How To Find Customers

Finding new clients is a high priority for VARs and solution providers even in the best of economic times. In tough times like now, developing new business takes on an even greater sense of urgency. Without a steady stream of new customers, VARs can quickly find themselves in trouble.

Fortunately, there are plenty of steps VARs and solution providers can take to drum up new business among small, midmarket and large companies. Many of these efforts can apply to all the market segments, and all are worth considering at a time when finding new customers is so critical to business success.

VARs are deploying these strategies to actively expand their customer bases, and they note that finding new sources of revenue is a key business objective not only to help weather near-term economic challenges, but for long-term viability.

"New customers are an essential component to the long-term growth and the sustainability of our business," said Steve Johnson, president of Optimus Solutions, an Atlanta-based VAR that markets networking, server, storage and other solutions from vendors including IBM Corp., White Plains, N.Y., Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., and Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash. "The minute you stop looking for new customers, you're dependent on [existing] customers that could become stagnant," Johnson said.

Tom Sweeney, chairman and CEO of Incentra Solutions Inc., a Boulder, Colo., provider of storage, networking, security and server products and professional services, said creating new ways to find customers was an integral part of the company's three-year business plan, which it put together last fall.

Shortly after that, concerns about the health of the economy began to grow, "and the importance of finding new customers went up considerably. Now it's critical," Sweeney said.

New Customer Focus
One effective way that VARs and solutions providers can find new clients is by creating specialized groups dedicated solely to locating new sources of business.

Each year, Optimus Solutions hires a group of young professionals, fresh from colleges and universities, for a two-year program designed to help the company locate new customers. Optimus recruits the professionals mostly from local business schools in the Atlanta area and puts them on the payroll, with the understanding that they're free to leave the company after the two-year period. Most who join the program end up staying with the company, Johnson said.

As part of the deal, Optimus provides education and training for team members, explaining what the company is trying to accomplish through the team—scouting out new customers.

The program launched seven years ago and has been a huge success. The team generated about $10 million worth of business for Optimus in 2007, Johnson said. "The vendors love it; these [team members] are the brightest and most competitive folks."

Other VARs have also had success in having new business development specialists work with their sales forces. Artech Information Systems LLC, a Cedar Knolls, N.J., company that provides IT staff augmentation and consulting, project management and business process outsourcing services for commercial and government clients, formed a New Business Development team that's charged with reaching out to customer prospects.

The team simultaneously supports Artech sales personnel who also make new contacts and try to attract new business. "This ties non-centralized sales efforts to centralized New Business Development management, ensuring a cohesive effort and guidance for further engaging each prospect," said Antonio Carrion, marketing and communications manager at Artech.

Next: Networking For Success