Net@Work 2002

October 1, 2002 -- "Selling Technology Features today is a mark of a loser" Robert Swanson, President of DELTA MAX declared today at the annual sales conference of MOCA, Net@Work 2002.

"Customer executives are more and more demanding that their technology partners provide REAL Solutions to well defined problems, not just push new products."

America's top computer resellers heard Swanson describe a new facet of computer sales which is rapidly separating the profitable companies from those in which the end of their business is rapidly coming into view. To move new products and services into the marketplace today, technology companies cannot be simply box movers transacting business with IT Directors based on the customer's latest business initiative.

Technology companies, to be visible partners to Presidents and CEO's, must help those execs find and define company problems and issues, and assist in the selection of the solutions available.

Since most computer resellers are simply that, resellers of technology, their focus has been on the product features and the costs of ownership, which of course appeal to IT Directors who have already had initiatives presented to them by their management.

But, the major decisions of those initiatives, the "what" and "why" of the company problem or issue, have already been identified and a particular solution defined, by the customer, OR the customer and some other vendor. Thus, the product resellers are merely representing vendors as order takers and price cutters, and are not "Solutions Providers", as most of them claim.

"Most reseller Account Managers do not have a clue as to what applications are planned for the boxes they are selling, why those applications have been chosen, which of the application solutions have been chosen and why, nor the basic customer problems or issues which are being addressed. They are like clerks at a high-powered hardware/plumbing retail store, who can tell you why their boxes are good, but cannot discuss why you should use the box at all because they do not know what your problems are.

Thus, the Account Managers become order takers and price-cutters, and the term 'Solutions Provider' which so many have adopted, is merely a laughable euphemism."

There are only 2 ways to increase a customer’s "Perceived Value" of a proposed technology initiative:

Increase Benefits (Revenue, Services, etc.)
Lower Cost (Cheaper Components, Fewer People, etc.)

A “High Value” Sale Has:

Large Benefits Package to the Customer
High Margin to the Solution Provider

CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Business Security Enhancement, The Mobile Business and The New Storage Challenges were all discussed as to their generation of High Value Sales opportunities.

Swanson described the new opportunities in terms of the Two Basic Functions of all Businesses:

Innovation and Marketing.

Lowering cost as a selling focus addresses neither, while increasing benefits addresses both.

To convey the business advantages of the hot Issues above, he described how resellers can organize and approach these new opportunities today, as the economy turns around and businesses and other organizations begin buying again. He predicted that the "Good Old Days" of high hardware and software margins were gone forever, and waiting for them to return was like "the guy who fell off the top of the Empire State building. As he passed the 65th floor, someone asked him how he was doing. His reply: OK so far."

"Now is a great time," he said, "to move your business into the product/service arenas which will provide returns now and in the near future, not continue to relive your dreams of past days of IT departments buying technologies of the moment. You have a great opportunity here today which is disguised, as always, as a serious challenge."

MOCA is one of America's top distributors of computer systems and software technologies, and is the newest division of Arrow Electronics.

DELTA MAX is a Convergence Consulting company based in Newport Beach, California, with diverse capabilities in computer and entertainment industry-related technologies and systems, as well as entertainment content generation, such as feature films, video/TV/DVD presentations, or Internet Streaming Convergences.

Robert Swanson is President of DELTA MAX, and the originator of the term "E-Channel", which describes the functions of computer marketing and supply channel process automation over the Web.

Robert Swanson addresses top MOCA Resellers ... "Selling High Value Solutions"