The channel doesn’t work in a vacuum. No one develops solutions or platforms without some level of end user input or testing—at least if they want to succeed. That insight and feedback is essential to honing a company’s portfolio of offerings and, more importantly, it’s value proposition. But not every business has the customer base or the time required to get that level of information.
That’s where your industry association comes in. CompTIA recently assembled a group of business professionals with key roles in the IT procurement process to share with one another their needs, likes, pet peeves and overall reasons for working with certain tech companies. Members of this new End User Commission came together this week at CompTIA's Annual Member Meeting and began sharing some of their valued insight. They discussed the business relevance of IT and spent a significant amount of time focusing on issues that affect channel companies.
First off, members were asked how they prefer to interface with tech companies. “It starts with a strong value proposition,” says Joseph Emfield, owner of GSE Machining. “I want them to be honest about what they can provide. No sales gimmicks, just the real information. I want to work with the person who knows most about my business, someone who researched my company before making the sales call. They should have looked at what similar businesses in our SIC (standard industrial classification) code need.” In other words, providers and vendors who do their homework have a distinct advantage with Emfield and other business leaders.
That seemed to be universally accepted in the group. John Cronin, senior digital marketing manager for Brookfield Residential, says he respects those who “tailor their conversations to meet our needs. The sales process should end quickly if they don’t offer what customers are looking for.” Elizabeth Frances, with White Pines County Nevada, echoed that sentiment. "As the finance director, I look for those with the ability to identify things I may be overlooking, things that a CIO may not.” Classified as essentially frontier, her community has some rather unique issues, including limited internet access and an extensive distance that separates them from support personnel.
“We depend on local devices. For example, we lost power Friday and our server was down. Our treasurer was literally turning away taxpayers who wanted to pay their taxes. When we lose connectivity, we are out of business.” Companies that pitch them cloud or virtual services without making an onsite visit likely won’t understand their situation. They also won’t earn their business.
Honest Communication is Essential
Connecting on a professional level is crucial in the IT services space, or with any B2B relationship for that matter. You have to know what customers like and what drives them crazy. Members of the End User Commission were happy to share some of their personal pet peeves, including Lori Bruzek, technology director of Cedar Rapids School District. “I really dislike those who disappear after the sale, who seem to go quiet until it comes time to renew the contract.”
Bill Sanborn of LFB USA, a Biotech company in Framingham, MA that outsources almost all its IT operations, dislikes companies that fail to disclose all the potential issues and costs up front. “We had one ISP that, after many cycles and meetings, finally acknowledged they had no point of service in our building, after assuring us all the time that they did. Their final proposal included costs to build the infrastructure. Basically, they lied.”
“If I had a dollar for every SEC company that wanted us to take an audit, I’d be ridiculously rich,” says Joe Priestley, IT manager of Cornbelt Energy. I simply can’t take those cookie cutter or scripted calls anymore. There has to be some sort of differentiation.”
What Does Work?
It would be hard to cover all the issues end users have in one blog, but there was one central recommendation: communicate effectively. That starts with a focused message to prospective clients in the sales process and carries on through the relationship. That looks different for different customers. “An informal RFP process works best for me,” says Armin Roeseler, CIO of DirectBuy, Inc. “When selecting the final vendor, this helps me understand the pricing and all the important factors. The companies willing to do that can win my business, those who won’t, don’t.”
That process should be further refined based on the group’s discussion. “When we put out an RFP, we just ask for best and final up front,” says Cathy Johnson, Chief Administrative Officer for accounting and business consulting firm Terry Lockridge & Dunn. “This shows the IT firms that our company is serious.”
Those are just a few of the recommendations coming out of the End User Commission meeting. From non-disclosure agreements to avoiding the “what’s your budget” discussions, the group had a lot of choice advice for CompTIA members.
