Tzuo shows how to use subscriptions to build lucrative, ongoing one-on-one relationships with your customers. This may require reinventing substantial parts of your company, from your accounting practices to your entire IT architecture, but the payoff can be enormous.
'Simply put,' he writes, 'the world is moving from products to services. Subscriptions are exploding because billions of digital customers are increasingly favoring access over ownership, but most companies are still built to sell products' ... Subscription businesses, which derive important information from their customers’ behavior in real time, are better at fast adaptation than companies dependent on their in-store employees for feedback ... For companies to move to full subscription models, Mr. Tzuo says, they will have to blow up their organization silos. 'Product cultures are built around thinking and organizing like assembly lines: stay in your lane, do your job, then pass it on. . . . Subscription cultures are about making sure your customer continues to succeed with your service over time, and translating that ongoing value into revenue.'
In other words, subscription models demand constant adaptation, in everything from product and service updates to fluid accounting, marketing and finance. That degree of change is dramatic and difficult, Mr. Tzuo notes. But changing customer expectations demand it, and if you don’t shift now, he writes, 'chances are that in a few years you might not have any business left to shift.'
With Gabe Weisert, Tien Tzuo has written one of the first books on a business subject that has fascinated me for many years: attractive alternatives to ownership after a purchase. Why did he write this book? Because he thinks 'we’re in a pivotal moment in business history, one not seen since the Industrial Revolution. Simply put, the world is moving from products to services. Subscriptions are exploding because billions of digital consumers are increasingly favoring access over ownership, but most companies are still built to sell products ... 'Think about it — when your customers are happy, then they’re using more of your service, and telling their friends, and you’re growing. You get to start every quarter with predictable revenue. You get to make smart, data-driven decisions. You get to benefit from your own customer insights, which are a huge competitive advantage. We call this the world of happy business: happy customers, with happy companies, reinforcing one another, iterating forever, with no beginning and no end.'
Today, subscription services such as Netflix, Uber, and Stitch Fix are exploding, and digital consumers are demanding more. This shift in the marketplace, from products to services, has left many companies unprepared for the opportunities that they could take advantage of now by adopting a subscription model ... Tzuo and Weisert offer practical steps, diagrams, and models to walk readers through building a successful business-subscription model. In today’s fast-paced economy, the book is worth a read and will appeal to business leaders, managers, and those who work in technical and data fields.
