Evoqua Water Technologies is a leading provider of water and wastewater treatment solutions, offering a broad portfolio of products, services, and expertise to support industrial, municipal, and recreational customers. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Evoqua and their brands have over a 100-year heritage of innovation. They help more than 38,000 customers solve water challenges at over 200,000 installations worldwide and operate in more than 160 locations across ten countries. To learn more, visit their website at: www.evoqua.com.
Citylitics recently spoke to Robert Biase, Northeast Regional Sales Manager at Evoqua Water Technologies LLC regarding Evoqua’s role in the industry and success they’ve seen as a result of implementing Citylitics data. Robert is currently serving as Regional Sales Manager for Evoqua Water Technologies WWT in the Northeast Region (NE), which spans from Maine to Maryland and includes Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Robert manages and works with Independent Manufacturer Representative organizations, Evoqua Aftermarket sales people, and Evoqua Technical Sales Managers.
Q: Who are the types of customers your team targets and what are some of the unique benefits you provide?
Rob: The majority of customers we target are municipal wastewater treatment plant owners/engineers and contractors, as well as some industrial wastewater treatment plants.
There are two unique differentiators that come to mind. The first is our focus on providing value solutions and helping customers understand the value of possible solutions based on their specific needs. The second differentiator is our extensive installation base and legacy brands. Having so many legacy brands means that getting in touch with a prospective client early on is that much more important. An earlier start gives us time to understand whether it’s one of our earlier installations, and to determine what the customer’s needs are so that we can propose the right solution.
Q: What made you pick Citylitics’ solution over solutions and alternatives?
Rob: Citylitics provides us with a lot of value for specific “targets” that we use to help grow our business with early visibility into the wastewater treatment market.
Q: What feature of Citylitics has been the most helpful?
Rob: I find that the most helpful feature is the information on what new opportunities are developing in the very early stages. The reason being, that we find getting in early provides us with an increased level of potential success, and ultimately a win. The Trigger Extract* from my Citylitics Precision Targeting Reports is something I send to my local sales reps, highlighting the project, engineer, facility size, and opportunity name.
At the end of the day, you get back what you put in and the time spent on following up on leads is invaluable in seeing results.
Q: What was the biggest success that Citylitics generated?
Rob: Citylitics helped us identify an SBR opportunity in upstate New York within its early stages that we weren’t aware of. Because we were able to find out about the opportunity so early on, we were able to influence development of the specification and place ourselves in a better position to win.
The fact that we hadn’t been aware of the opportunity at the time is something that stood out and reaffirms, in my mind, the role Citylitics plays as a means of double checking for any missed any opportunities that might be a good fit.
Q: What are some best practices you would recommend to your industry peers on how to best integrate Citylitics data into your team’s day to day activities?
Rob: I recommend identifying the opportunity specific to your business and continuing to follow-up until it’s either a “real” opportunity or dead. Getting in early is proven to be successful in this industry and with the early insights Citylitics provides, the only thing left to do is act.
Q: What advice would you give to your industry peers facing the same challenges you have?
Rob: Duplicate information on an opportunity is far better than no information, or worse – missing an opportunity. Citylitics provides us with a ‘direct’ view into the wastewater market and allows us to confirm the quality of our sales channel. They also deliver early opportunities straight to our sales channel.
Q: What are you most excited about for the water and wastewater infrastructure industry in the next 12 months?
Rob: Definitely the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021, which authorizes approximately $35B to improving and upgrading the country’s water and wastewater facilities.
I’m also interested to see where the future of business and business transactions takes us following COVID and the increased use of social media, electronic marketing, and internet. In light of these types of trends, I think the type of targeted, early stage intelligence Citylitics provides will play a pivotal role in positioning those of us in the infrastructure industry to be able to play in a new world.
* The Trigger Extract is a succinct overview of the utility or municipality’s pain point that has ‘triggered’ a project opportunity and is sourced directly from a utility or municipality’s public documents.
