Print.IT Reseller - issue 55

PRINT IT RESELLER.UK 27 OPINION Social media is of course a great platform that businesses can use to reiterate their brand values and what their company stands for. By spreading awareness of things like corporate social responsibility credentials and the skilled people in your organisation, you can develop a great perception around your brand which will leave a customer feeling more confident about doing business with you. Before customers will invest in a service, they are perhaps more likely to consume more content surrounding the potential hardware, system, price, service levels and benefits before choosing a supplier. Therefore, channel partners need to maximise their presence in the marketplace outside of a content strategy too, by executing other types of brand building and reputational work relevant to their target market. The evolution of personal selling Outside of communications tactics, price will always be paramount when decision- makers are selecting a product or a service, but a service-orientated company may be less reliant on sales discount tactics to secure new business, in comparison to transactional businesses. The focus of a customer who is interested in investing in MPS, will be mainly on the problem solving solutions that it offers and the long-term benefits it can bring to their organisation. The role of personal selling is a key part of marketing communications that will have to change. People are less receptive to traditional sales techniques, but instead they want to speak to experts who know what they’re talking about. Hence, recently, salespeople have become more like consultants, who can advise a customer on a solution or product. IT managers from different verticals want to speak to someone who has equal knowledge about their sector. The method of selling of products has moved on dramatically due to the nature of the sale. By offering a continued service, trust needs to be built between the channel partner and the customer. This can be achieved by training staff available to become consultants and to advise customers on the service they’re receiving. Channel partners should be able to look at the customers’ business and create a bespoke service, tailored to their needs and which will in turn bring the most benefits to the company. They should also be able to advise post- implementation, making small tweaks to the service when needs be. Personal selling shouldn’t stop after the system has been installed. Channel partners implementing MPS will be offering an ongoing service where a business development manager should constantly be touching base with the customers’ business. This means when the time comes to renewing their contract, there won’t be any doubts as they’ve received such an outstanding service and saved on office running costs throughout the agreement. Channel opportunity When it comes down to fulfilling this service, it is important to realise that it comes with a considerable amount of added benefits. Therefore, it is vital that channel partners take marketing communications, digital messaging, SEO and personal selling tactics into account. Deals can take up to twelve months to finalise and come through, so you need to be able to forecast incoming wins in advance. The choice of offering MPS might not be possible for a lot of vendors and channel partners as they simply might not have the in-house expertise to provide the high quality service. However, many vendors are 100 per cent reliant on their channel partners, selling all of their products and services through resellers. Taking this into account, vendors and channel partners should have conversations to see if they could collaborate and share in-house resources so the relationship will become beneficial to both parties. We’d like channel partners to view us as a fundamental extension to their business, as by collaborating we’re able to add extra value to the partnership. With the growing success of service proved solutions, vendors and resellers have recognised the opportunities that come along with acquiring and maintaining an ongoing relationship after implementation. It especially offers the safeguarding of revenue by entering into a long-term agreement, as well as providing other opportunities with the replenishment of genuine consumables to guarantee maximum product uptime and warranty integrity. However, for channel partners to gain these long-term relationships, they need to become successful in winning contractual business. This can be done by looking at their current marketing strategies and adapting them to suit the shifting marketplace. www.brother.co.uk IT managers from different verticals want to speak to someone who has equal knowledge about their sector ...continued