In what’s evolved into a solutions-oriented imaging industry, document management and ECM solutions represent two of the highest impact solutions within a dealer’s menu of services. As with any solution, it’s critical to understand how to best present and position that solution to prospects. With that in mind I asked five document management and ECM solutions providers to share with me the strategies that their successful dealers use for selling their solution(s) and the mistakes dealers who aren’t successful consistently make.
Thomas Schneck, President, DocuWare
What strategies do your successful dealers use to sell your solution(s)?
For DocuWare it’s developing specialists who are focused on DocuWare rather than multiple solutions, creating a generous comp plan for sales reps, and developing a marketing plan. “It’s not a matter of size,” maintains DocuWare president Thomas Schenck, who adds that being successful or not selling document management doesn’t matter whether one is a $5 million, $15 million or $50 million dealer.
Concentrating on comp plans, Schneck contends many sales reps don’t want to jeopardize existing relationships by treading unfamiliar waters, especially if they’re only receiving modest compensation. “We tell owners and VPs of sales, be generous,” he says.
“One strategy and only one strategy successful dealers in our channel use to drive new revenue around document management is by leveraging their installed base,” emphasizes Jeff Frankel, vice president and principal with docSTAR. “If they’re not leveraging their installed base then they shouldn’t be selling document management software. It’s that simple.”
MaxxVault president Bruce Malyon has found that successful dealers keep it simple and look to discover how they can best help their customers. “Whether it is electronic files or scanning hard copies, it’s identifying the one area of the company that has information overload. If you can figure out that, then you can qualify the opportunity.”
Hyland Software’s most successful dealers focus on sub-verticals within vertical markets. “Our best partners aren’t generalists,” contends Bill Kavanaugh, channel sales manager. “They must be able to walk into a prospect and talk not just about a specific macro vertical, but how they’re experts in this field.”
Bill Kavanaugh, Channel Sales Manager, Hyland Software
That’s critical he says, offering various examples of sub verticals such as Home Healthcare, Court Case Management, and Agent Management. “Our successful partners can talk about the value of a specific integration in a niche market and integrate our solution, OnBase, into these core applications that run in those (sub verticals),” states Kavanaugh. “That’s not what a generalist can do. They talk about generic integration.”
“Our most successful dealers focus on selling the outcome they can provide with our software,” observes Scott Worroll, marketing manager for Square 9. “We don’t want them saying, ‘we have document management, I think you need it, come check it out.’ We want them to take an approach where they can maximize [a customer’s] profitability while minimizing many of their back office expenses, focusing on how they can improve the customer’s business.”
What’s the first thing you tell a dealer who signs on to carry your solution?
“Be ready to invest and then be ready to be successful,” responds Docuware’s Schneck.
Bruce Malyon, President MaxxVault
Besides telling dealers to keep things simple, Malyon recommends selling customers the right solution. “If we’re not a fit, tell the client we’re not a fit because we don’t just want to sell a piece of software,” acknowledges Malyon. “They have to be flexible and trust us to make sure we’re recommending what’s right for them.”
docSTAR’s Frankel goes back to his earlier comment, “Leverage your installed base, focus on one or two verticals, and invest in learning our software—the features, benefits, and how to sell it.”
“One of the first things we try to teach them, and it goes against a lot of the norm, is avoid vertical market selling,” says Square 9’s Worroll. “It’s too broad to be effective with all the various markets out there and requires way too much expertise in each market.”
He recommends a horizontal approach. “Focus on three or four different [applications] and become an expert on them,” states Worroll. “Order processing, accounts payable automation, employee on-boarding, and contract management. Pretty much every business has three out of those four pieces. Sell the outcome and deliver value by being that expert.”
