What Works For You?

That&'s because there definitely are days when I know nothing short of a totally out-of the box brainstorm will help solve a particularly thorny problem. My guess is many of you often find yourself in a similar bind in your guises as business owners or managers. And perhaps your thorniest challenge is figuring out how to make your solution proposition resonate more loudly with customer prospects than anyone else&'s.

HEATHER CLANCY

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Can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

Yes, I&'m referring to that hotly debated topic, demand generation. Call it marketing, sales prospecting, whatever you like. The fact is, despite what some of your vendor partners may think, you and I know that solution providers are directly responsible for shaping a sizable chunk of IT budgets and brand decisions—indeed, much more so than first meets the eye.

Exclusive research conducted among close to 700 end-user organizations earlier this year by CMP Media&'s Channel Group (which publishes CRN) found solution providers influenced more than half the IT budgets specified by the surveyed companies. According to the survey, solution providers picked the specific brands about 76 percent of the time, while the IT decision makers responding to the poll said trusted IT advisers had added new technologies to about 61 percent of their implementations.

The most successful demand generators in the channel approach the problem creatively. How often have you heard of solution providers offering money-back guarantees, a simple but profound idea used by VoIP integrator Stormwood? And what customer wouldn&'t be happy to sit back and let their solution provider do the driving, as is the case with Sequel Data Systems, which has invested a cool half-million dollars in a customizable demo center that is housed in the back of a semi-truck?

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Demand generation doesn&'t have to be complicated, it just has to focus on building trust. You have only to read this week&'s cover package for evidence. Because that, ultimately, is the successful solution provider&'s most valuable asset: their intimate position not just as supplier but as adviser.

What&'s your secret to successful demand generation? HEATHER CLANCY, Editor at CRN, is looking for case study ideas at [email protected].