Channel challenge: Staying true to your convictions
Neil Watson, indirect sales director, Viatel, Dec 2009
As Britain waits to exit the recession, there will be some in the channel that, over the last year, have been in situations where it has been tempting to forget about their principles. For example, many will have experienced cash-strapped customers requesting the cheapest solutions available even though they may be completely inappropriate and sure to cause significant headaches down the line. Resellers suffering the ill-effects of the downturn may have been presented with situations in which they have to go against the urge to sell the product that offers the best fit to the customer’s requirement. In these hard times one of the biggest challenges for the channel is to remain true to their convictions, providing the best service possible and resisting the temptation to sell on price alone - how they do this depends on how well they know their market.
The biggest asset that the channel has is the specialised knowledge it can offer to businesses. There are variable levels of knowledge across the channel and those within it that are most proficient tend to do best. For example, if a partner selling network solutions fully understands the technology they will be able to consult with customers on a far broader range of issues. The ability to discuss important issues such as business continuity, bandwidth requirements and resilience could ultimately increase the value of the sale. The need to constantly educate yourself and your colleagues cannot be overstated – knowledge breeds confidence and confidence is what’s needed to sell. Sometimes customers need to be told things that they won’t necessarily want to hear. In these instances, resellers who know their stuff will enjoy a lot more success than their less knowledgeable competitors. Those that compete on price alone will win fewer deals at much lower margin and this is often the direct result of a lack of confidence to sell more complex solutions.
Some services have already become highly commoditised – those selling DSL and Internet services compete almost exclusively on price. The situation with consumer broadband has shown that this approach often leads to a high level of customer dissatisfaction. This situation is not helped by the miss-selling of these services, for example, certain providers claiming their offering is uncontended when it is in fact contended on the network. By confusing customers in this way the job of the channel is made increasingly difficult.
In the solutions marketplace there has been a lot of convergence, not only between products but in the channel as well. A good example of this has been the way that voice and data, and now even mobile, players have all begun to compete for the same deals. In order to differentiate themselves partners need to ensure they have a level of specialist skills in house, allowing sales people to secure initial interest before handing over to an expert. Of course, this expertise could be provided by a vendor but many resellers find that this conflicts with wanting to position themselves as vendor neutral. It is this conflict that is often the biggest deal breaker. The channel can be both, by positioning their vendor of choice to the customer as the best for that particular part of the solution, leveraging that vendor’s expertise and improving significantly their chance to win and customer satisfaction at the same time.
However, the need for competent network skills is required well before a vendor can be introduced and there are a number of steps that partners can take to address this. Investing in training for their frontline sales people is key to enabling them to be able to spot opportunities and to do initial qualification. In the majority of cases, channel partners have expert knowledge of their own technology, but it is not uncommon for them to fail to understand how it can be successfully integrated with customers’ infrastructure – it is in areas like this that specialist knowledge is invaluable. Turning sales people into specialists in all areas, however, is neither practical nor cost effective. Developing a specialist capability in-house is only viable if network sales have the potential to sustain such an investment. The alternative is to select the right vendor who has the available skills to support the partner in this way. These steps can help even with commoditised products as customers are better informed as to how a particular product will fulfil their needs and are able to make an informed decision.
In order to remain true to their convictions it is up to the channel to ensure its reputation as a provider of great customer service and impartial advice is maintained. Sometimes in business – especially during a recession – it is necessary to tell customers something they might not want to hear. In these instances, players with the best industry knowledge will have the confidence to communicate with customers in the honest and experienced voice for which they are renowned.
