Originally published in Comms Business.
We’ve expanded this version with practical guidance and deeper insight drawn from our work with over 600 partners.
When people talk about “the IoT opportunity,” they often picture a huge greenfield market just waiting for IoT proposals.
But most IoT deals don’t come labelled as “IoT”.
They start with a problem the customer has learned to live with: The lift alarm still on PSTN. The retail site’s payment terminal that keeps dropping out. The SIM in a CCTV camera no one’s monitoring for outages or overages.
They’re signs of latent demand: real needs that exist, but haven’t yet been recognised as solvable with cellular IoT connectivity.
For resellers and MSPs, this changes the game. Instead of waiting for customers to ask for IoT (spoiler: you'll probably be waiting a long time), the fastest wins come from uncovering demand where customers aren’t even looking yet.
That’s where margin and stickiness live.
Customers don’t think in categories like “IoT”.
And they’ll rarely type “IoT connectivity” into a search bar.
Instead, they search for outcomes:
Which means the best opportunities for cellular IoT connectivity often sit hidden inside operational processes — until someone joins the dots for them.
It means resellers who translate cellular IoT into business impact can get in early and shape the buying criteria before anyone else arrives.
We reach for what we know:
The first instinct is to “add it to Wi-Fi” or “order a fixed line.” Fine… until you’re setting up a construction site or a pop-up store in three days.
Connectivity is out of sight until it breaks:
Customers rarely ask if their connectivity is right for the job; but they do notice when it fails. Downtime forces the conversation instead of an upfront discussion about solution-fit connectivity.
Legacy perceptions persist:
Many still conflate cellular IoT with consumer mobile data, believing it’s costly, coverage is unreliable, and visibility is poor — despite advancements in remote management, multi-network, low-power, and private LTE/5G options.
The “wired first, cellular for continuity” approach lingers:
Cellular is still positioned as backup only, even when it can be the most suitable primary option.
The term “IoT” can be a barrier.
It can still sound like big-enterprise tech — not the everyday solutions in warehouses, shops, or offices. Customers don’t tend to think of themselves as “doing IoT”, even if they already are.
You’ll often find it in places competitors aren’t checking. Think of it as four layers of opportunity:
Competitors often ignore these spaces because they don’t look like “IoT deals.” But if you can surface them, you’re in a category of one.
If you prefer to think in sectors, here are some common hotspots where you can turn everyday frustrations into business-grade IoT connectivity projects:
Angle: Position cellular as a key part of always-on payments infrastructure, not just a backup line.
Angle: Sell cellular as the key in powering real-time, compliant visibility, not an afterthought.
Angle: Lead with cellular as “connectivity that moves as fast as the project.”
Angle: Frame cellular as an investment in future-proof building infrastructure.
The real question is: How do you move customers from latent demand to in-market?
Here’s a repeatable framework you can run inside your customer base:
B2B buying journeys aren’t linear, and you’re often talking to IT, operations, finance, and compliance in the same pitch — all of them at different stages of awareness, with different priorities, vocabularies, and success metrics. Phew.
Instead of a neat marketing funnel, it's helpful to think of a demand landscape, and shape your activity accordingly.
Problem unaware (latent demand):
They don’t know there’s a problem.
Make the unseen visible with campaigns highlighting connectivity risks they haven’t considered — deadlines, switch-offs, regulatory changes. Lean on urgency and trigger events.
Solution unaware (latent demand):
They know the problem but not the solution.
Connect the dots with case studies and “old way vs. new way” stories (manual data pulls vs. automated IoT dashboards; downtime-prone broadband vs. resilient cellular) that show how cellular IoT connectivity can solve the issue faster and with less disruption. Focus on demystifying and simplifying cellular IoT.
Aware but not acting (stalled demand):
They see the fit but haven’t moved forward, often due to cost, complexity, or internal sign-off.
Equip champions with ROI calculators, downtime infographics, and security explainers they can take to other departments and secure buy-in.
In-market (active demand):
They’re ready to buy and you’re competing for the close. This is also the small 3% most marketers focus on, but it’s not where most IoT growth comes from.
Remove friction with content that gives clear, comparable differentiators and addresses objections.
Post-purchase / advocacy (expansion demand):
They’ve bought; now keep the momentum for upselling and cross-selling.
Expand the opportunity with joint case studies and keep them in the loop on product updates and complementary capabilities.
More sites, more use cases, more margin.
The most successful partners we see don’t wait for RFPs. They create opportunities by reframing problems.
They ask: “How are you monitoring your CCTV SIMs?” not “Do you have an IoT project?”
They bring ops, compliance, and finance into the room, not just IT.
They co-market with us to run campaigns around trigger events like the PSTN switch-off.
This shifts IoT from an abstract concept to a tangible business advantage.
Recognising that IoT is a market in latent demand is the difference between competing for the same RFP as everyone else and walking into a deal no one else knew was on the table.
And by combining smart marketing to surface opportunities with targeted sales motions to convert them, you can build a pipeline of IoT wins your competitors never see.
Even when customers are in-market, they often have an incomplete view of the options. So resellers who can educate and reframe the buying criteria can still change the outcome late in the process.
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