First off, I want to agree with you. Customer engagement by Sense is crucial at this stage in the game, maybe via quarterly discussions / briefings under NDA, to educate, provide roadmaps and answer questions.
A “bidness” guy should take key lessons out the “Crossing the Chasm” series of books that dial in on the rollout of new technology products. This one illustration from the first book, “Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream”, explains a lot.
I believe Sense is hitting the “chasm” prematurely since much of their marketing originally targeted mainstream consumer customers. Innovator and adopter type customers are relatively easy to please with new products since they appreciate the innovation and are willing to roll with the punches as the product evolves. But for mainstream customers, who expect everything to pretty much work out of the box, Sense has a mixed track record - in some households it works reasonably well and in others, not so much.
Some of the lessons that the Chasm series books give for success are:
- target the appropriate customers (don’t target the mainstream too soon)
- know the key buying needs of different pools of prospects and existing customers (EVs, data downloads, HVAC, pricing models that match utilities, etc.)
- knock off solutions in each of those areas with transparency and clarity.
BTW - I happen to believe that Sense is doing the last two reasonably well, but could still improve.