{"id":42291,"date":"2020-11-05T08:14:03","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T16:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=42291"},"modified":"2020-11-05T08:14:06","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T16:14:06","slug":"in-a-challenging-climate-dealers-hash-out-the-merits-of-vertical-selling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/editors-blog\/2020\/11\/in-a-challenging-climate-dealers-hash-out-the-merits-of-vertical-selling\/","title":{"rendered":"In a Challenging Climate, Dealers Hash Out the Merits of Vertical Selling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Admit it, you\u2019re exhausted. This week\u2019s presidential\nelection has left our nation physically and emotionally spent. How many hours\ncan one person spend staring at the Electoral College map? Suddenly, everyone\nis an expert on the voting proclivities of Wayne County, Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, we\u2019re here to provide a respite from politics, so take\nfive minutes to peruse our State of the Industry focus on elevating sales in a\nsea of sameness\u2014pandemic edition. We\u2019ll open this month\u2019s overview by\ncanvassing our dealer panel on the merits of taking a verticalized approach to\nsales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Vincent Colaianni, TGI<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Brooklyn-based TGI Office Automation had been embracing a\nverticalized philosophy prior to the pandemic outbreak, increasing sales\ntraining to address the particular needs of a specific industry or department.\nAccording to Vincent Colaianni, director of sales development, TGI performed a\nreview of its client base and identified the firm\u2019s top 10 verticals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\nput together training tools for these 10 verticals; identifying the correct\npeople to speak with, as well as pinpointing pain points they may be experiencing,\nwhere TGI could help,\u201d Colaianni said. \u201cThese tools also provided insight into\nthat industry\u2019s buzz words, roles, key documents, terminology, and compliances\nthat they need to adhere to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Pearson-Kelly Technology of Springfield, Missouri, the\ndealer\u2019s approach is less tailored toward verticals, but rather identifying\npersonas that mesh well with the environments in which it excels. Reps are\nterritory-based, supported by a cadre of subject matter experts. On the IT\nside, Pearson-Kelly has reps who are more fluent in speaking to education or\nhealth care sectors, according to Lee Flood, executive vice president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lee Flood, Pearson-Kelly<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s been more important to us, from a marketing\nperspective, is looking at where we do well and who are the organizations we\nwant to partner with,\u201d Flood noted. \u201cIt\u2019s about defining our ideal customer\nprofile. It seems there are certain verticals where, as an organization, we\u2019ve\ndone better. But when we start to look at that ideal customer profile, it\u2019s not\nas verticalized. It\u2019s more about a certain persona, a certain type of\nenvironment where we do well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Pearson-Kelly, Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS) of\nMinnetonka, Minnesota, has territory reps adept at selling any item from its\nproduct and service portfolio across the vertical spectrum, supported by\nspecialists. According to Stephanie Keating Phillips, director of solutions,\nAIS segments active calls into categories such as production\/industrial print,\nmanaged IT\/voice solutions and traditional MFPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Stephanie Keating Phillips, IAS<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a company, we have had an aggressive marketing tactic to\ndiscuss our industrial print offerings with a focused list of potential clients\nthe last few months,\u201d she said. \u201cThese businesses are in a vertical group that\nis more focused with a longer and more involved sales cycle. With these\nclients, we are sharing conversations on anything from industrial print\nsolutions to embellishment. We are also utilizing our relationships with our\nmanufacturer partners to dig deeper and move quicker within this specialized\nvertical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Steve Gau, Marco<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

St. Cloud, Minnesota-based Marco has long embraced a\nvertical selling approach, with specialists aligned with construction, health\ncare, manufacturing, finance and legal. Steve Gau, president of the copier\ndivision, has been paying particular attention to individual sectors in light\nof the pandemic. Altered business conditions have created a need for monitoring\ntrends in the education and health care spaces in terms of watching parts and\nsupplies utilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Whitt, vice president of sales for Hendrix Business\nSystems of Charlotte, North Carolina, notes that some of his reps tend to\ndevelop more focused areas of expertise. However, they have a defined focused\narea of net-new they are responsible for, whether it\u2019s a geography or a named\naccount list. A degree of accountability is involved should competitive\nbusiness encroach on that focused area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Scott Whitt, Hendrix<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Still, Hendrix