Scott Worroll, Marketing Manager, Square 9
Hyland’s Kavanaugh wants to know if dealers have the will and the way. “Do they want to be a partner of ours?” he asks. “Our partners are far more than resellers of our software. They not only sell our software, but implement it and support that solution going forward. A good portion of our revenue is add-on sales into our customer base. I don’t only want them to just support that solution, I want them to continue to sell into that customer base. We expect them to bring in prospects on their own and with us. Are you comfortable with us selling with you? Because there’s a lot of value you can derive from us selling with you not just going and selling on your own. We don’t sign up partners who come to us with one deal. This is a long-term commitment. We’re investing in them and they’re investing in us.”
He also wants to know if the dealer has the resources, the bodies, the implementation team, the sales team, and the marketing team. “If you don’t have the people today, that’s okay, but do you have the mechanism to get those people or at least leverage Hyland to help you get those people?” states Kavanaugh.
A willingness to invest in training is also critical. “We have an extensive amount of collateral and content as well as classes onsite and online that will allow our partners to ramp up and be well versed in our products and solutions,” states Kavanaugh. “This is not a passive partnership. Hyland is a growing company and we are growing on the backs of our partners, so we’re looking for partners who want to grow with us.”
What’s the best way for a dealer to start a conversation with a customer about document management?
“Risk mitigation, compliance, disaster recovery, business continuity, and productivity, those are your hot buttons,” states docSTAR’s Frankel.
Jeff Frankel, Vice President and Principal, docStar
“Understand your current prospects,” states Square 9’s Worroll. “Figure out what their current process is, learn the products they already use, how many employees they have that are doing this task, what paperwork is involved, how much time is spent working in this area, what’s the frequency of doing this, then focus on the critical questions. What’s your rate of growth? What’s the hourly rate of this employee doing this job? How long do you expect you’re going to be able to work with these levels [of staffing] before you need to hire? Then provide them with an opportunity for change.”
Kavanaugh suggests asking, ‘What do you use for document management today?’
“Many of our customers convert to OnBase from other applications,” he says. “How are you storing documents electronically today? Storing is one part of the problem though. How are you routing and making business decisions today? We call that workflow. A great starter is what is your line of business application? Now you’re immediately into that conversation around integration. Many of our solutions, and almost all of our more sophisticated solutions, are integrated to something. Starting a conversation about something they already own is a great way for them to wrap their head around what we do.”
He also recommends talking about mobile and compliance. “We have a sophisticated mobile application,” states Kavanaugh. “Integration, mobility, and compliance are two great ways to kick start [a conversation]. A lot of what we do relative to records management will help an organization be more compliant. We can’t make anyone more compliant, but can put them on that road to becoming more compliant.”
“A lot of our successful dealers talk about the [customer’s] business process and figure out how they can make them more efficient with their electronic data,” states Malyon. “If you can take a business process and integrate it to a line of business, that’s where the real return is.”
“Start with your existing contact – typically office manager, IT guy – tell them that you were able to prove in many companies that great efficiency gains can be achieved through document management,” responds Schneck.
The accounting department is a prime target for a document management system, which is why Schneck feels it’s essential for one’s existing customer contacts to introduce them to the VP of Finance or CFO.
“CFOs are ultimately our best allies and promoters in the company,” emphasizes Schneck. “They make things happen.”
What questions from prospects should a dealer be prepared to answer when selling document management?
“How and will it pay off, will it disrupt my business, does it integrate with my IT, and will my people use it?” states Schneck. “Either they ask those questions or it’s in the back of their mind. Those four things are the four biggest areas for us why [document management] isn’t a mainstream application yet. Those are the doubts we have to overcome.”
How does someone respond to a question like, ‘Will my people use it?’
Schneck suggests asking them to start in one department, such as accounting. Then, three to six months after it’s implemented and people are comfortable using it, host an internal workshop where users show other department heads what that department is doing. “That’s how we spread the application to other departments.”
