Five Things To Know When Picking A Distributor
1. Know your partner's history. Be sure the business is healthy from a financial standpoint.
10 Tips For VAR Customer Service
Ten tips for bettering customer service in the Internet age.
Customer Service In the Internet Age
Pop Quiz: What element in business can take a healthy, vibrant company and kill it?
CFOs Stingy on IT Budgets
U.S. companies are expected to increase their IT budgets between 5 percent and 6 percent this year, a Merrill Lynch analyst said earlier this month.
Managing Your (Virtual) Inventory
It has often been said that many hands make light work--not so shabby an adage, even for today's e-business supply chain. Distributors are coming to the table with some pretty sophisticated strategies for sharing the workload. The virtual business model allows e-retailers to provide their customers with a broad selection of products, great prices and fast delivery, all without owning one square inch of warehouse real estate.
Giving Your Customers Some Satisfaction
Measuring customer satisfaction can be a difficult challenge for solution providers because it depends on such factors as the technology deployed, the stated ROI and the impact on the overall efficiency of the organization. One way solution providers can succeed, however, is by ensuring top-notch customer service to their own large corporate customers and delivering promised solutions efficiently.
When Your Customers' Sales Decline, You Can Still Come Out On Top
When your customers' sales decline and in turn their IT spending starts slowing, the worst thing a solutions provider can do is panic. Take a deep breath and a long look at your business: You can minimize the damage if you focus on the essentials.
Selling Supply Chain Management: Integration Issues Slow Acceptance
Corporations deploying supply-chain management software to leverage the Internet in reducing procurement costs are finding the move toward electronic business more difficult than expected, a recent study showed.
How Do I Make Money If My Clients Are Buying Dell Computers
Our business is like the game of chess. Sometimes we're the White Knight, coming to the rescue of our Queen (client). Other times we're the Pawn of our King (vendors). Choose your strategy wisely, and you can always be the White Knight!
NetMarkets Are Attracting Small Businesses
Solution providers looking to serve the vast small-business market, take notice: Independent online marketplaces are becoming good targets for corporations looking to reach small businesses, a study shows.
Rethinking ROI
Some projects have become so important that companies are looking for new ways to measure their return on investment--or are dispensing with ROI studies completely.
Experiment: Buy The Competition!
In this, her latest article on Selling Against Dell, sales consultant Kendra Lee advises solutions providers on:
* How to check out your products and services against your competitors.
* How to think like a customer throughout the entire sales process.
* How to use this information to improve your offerings.
Jim Cecil's Cure For The Common Cold Call
After reading this multi-part series by sales consultant James Cecil, you will know:
* How to nurture customers.
* How to develop clear business goals.
* How to win top-of-mind from clients.
How To Build Lifelong Customer Relationships
Once you have completed this article by leading sales consultant Jim Cecil, you will have learned:
* How to use customer relationship management software to improve your business processes.
* Some resources to guide your CRM implementation.
* The reasons behind drip irrigation marketing.
How Distributors Can Help Resellers Profit From The Promise Of SANs
When you have completed this article, you will understand:
* The role SANs play in today's market.
* Some of the obstacles facing SANs sales.
* How VARs can profit from selling these solutions.
How to Generate More--And Better--Sales Leads
After completing this article, you will know:
* How to generate and close high volume, high quality sales leads.
* How to design a natural relationship building process.
* How to determine the value of the services you provide.
How To Play The ‘Power Lunch’ Game
When you have completed this article, you will know:
* How to use the personal touch to create a memorable meeting.
* How the power of good food and conversation can be more persuasive than even the most colorful PowerPoint presentation.
* How going the extra mile can impress potential customers or vendor partners.
Five-Part Workshop: How To Build A Linux E-Commerce Site
In this five-part workshop, Dallas-based integrator Tom Adelstein offers background on e-commerce and discusses what is needed to build one. At the end of Part 1, you will know:
The difference between e-commerce and e-business
The minimum needed to set up an e-commerce site
What you can do from a hosting service vs. hosting your own site.
(Subsequent parts to this workshop--which look at banking issues, the role of databases and search engines, and links to Open Source sites with free tools--link from this introductory seminar).
How To Profit By Outsourcing Training
At the end of this seminar, you will know:
* Opportunities that the Internet affords in the service area.
* How you can resell training through outsourcing.
* How to use Internet aggregators to target mail campaigns to clients.
How To Sell Hi-Tech In The 21st Century
At the end of this seminar you will know:
* The strategies sales executives say will be successful.
* How to apply them.
* How customer needs are changing.
How To Sell Training
At the end of this seminar by Michael Dryall, you will know:
* How to sell the value of training, not training itself.
* The value of training that you should target in advertising and promotion.
* The "sizzle" that will make the sale.
How To Close Training Sales Proposals
If you sell training as part of your service set, Michael Dryall has tips and strategies. At the end of this seminar, you will know:
* Why most sales proposals fail?
* How and why you should establish a personal connection with the potential client.
* The questions you must ask to close a successful proposal.
How To Beat Direct Sellers At Their Own Game
Using resources that are readily available, savvy resellers can duplicate the direct model to beat direct sellers at their own game. At the end of this seminar, you will know how to:
* Use your distributors' build-to-order programs.
* Finetune your own sales effort to "sell direct."
* Determine customer needs to deliver more for less.
What To Do When the Customer Says ‘No’
When you have completed this seminar, you will know how to:
* Readily identify the customers who will be the 'hard sells.'
* Win back hard-to-sell customers from direct marketers.
* Adjust your approach to relationship selling to compete with direct marketers.
How To Make An Effective Sales Presentation
When you have completed this seminar, you will know:
* How to structure presentations that capture and hold attention.
* How to manage the client's attention span.
* The power of the pause.
How To Use A Cost-Benefit Analysis
When you have completed this seminar, you will be able to:
* Read and interpret the results of a cost-benefit analysis.
* Employ "what-if" values to produce a proposal that meets client expectations.
* Emphasize solutions benefits to justify a high-margin on your solution.
How To Do A Cost-Benefit Analysis
When you have completed this seminar, you will know how to:
* Calculate the value-add of your solution to justify high-margin sales.
* Deal with depreciation and hurdle rates when quoting a job.
* Present data that establishes the clients' returns on investing in your proposals.
How To Build High-Margin Proposals
When you have completed this seminar, you will know:
* How to give proposals a winning edge with proof your project will cut a client's costs and/or raise their revenue.
* How to use public and private data to produce that proof.
* The six "must-dos" for successful consultative selling.
Workshop: How To Close High-Margin Sales
This workshop focuses on how to sell value, not products. When you have completed this seminar, you will know:
* The approach you must take to pitch high-margin sales at the highest levels of an organization.
* How to calculate the value in your proposal ,br>* How to analyze your value proposition and close the sale.
How To Sell High Tech To Small Biz
When you have completed this seminar, you will know how to:
* Identify the technology needs of small business clients.
* Outline specifically what technology can and cannot do for the client.
* Develop a plan of action.
* Manage the client's expectations and provide sufficient support to insure continued satisfaction.
How To Sell Against Dell
When you have completed this seminar, you will know how to:
* Determine at what point in the purchasing cycle the client most needs your help.
* Establish ongoing, "Dell-proof," customer relationships.
* Preserve the desktop sale.
