Last week, I met with the CEO and CMO of a promising building asset management software company. Their core product creates digital twins of commercial buildings, enabling smoother handovers from construction teams to facilities management teams, and streamlining long-term maintenance.
When building owners or operators inherit a new facility, the handover is messy. Critical system details get lost in PDFs, and preventative maintenance becomes reactive. Their platform captures everything in one place, assets, systems, locations, lifecycle info, and makes it accessible through an intelligent digital twin.
It’s clever. It’s necessary. It should be scaling fast.
But sales had plateaued.
“We’re getting clicks, running campaigns, spending budget – but nothing’s landing. Leads drop off. Demos aren’t converting. Something’s not right.”
So I asked the one question and created complete silence in the room:
“If your best-fit prospect lands on your website today, what exactly do they see, feel, or believe that makes them walk away?”
That question always stings. Because if you don’t know the answer, you’re not in control of your growth.
We dug in, and here’s what we found.
1. Who: Are you talking to the right people?
They were targeting “Facilities Managers” and “Building Operators”, but the buying process is more complex. The real influencers were often the Head of Property, Asset Manager, or even IT/Operations teams responsible for tech stack integration.
And many of the messages were too focused on features, not outcomes, meaning they were invisible to CFOs and Asset Directors who care about total lifecycle costs, risk, and compliance.
Example: A Facilities Manager might love your maintenance dashboard, but the Asset Director cares that your system reduces unplanned downtime by 20% and extends asset life by 3 years.
What you can do:
- Rebuild your ICPs: Map all stakeholders – economic buyers, influencers, users. Look at past client wins and loses.
- Use tools like Bombora or LinkedIn insights to find who’s actually engaging.
- Tailor your messaging by role – don’t make your product a one-message-fits-all.
2. Why You?: Are you actually different?
They said, “We’re built for FM teams. We’re easier to use. We’re mobile-first.”
The problem is every competitor says that.
Buyers are drowning in “intuitive” platforms. What they want to really know is:
“Can you prove that using your system will make my buildings cheaper to run, easier to maintain, and more compliant?”
Example: Saying “we’re mobile-friendly” is vague and should be a given. Instead you could try:
“Our app reduces time-to-inspection reports by 38%, which helped [Company X] cut external contractor costs by £120K in 12 months.”
What you can do:
- Differentiate with proof
- Lead with measurable outcomes and real FM use cases.
- Create competitor comparison pages if needed – but focus on value.
3. How Loud Are You: Do the people who need you even know you exist?
Despite spending on Google Ads and LinkedIn, the brand’s awareness in the FM sector was low. Referrals were sporadic. No consistent demand gen. And no one in industry groups or forums was talking about them.
Example: The UK FM sector is filled with peer networks – if no one’s seen your name in a CIBSE session, LinkedIn construction group, or IWFM event, are they even aware you exist?
What you can do:
- Build credibility through content and community, industry articles, partnerships, events.
- Run targeted campaigns to FM influencers, not just C-suit and not just decision makers
- Thought leadership via podcasts, video content to position your brand as a leading authority, discussing pain and challenges within the market and how to confront them
- Use customer advocacy – real FM teams using your platform should be talking about it. User generated content & reviews, recommendations, case studies
4. And if you’re doing all that… what’s left?
Then it’s one of two things:
A) Your sales process is ineffective
We reviewed their demo-to-close journey. Poor qualification processes, long gaps in follow-ups if any at all. No urgency. No nurture process. No ROI to demonstrate value to budget holders.
What you can do:
- Build user friendly sales flows that walk buyers through business impact.
- Create tools (like ROI calculators or decision-maker decks) that make internal selling easier.
- Follow up within hours, not days. And continue to follow up in a nurture process. More than 80% of sales require 5 or more follow ups – read more here
B) You’re Ignoring the 95/5 Rule
Only 5% of your market is actively buying. The other 95% are just becoming aware, watching, learning.
If you only chase the 5%, your funnel dries up fast.
Learn more about the 95/5 rule
What you can do:
- Educate the 95% with useful, non-salesy content: “Top 5 ways digital twins reduce PPM costs”, “Why handover data is costing you millions”.
- Build trust before they’re ready to buy.
- Stay visible with remarketing, email nurturing, and presence in their world, even when they’re not ready for you.
Final Thought
Facility management software isn’t just about better tools. It’s about showing the right people that you help them do their job better, save money, and reduce risk – in a world where every building has growing compliance, ESG, and performance demands.
If you’re getting clicks but no action, ask yourself the 5 whys starting with the initial question:
“Why are they leaving without doing anything?”
Why…
Why…
Why…
Why…
And be ready to fix what you find.
For a more detailed dive into the 5 Whys read more here
