5 Habits Of The Most Successful VARs
By Jackie Prange, Content Marketing Specialist and Social Media strategist, TouchBistro
Habits — they either make you or break you, especially in the world of Value Added Resellers (VARs). In this article, we’ve outlined five habits of the most successful VARs as they have these down to a science. And to prove it, we’ve asked our top TouchBistro POS reseller, Wendell Au, to weigh in on how living and breathing these habits has helped pave his way to success.
- Personalized Sales Approach
It’s easy to get caught up in the product pushing side of the sales world, but this is one area where a successful VAR will stand out from the crowd. Regardless of how great your product or service is, no customer will make a purchase unless it’s in line with their business’s needs. Knowing and understanding a customer's unique needs is at the heart of a successful VAR.
These individuals take the time to ask relevant questions and actively listen to responses, without just jumping into a sales pitch. This customer centric attitude, in place of a strictly sales one, allows them to evaluate how their product or service will benefit their potential customers. Additionally, successful VARs’ sales propositions are rooted in what their customers are looking for when making a purchasing decision. By having a firm understanding of their customer’s unique needs, they can successfully show customers why buying from them is in their best interest, and in turn, offer their product or service as a solution.
Our top reseller, Wendell Au, narrows down the sales cycle to two key factors; inspire first, inform second. Since he’s working solely with restaurant industry clientele, he has a deeper understanding of his customers, their restaurant-specific pain points, as well as how he and his product can be utilized within the restaurant industry. He realizes the restaurant software he’s selling isn’t the only one on the market, but believes that if customers are shown the value of his product, and can understand how that value directly impacts their specific business, he has been successful. Humanizing the sales process in this way allows Wendell to understand how he can connect his product to each individual buyer.
- Self-Starter
The most successful VARs are internally motivated. With the hunger to succeed, they’re required to take initiative and operate as independents. They’re confident in themselves and their abilities, which allow them to make even the hardest decisions on their own accord. While the VAR role might feel like a one man show at times, this is no issue for a self-starter. Instead, they’re able to act decisively and effectively on their own with a “get it done” mindset. Persistence and determination are other key components of a VAR’s success as a self-starter, since they demonstrate the required skills to confront any obstacles that stand in the way of achieving their goals.
Wendell himself is a self-starter. As a restaurant software reseller, his customers’ hours of operation are by no means normal. Instead, he has to work around the best times to engage with a restaurant, whether that’s an 11 p.m. or a 5 a.m. meeting. Without being independently motivated or driven to succeed, Wendell wouldn’t be taking advantage of these late nights and really early mornings. If a customer isn’t ready to commit to the product at the time, he’ll make a note to revisit them a few months down the road. He attributes a lot of his wins in the restaurant industry to his self-starting and persistent habits.
- Strong Prospecting Strategy
Any good salesperson should have some understanding of the importance of prospecting, but a truly successful VAR knows that having a strong prospecting strategy makes all the difference when it comes to feeding their sales pipeline. They’re not aimlessly trying to sell a product or service; successful VARs come prepared with a comprehensive game plan in order to meet their goals. Prospecting generally falls into two categories: inbound and outbound. One inbound strategy that’s a must for successful VARs is a great website with relevant content that can boost search engine results (SEO). Traffic to your website can be generated organically via search results, by leveraging keywords, or through paid advertising (i.e. Google Adwords). Aside from a great website, having a strong online presence in all ways, shapes, and forms is vital to attracting more inbound leads. However, most VARs’ outbound strategies are more in line with traditional sales tactics; door-to-door, cold calling, email campaigns, etc. Successful VARs are the ones that develop great calling scripts, email templates, and engaging content for their campaigns.
Although Wendell sees the value of inbound strategies, he chooses to be more old school with his prospecting strategy. More often than not, he focuses primarily on his outbound strategy. A “boots on the ground” kind of guy, Wendell prefers face-to-face contact whenever possible; he’s a big fan of the door-to-door sales tactic. Even in terms of reaching out to potential customers once they’ve expressed interest online, he sets a goal for himself to call people back in five minutes or less. By doing so he believes he can gauge potential interest more accurately, while also forming a genuine connection with his prospects.
- Leveraging Advocates For Referrals
Most businesses have a handful of diehard customers, but a successful VAR not only knows who these customers are, but the power they hold when it comes to attracting future customers. If you have a customer who’s very vocal about their positive experience with your product or service, their voice should be heard. The most successful VARs leverage these raving fans as a way to grow their business. By treating these customers like royalty, whether via impeccable customer service, or giving them exclusive access to product sneak peaks or free upgrades, they’ll be more than happy to refer new clients. Bonus: they’ll take care of a large portion of your sales cycle in the process. Referrals aren’t an afterthought for successful VARs. They are concerned with proactively working on their “referability” and never let a positive customer experience go to waste. Instead, they’ll follow up on any positive feedback with, “Thanks so much! Would you mind sharing your experience with a contact of mine who is also looking at using the product,” or by going to the extent of implementing a referral bonus program.
In successful VAR fashion, Wendell realizes the value in each referral, and claims that the referral process itself is similar to yard work. He explains, “Planting is what takes the least amount of effort. The majority of your energy is put into watering, and eventually harvesting.” In this sense, getting a customer on board with your product or service is the easiest part. It’s investing the time and energy into providing them with excellent service, and ensuring their experience, as a whole is top-notch that will take up most of your bandwidth. But by doing so, these happy customers can act as advocates for future customers.
- Partnering With Other Businesses In Your Industry
A successful VAR will make use of other businesses in their industry. Partnering with these businesses provides them with a wider reach for potential customers. For example, if a VAR is selling software to restaurants, they could partner with a kitchen supply store. This partnership would mutually benefit both parties, because they both share a target audience, but would not compete with each other because they’re selling very different products. The most successful VARs would go so far as to implement a lead sharing partnership; this sort of agreement works on a “you show me your leads, I’ll show you my leads” basis, resulting in an increase in potential customers for both parties.
Wendell has seen great success within the restaurant industry, as he was able to partner with a popular restaurant trade magazine to amplify his lead generation efforts. While Wendell reaps the benefits of advertising his services in this restaurant magazine, their partnership works on a mutually beneficial lead generation agreement. For instance, Wendell acquires leads from subscribers of his partner’s industry magazine and, in return, provides his partner with a fraction of his customer list whom are potential restaurant magazine subscribers. This is yet another instance of what makes Wendell a successful VAR; he saw an opportunity to expand his reach within his industry, took it, and found success.
Success doesn’t happen overnight. By adopting these five habits, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a successful VAR.
Want to learn more about Wendell or the reseller process in general? Visit TouchBistro’s Reseller page for more information.
Jackie Prange is a Content Marketing Specialist and Social Media strategist at TouchBistro. She covers the latest food, dining, and technology trends for the restaurant industry. A lover of all things coffee, Jackie’s hobbies include breakfast, lunch, and dinner.