Handling Blade Server Objections

Rob Wolfe, founder and executive director of Avcom Technologies Inc., a solution provider in Sunnyvale, Calif., on how to overcome the challenges of selling blade servers to midmarket customers:

START A DIALOGUE: At this point in time, even in the midmarket, knowledge of blades is pervasive. Most IT decision makers have at least some knowledge or have been exposed to blades. However, midmarket customers might not understand how technology has evolved with blades, such as adding virtualization software. It's critical that you educate your customers.

EXPLAIN THE BENEFITS: Let your customers know about the benefits blade servers offer. They're easier to manage, for one thing: It's simpler to install and maintain instead of trying to handle some of the rack-mount or tower systems out there. In general, you're consolidating your data center. Instead of having all these machines, you put, for example, 20 boxes onto a single blade. There's also the issue of money—let your clients know that by using blades they can lower power bills, reduce cooling costs and shrink their footprint in the data center.

RECOGNIZE THAT BLADES AREN'T ALWAYS BEST: Know your customer. You need to realize that blades are not for everyone. Consider your customer's architecture, their growth plans—blades may not be appropriate. There are some end users who actually prefer lots of boxes. Sometimes it's the philosophy that they've always had boxes and they don't want to change.

DON'T PUSH TOO HARD: If the customer knows what they want, they're the decision makers. We're just trusted advisers and we have to respect that. Give your customers your educated opinions and present the facts, but realize that at the end of the day, they're going to vote with their pocketbooks. If you walk into a car showroom and tell the salesperson you want a two-door car and he shows you an SUV and explains why he thinks it's better, that's one thing. But if you still really want the two-door car and he wants to make a sale, he needs to show you that two-door car.