Making Sense of IT

For solution providers, failure to get your message across to a client can be even worse,it can mean the loss of a sale. The key to good communication: Be clear, concise, professional and prepared when meeting with business clients.

"I do a bit of research before I go to the initial meeting," says Todd Barrett, networking sales manager at CPU Sales and Service, a Waltham, Mass.-based APC solution provider. "I guess they are used to a salesperson walking in and the first question being, 'What do you do?' It's Selling 101. Go to its Web site, print out the 'About Us,' and spend 30 seconds learning about a prospective client's company," Barrett suggests.

And that's just for starters. Here are four more tips that are nothing to sneeze at.

Know Your Audience

When tackling a sale, there are two sides to consider: the IT side and the line-of-business side. Typically, business managers see it, want it and have to have it, says Tom Villani, vice president of product management at McLean, Va.-based MicroStrategy, a business intelligence software company. IT, however, usually wants to build and have a hand in the project.

"The most successful organizations,and we see this industrywide,are the ones that have a clear understanding of the business need, matched specifically to what the IT department can deliver," he says.

Also, you may need to help them understand each other internally, says Mary-Alice Colen, chief evangelist at Cambridge, Mass.-based Interwise, a provider of interactive enterprise communications. "In many cases, the business buyers don't want to deal with the technology aspect," she says. "They just want it to work."

Ensuring your audience comprises all parties, however, is crucial. Villani suggests organizing representatives from three distinct classes of executives for your initial meeting. First are the "champions," the line-of-business managers who translate the technology into flexibility and usability. They are on a budget and have something to fix fast. Next are the "maintainers," the CIOs or IT directors. Getting something fixed fast will make this group's job easier and get it back on track faster. Third are the "funders," the presidents or CFO-level executives whose overall goal is meeting a budget with a well-thought-out solution.

"When the expectations are correctly aligned among those three executive lines, you can achieve a substantial amount of success," Villani says.

Bring Along Your Vendor

No matter how sharp your sales team may be, it can only benefit from strong backup support to close the deal. So it's usually a good idea to bring along a knowledgeable vendor partner to meet the business managers.

Bringing a vendor partner to a client meeting has a twofold advantage. First, it gives the client an opportunity to see who will be providing the tools and technologies that will be used for the project, and it shows that the vendor has faith in its solution-provider partner.

"It's imperative the end user knows we completely back our solution providers," says Kevin MacRitchie, vice president of worldwide technical operations at Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif. "We measure our success by how our customers' level of satisfaction with our solution providers increases."

Second, and perhaps more important, is the added expertise a knowledgeable vendor rep can bring to the negotiating table. Having vendor support at a meeting offers the client a chance to talk to an expert who absolutely knows that specific product inside and out, and can support solution providers with regular technical education.

"Our vendors always update us, but I recall about 30 percent of that information, which is more than enough to ask qualifying questions of my customers. There's nothing more valuable to me than bringing my vendor," Barrett says. "I've closed every opportunity I've brought my APC representative on."

For example, last May a large university in Massachusetts contacted Barrett with concerns about power protection for its data center, which had been experiencing power fluctuations and outages. The customer wanted to be sure it could keep downtime to a minimum. Recognizing the potential complexity of the project, Barrett contacted his APC representative, who went to the client's offices to review the situation. In less than 24 hours, Barrett was able to create a proposal, present it to the client and receive the order. During the next two weeks, APC also helped manage and implement the project.

"Without their expertise and willingness to react quickly, we may have lost this opportunity to a competing product," Barrett says. "Eleven months later, the customer has maintained 100 percent power uptime."

Recognize Tech-Savvy Clients

While it's important that you explain your solution in understandable terms to a business manager, never underestimate that person's technical knowledge. In fact, that's one of the worst things a solution provider can do, some say.

"Many [business executives are tech- familiar," says David Roudebush, area vice president of alliances at Peregrine Systems, San Diego. "They have seen and understand the solutions that have had a positive impact, and those that have not."

Joseph McLaughlin, vice president of North American sales at Interwise, finds that most midlevel to lower-level senior executives are familiar with the technologies affecting their businesses, which gives them a greater sense of a solution's value.

"That said, most executives care about the business requirements of the technology vs. the actual technology that has to be implemented," he says. "They are becoming more savvy, but still want the job done better, faster and cheaper."

But remember, while a tech-savvy business manager can initially seem like a blessing, it can also keep you from meeting the client's goals, simply because that person may have his or her own view of what needs to be done from a technological standpoint.

"We have had to go in and re-educate a client who has read up on someone else's opinion," McLaughlin says. "It brings them back to center, so they are not jaded in one respect or another."

To clear up any misconceptions, solution providers should not hesitate to offer business managers references to previous projects. After all, a solution provider's word may be strong, but a fellow customer's sharing his or her own experiences could prove to be invaluable.

Be Honest

Nothing turns off a potential client more,and could ultimately lead to a bad referral,than a solution provider who refuses to admit he or she doesn't have the right tools for the job.

"The sign of a good [solution provider is one who can admit that what they have is not right for me," says Rob Lamb, director of marketing at Telekenex, a San Francisco-based connectivity solution provider that is a client of CallTower, a Cisco partner also in San Francisco. "I think every salesperson could build better relationships by having a little 'devil's advocate' attitude with a customer. Be realistic about the value of your product as it applies to [the customer's situation, not your marketing materials."

Anthony Prochaska, network administrator at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, based in Rolling Meadows, Ill., knows that scenario all too well. A tech-savvy client himself, Prochaska would rather forget a recent experience with a solution provider that entailed a firewall implementation for a group of Web servers. "The whole project went wrong," he says. "Initially, they talked a very good game. In the end, I came to believe that they completely lied and had absolutely no experience."

The result of the solution provider's deception, he says, was that a relatively short project turned out to take nearly twice as long. Finally, the VAR was let go. "I have a real problem when I am paying 'X' amount per hour, and you are learning on my time," Prochaska says. "If I wanted that, I'd do it myself."

Fortunately for Prochaska, Subject, Wills and Co. (SWC), an Oak Brook, Ill.-based consulting firm, stepped in. SWC demonstrated its expertise almost immediately by bringing its technology consultant to an initial meeting. "He knew hands-down what he was talking about," Prochaska says. "He was very professional at a sales level, but still a tech guy. It was a nice mix."

The consultant's confidence,

Prochaska says, made him comfortable. He was ready to talk the talk and go through the steps, "which is essential, even more so on the CFO level," he says. "They may not know the technology, maybe they just need the bottom line, but they also need to walk away feeling the VAR can do the job." n