned value propositions and convincing sales materials brought robustness to their sales pitches. Most importantly, the new sales process resonated well with FleetCare’s customer base - and helped the sales team secure their first international deal in the SmartCare range.