‘Can it work with my accounting system, my ERP system, or my medical billing system,’ are some of the questions that Malyon hears over and over again. “They have to know how the product will integrate with various line-of-business applications. They have to understand if you have a SQL server database and what that means and how indexing information and security is set at the database level. They don’t need to go in too deep, but they need to know some of the key buzzwords so a client doesn’t catch them off guard.”
Malyon adds that an understanding of the different types of OCR is critical as well because there are differences. “We see MFP sales reps go in to sell OCR and they don’t know what they’re selling sometimes. They sell the wrong product, which won’t do structured forms, and it blows off into this hole and a big refund for the client. It’s one of those things, knowing forms processing, knowing OCR, database integration points, those are all key.”
Another question that may come up is, cloud-based or on premise? “You have to have both,” says Frankel. “If you have one or the other, you’re setting yourself up for failure.”
Lastly, he says, “Everybody talks about how great their customer service and support is, but you have to be able to walk the walk and talk the talk. I hate to use the cliché, but if your document management vendor partner can’t provide essential customer service and document it, then you’re behind the eight ball.”
“Why would I buy from you and not another OnBase partner?” says Kavanaugh. “How do you differentiate yourself to create a go forward relationship with? I often talk to our partners about what is it about you that makes you unique? Is it your background, location (sometimes it is location), is it your expertise in a specific market, is it the fact that you’ve integrated OnBase or PeopleSoft 20 times already? Why you and not someone else? In addition, why OnBase and not a competitive solution? We have a ton of content around competitive information and we can help with that.”
Another key question is, ‘What value proposition do you provide that another partner or manufacturer cannot provide?’ “If a partner cannot answer that they stand little chance to be successful,” observes Kavanaugh.
“There are so many questions they can have, but the one I want them to focus on is to understand the ‘why,’” notes Worroll. “Don’t come in with ‘I have a list of these features and I think you need them because every other company sells these features so you need them as well.’ I want our dealers to understand the benefit. Explain you have this tool that can provide this benefit and help them understand the why behind it.”
What are some of the mistakes that dealers who aren’t successful selling document management consistently make?
“You need to have a focus,” states Hyland’s Kavanaugh. “The generalists often suffer. They’ll do okay, but won’t excel. In addition, it’s taking training for granted. We release two new versions of OnBase every year. If our partners don’t do the ongoing training they’re going to be ducks in the wind and we don’t want that. Partners that continually educate, attend our conferences, and take advantage of the resources we provide excel.”
For DocuWare’s Schneck it’s under-investing in the opportunity by not hiring specialists, not making the necessary changes to align the organization and operations, not providing a generous comp plan, and not having a marketing plan.
“The biggest mistake is just dabbling in document management,” adds Worroll. “They need to make a full commitment to focus on it and leverage the resources that are available. If they’re not doing that, they’re not successful. They’re just finding small opportunities here and there where they can squeeze in a basic solution. If they have a focus they can go out and find the opportunity. Today’s customers are expecting you to be the expert and if you’re just dabbling in it you’re hemming and hawing and you don’t come off as an expert.”
Another common mistake is that “they don’t sell to their installed base,” states Frankel.
Not educating or training themselves on the software is another liability, according to Frankel, even though docSTAR offers a workaround for that issue. “We have two programs, a traditional partner program with a higher profit margin if the reseller wants to sell directly to the end user,” reports Frankel. “If the copier reseller wants to leverage their install base without having to spend time and resources training on the software, we offer a referral program. They need to understand their internal capabilities and how they want to invest.”
Malyon contends it takes a lot of training and dedication to sell document management. “If a dealer is only doing one or two document management deals a year, they aren’t going to have the time to become a document management expert,” he says. “One reason is because they don’t leverage the vendor relationship enough and two is sometimes they don’t listen. In a big copier deal when a client says ‘document management’ the dealer cobbles something together and throws it into a lease. Then the customer wonders what they’ve been sold. They’ve been sold document management, but what does that mean, so sometimes it’s not bundling the right solution with the right hardware.”
