Building Enterprise Trust: Arch Systems’ Playbook for Landing Fortune 500 Manufacturing Clients
Landing enterprise deals isn’t just about having great technology – it’s about building deep trust with complex organizations. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Arch Systems co-founder Andrew Scheuermann revealed their playbook for winning trust from the world’s largest manufacturers.
Understanding the Enterprise Landscape
Manufacturing enterprises aren’t monolithic – they’re complex organizations with multiple stakeholders. As Andrew explains, “It bridges both… this is like a huge dynamic in going to market correctly.” Success requires navigating what he calls the “IT/OT Convergence,” where information technology meets operational technology.
The Champion-Finding Framework
Arch Systems developed sophisticated playbooks for identifying and engaging the right stakeholders. “In our sales, we have pretty sophisticated playbooks to be able to identify in a given customer who are the digitization champions,” Andrew shares. “Are they in IT? Are they in OT or are they both? Finding your initial champion to run the pilot, working with them to spider across the organization and build a collection of stakeholders.”
The High-Stakes Reality
Enterprise sales in manufacturing requires exceptional credibility. As Andrew notes, “You can’t be just playing around and get in the door at the Flex, Jabil, Foxconn, Honeywell, Medtronic, Apples, et cetera, of the world. Your technology has to be really good. It’s got to get high level approval from the beginning and you got to drive a lot of convergence with these different stakeholders.”
The Strategic Partnership Approach
Rather than pursuing quick wins, Arch Systems invested in deep relationships. With Flex, “We almost did free work for them for a long time and they essentially gave us access to all of their factories worldwide. Really kind of incredible deal for both sides. Both took a really big risk on each other.”
This patient approach yielded remarkable results. They gained:
- Access to real factory data
- Deep understanding of customer needs
- Strong champions within target accounts
- Proven case studies
From First Principles to Pattern Matching
Their approach to building trust combines both theoretical and practical knowledge. “My Co-Founder comes from a physics background, I come from a chemistry background. So we actually love talking about first principles versus pattern matching and the power of both of them and the limitations of both of them,” Andrew explains.
This dual perspective helps them build credibility with both technical and business stakeholders. They can discuss theoretical possibilities while remaining grounded in practical realities.
The Value-First Mindset
Andrew emphasizes the importance of focusing on real value creation: “We had measured the utilization, the efficiency of these factories, and we knew how low it was. So we knew that if we could build the right analytics tools, we could create massive value. And if you create massive value industrial, everybody buys it because they need that value.”
The Results
Their approach has transformed their sales cycle. “Just recently we got through Pilot with two multibillion manufacturers into recurring revenue deals in four months,” Andrew shares. Today, they’re “connected to close to 10,000 machines and 100 plus factories, 15 countries working with a lot of the biggest names out there.”
Key Takeaways for B2B Founders
Arch Systems’ experience offers several crucial lessons for founders targeting enterprise customers:
- Invest time in understanding organizational dynamics
- Build sophisticated stakeholder mapping
- Be willing to invest in strategic partnerships
- Focus on demonstrable value creation
- Combine technical expertise with practical understanding
The path to enterprise trust isn’t quick or easy. But by taking a strategic approach to building relationships, demonstrating real value, and navigating complex organizational structures, startups can successfully build the credibility needed to win major enterprise customers.