Listening is often a lost art form. Sometimes, we get so caught up in what we know and believe without really giving a different viewpoint the attention it deserves. Look no further than the current political climate; we’d be hard pressed to find a juncture in recent memory where the nation has been more politically polarized than it is at this moment. About the only thing many Americans can agree upon is that we strenuously disagree.
Fortunately, the office technology galaxy is not bent toward picking sides—it’s all about making money, servicing the client, enhancing your profitability and burgeoning the bottom line. Did I mention increasing your company’s revenues? OK, I’ll leave the horse alone.
The great thing about advice is it’s free (at least here it is) and you can take it in part or parcel. But it’s not yours truly who you should heed, nor necessarily our esteemed dealer panelists. The opinion and thoughts that really matter are those of your client base, and in the case of most topical conversations (for our purposes, growing through a vertical approach) it begins with listening to the client in front of you.
Be Consultative
Vincent Colaianni,
TGI Office Automation
“The biggest thing you need to manage when you want to concentrate on a vertical is expectations,” noted Vincent Colaianni, director of sales development for TGI Office Automation of Brooklyn, NY. “You can’t approach it like a sales organization, you need to approach it like a consultative organization. Dealers shouldn’t be going after a pitch. They should follow our lead and have a business conversation and consult with the client to figure out what the best solution is, and not go in believing they have the best answer.
“There are little things that you don’t think of, things that drive the client crazy. When there’s that one little piece that some other competitor didn’t ask them about, and you’re able to find out about it, then it makes the world of difference.”
Brad Yocum, market director for Houston-based Function4, maintains it is important to understand the vertical challenges a client faces, then work backward from there to develop solutions. Seek out the regulatory, processes or tools that play a role in creating challenges, then circle back to applications and products that may spell relief for the customer.
Brad Yocum, Funcion4
“That has aided us tremendously during the last few years,” Yocum said. “Our company has always had a reputation for providing great service and doing the right thing for the customer, long before we started doing more application-based product. That helped us from a credibility standpoint. It’s about moving into other types of offerings than just the print hardware piece.”
Importance of SMEs
Scott Anderson, president of managed IT specialist CORE Business Services in Medford, OR (now a member of the Kelley Imaging Systems family), notes his firm concentrates on hiring health care specialists as opposed to IT mavens. Understanding how a health care client operates, from billing to administration and every other aspect of the chain, can provide more value to CORE.
Scott Anderson, CORE
“We lead with salespeople to discover opportunity,” Anderson said. “We’re constantly training (sales reps) so they can have good conversations, knowing at the end of the day we’re going to have to bring in the subject-matter expert to take the discussion further. Some sales reps are going to be more comfortable in having a conversation due to their experience, but we definitely lean on the subject-matter expert to drive the conversation and bring value.”
Brian Woodman, vice president of sales for Kelley Imaging Systems, echoed the need to have a high level of subject-matter expertise, which helps to truly differentiate the dealer from its competition. By the same token, dealers need to appreciate the value of the subject-matter expert if they expect to retain that talent.
“It’s worth its weight in gold to get the right people, those people who have a proven track record, a high level of aptitude, a good work ethic and are a cultural fit,” he said. “And if you can find those people, pay them what they’re worth.”
Don’t Get Shortchanged
There’s also something to be said for making sure that a deal makes fiscal sense on your end. Erik Crane, president of CPI Technologies in Springfield, MO, cautions against taking every deal that comes a dealer’s way.
“Many deals in certain verticals have historically low margins because they’ve been bid out,” he said. “Don’t give your products and services away; you are the expert and that is worth something. Those deals that are good for your company, you’ll end up keeping them for a long time. Your client will respect you and know that you will take care of them.”
Erik Crane, CPI
Also, Crane advises dealers to really get to know the clients within a vertical. A dealer may have a lock on every hospital or school district in your region, but that playbook/vertical attack plan might need to be tossed five minutes into a conversation with a new client.
“Be ready to adapt and have a nice stable of products, programs and software for your customer,” Crane said. “One of the things that really works in our favor is we have an in-house leasing program that allows us to take some of those odd requests that a bid may have, and it makes the leasing company uncomfortable. When you take them in-house with your own leasing company, all you’re doing is bidding on yourself. We can take their lease with all of these stipulations that are definitely in their favor.”
