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By Greg Schloemer, President, DocuWare Corp.

Gone are the days in the office equipment world when you could make a sale based on your smile, a pat on the back, and a fair price. Also gone are the days when you could talk to just one person in order to get a decision to buy or not to buy.

In today's technology solution selling world, the sales process has become very complex. The customer is no longer one person making the buying decision. The customer is, in reality, a team of employees, and each of these employees has a different agenda to be addressed before a buying decision can be made. This team usually includes an employee charged with finding a solution, and more than likely your promoter; a department head from the area where the solution is being implemented; an IT person; and a "C" level person who justifies the investment.

The office equipment solutions provider must present to this team an image of competency and understanding. They must make sure that the customer, from the moment of first contact, feels that not only this is the right product for them as individuals, but also that this is the right decision for the entire organization. This feeling of comfort must be maintained throughout the entire sales process. The moment that the customer asks a question that the solutions provider stumbles over — that is the moment a potential sale is lost. That is the moment when the customer starts to question the competency of the solutions provider, and, perhaps more importantly, begins to question the solutions provider's organization and the recommended product. To compound matters even further, the damage is far worse when presenting to an existing customer. Stumble here, and not only do you lose a sale, but you lose years of future business because that account is most likely going to your competition.

So what is the secret of successful office equipment solutions providers? One of the most obvious, yet often overlooked, parts of any successful business, office equipment dealer or not, are the people who represent that business. These companies realize that the people who represent the product to the ultimate customer — the user — must be of the highest professional quality. The quality or competency of your people determines how the customer will view your product and your company. And the customer's view is critical to your success. Manage the view and you manage your success.

The question is: How do successful solutions providers develop their public facing people, both salespeople and technicians? In today's business climate, it is imperative that an office equipment solutions provider looks for vendor partners that are able to provide not only a high quality product or service, but also can provide the necessary initial, and ongoing, training needed to ensure success. Ongoing is a key statement here, because as you know, technology products are constantly updated and upgraded. Ongoing is also important because even the basic underlying technology changes. The idea of being trained or certified by a vendor is nothing new. One may simply look to Microsoft as one prime example of issuing technical certifications, such as its MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer).

So how do office equipment solutions providers find those partners? They need to look for vendors that offer ongoing product training (certification) in addition to a reliable, technologically advanced product. Vendors should be prepared to make a commitment to ongoing education to gain product, solution, and sales consultancy knowledge. This investment, this commitment, to ongoing training and certification usually far outweighs any financial commitment required.

The reason this is so important is because, as your knowledge and competency increases, you will find:

• Your customer becomes more secure in their knowledge that your company is the right choice and of the highest quality.
• Your customer can see that you understand their business and, in particular, the business processes that their company uses.
• Based on that understanding, you can help your customer to make an informed decision as how to solve their challenges.
• Your customer is secure knowing that you will make recommendations that will work—the last thing they want is to purchase a product that cannot possibly do what they or their company wants it to do.
• Your customers are assured that you are capable of providing needed on-site support; from a solution requirement and implementation stand point, as well as for future needs. This includes installation, training and ongoing support.
• Your customers know that you are current on the latest and greatest product features from vendors in your industry.
• Your customer is assured that your company is stable and will be there to support their document needs today and tomorrow.

Plain and simple, the customer benefits by having a local professional who is able to provide the sales consulting skills, planning services, and technical support for their installation. More importantly, the end result is that by selecting the right vendor partner, you can begin to manage the customer's view of your employees, your company, and your solution. Remember, by managing your customer's view, you manage your success in selling solutions.

Greg Schloemer is president of DocuWare Corp.

SOURCE: Business Solutions Magazine