does provide a degree of leeway. \u201cWe allow (reps) to be entrepreneurial in spirit, so if they\u2019re reading the Business Journal<\/em> or have a relationship that they can take advantage of, they are free to go outside of their specific assignment and pursue the opportunity, as long as it is not already being actively worked by another rep which must be reflected in our CRM,\u201d Whitt said. \u201cThis approach works well as long as you employ solid citizens first and good salespeople second. Hendrix adheres to that philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Admit it, you\u2019re exhausted. This week\u2019s presidential election has left our nation physically and emotionally spent. How many hours can one person spend staring at the Electoral College map? Suddenly, everyone is an expert on the voting proclivities of Wayne County, Michigan. Well, we\u2019re here to provide a respite from politics, so take five minutes to peruse our State of the Industry focus on elevating sales in a sea of sameness\u2014pandemic edition. We\u2019ll open this month\u2019s overview by canvassing our dealer panel on the merits of taking a verticalized approach to sales. Brooklyn-based TGI Office Automation had been embracing a verticalized philosophy prior to the pandemic outbreak, increasing sales training to address the particular needs of a specific industry or department. According to Vincent Colaianni, director of sales development, TGI performed a review of its client base and identified the firm\u2019s top 10 verticals. \u201cWe put together training tools for these 10 verticals; identifying the correct people to speak with, as well as pinpointing pain points they may be experiencing, where TGI could help,\u201d Colaianni said. \u201cThese tools also provided insight into that industry\u2019s buzz words, roles, key documents, terminology, and compliances that they need to adhere to.\u201d For Pearson-Kelly Technology of Springfield, Missouri, the dealer\u2019s approach is less tailored toward verticals, but rather identifying personas that mesh well with the environments in which it excels. Reps are territory-based, supported by a cadre of subject matter experts. On the IT side, Pearson-Kelly has reps who are more fluent in speaking to education or health care sectors, according to Lee Flood, executive vice president. \u201cWhat\u2019s been more important to us, from a marketing perspective, is looking at where we do well and who are the organizations we want to partner with,\u201d Flood noted. \u201cIt\u2019s about defining our ideal customer profile. It seems there are certain verticals where, as an organization, we\u2019ve done better. But when we start to look at that ideal customer profile, it\u2019s not as verticalized. It\u2019s more about a certain persona, a certain type of environment where we do well.\u201d Like Pearson-Kelly, Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS) of Minnetonka, Minnesota, has territory reps adept at selling any item from its product and service portfolio across the vertical spectrum, supported by specialists. According to Stephanie Keating Phillips, director of solutions, AIS segments active calls into categories such as production\/industrial print, managed IT\/voice solutions and traditional MFPs. \u201cAs a company, we have had an aggressive marketing tactic to discuss our industrial print offerings with a focused list of potential clients the last few months,\u201d she said. \u201cThese businesses are in a vertical group that is more focused with a longer and more involved sales cycle. With these clients, we are sharing conversations on anything from industrial print solutions to embellishment. We are also utilizing our relationships with our manufacturer partners to dig deeper and move quicker within this specialized vertical.\u201d St. Cloud, Minnesota-based Marco has long embraced a vertical selling approach, with specialists aligned with construction, health care, manufacturing, finance and legal. Steve Gau, president of the copier division, has been paying particular attention to individual sectors in light of the pandemic. Altered business conditions have created a need for monitoring trends in the education and health care spaces in terms of watching parts and supplies utilization. Scott Whitt, vice president of sales for Hendrix Business Systems of Charlotte, North Carolina, notes that some of his reps tend to develop more focused areas of expertise. However, they have a defined focused area of net-new they are responsible for, whether it\u2019s a geography or a named account list. A degree of accountability is involved should competitive business encroach on that focused area. Still, Hendrix does provide a degree of leeway. \u201cWe allow (reps) to be entrepreneurial in spirit, so if they\u2019re reading the Business Journal or have a relationship that they can take advantage of, they are free to go outside of their specific assignment and pursue the opportunity, as long as it is not already being actively worked by another rep which must be reflected in our CRM,\u201d Whitt said. \u201cThis approach works well as long as you employ solid citizens first and good salespeople second. Hendrix adheres to that philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":42292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,1650,82,1638],"tags":[98,478,545,3654,662],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42293,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42291\/revisions\/42293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}