Time to Fight Back: 7 Survival Strategies For Tough Times

1. Find your customers' pain points.

Solution providers say, now more than ever, it's time to live up to their status as the trusted advisor. Sit down with all of your current customers and ask them where they are having trouble and how you can help. This is a good idea in the best of times; it's imperative in the worst of times. We are all in this thing together, and an advisor that can show his or her customer how to use IT to cut costs while remaining competitive will reap big dividends now and even bigger ones when the economy recovers.

2. Push leasing as a financing option.

Nobody in this market can afford to offer extended terms or suffer through slow-paying clients. Leasing nips these problems in the bud. The solution provider gets paid upfront and the customer doesn't have to deplete his cash with a large capital outlay. Leasing can jumpstart projects that may have been put on hold and be the competitive factor in closing new deals. Leasing is particularly attractive when the solution provider can bundle hardware, software and services into the deal. Leasing as a financing option has been slow to gain traction in the channel in the past, but it could be the credit vehicle of choice in the current recession.

3. Sell managed services.

Now is the time to demonstrate the economic benefits of managed services to customers both large and small. Managed services offer lower infrastructure and labor costs for customers worried about both. And they keep customers on the cutting edge of technology for a relatively low monthly fee. The analogy is, during hard times, sometimes its smarter to rent than to own. The economic crisis could well prove to be a tipping point for solution providers active in managed services solutions. Many capital budgets have simply hit the wall while managed services turns a long-term capital investment into a low-cost monthly fee with a service level agreement.

4. Play the green card.

Green isn't just a good idea; it's an economic necessity. Government and business are now mandating energy savings technology as a way to reduce costs. Couch every solution in those terms. Conducting energy audits for your customers is a great way to analyze their IT infrastructure in terms of energy costs and ways to reduce them. Consolidation and virtualization should be viewed in terms of energy savings. Product refreshes with new energy-saving processor technology is a good idea if you can demonstrate how quickly the customer can recoup their system costs through reduced energy consumption.

5. Pursue new verticals and technologies.

If solution providers aren't pursuing the healthcare market, they'd better get there quickly. Healthcare seems to be holding up better than any vertical, and its future bodes well with the new administration making it a top priority. Public sector markets in general, including K-12 schools and local government, are providing a cushion. On the technology front, thin clients, blade technology, including servers, PCs and storage and video conferencing are all in demand. These technologies reduce costs and show a quick return on investment. Solution providers are pushing them to clients as a way to stay competitive in a tough economy and to grow when the economy bounces back.

6. Highlight variable staffing alternatives.

Solution providers have the technical expertise and business experience to pinch hit when customers run up against a hiring freeze. For data center migration and other projects that can't wait, solution providers can jump in with a cost-effective alternative when customers don't have the headcount.

7. Stay flexible.

Keep pounding the pavement and be flexible. Creative financing. Money saving technologies. Solution providers say that hard work continues to pay off and willingness to do whatever it takes to close deals yields results. As one solution provider said, "People haven't stopped living; they are still willing to buy if you can show them a solution that eases their pain."