Tag: land and expand

Business, channel, Customer Focus

We don’t get asked for that

It’s not unusual to hear a business leader say that their customers do not ask for certain solutions.

So what does this tell us?

Should we rely on our customer to always ask us if we can help? It’s certainly a great place to be when we’ve become a trusted advisor.

But this isnt always the case. Often we’ve been pigeonholed as the network guys, or the desktop guys or whatever else.

Does this mean that they’re not seeing us as capable of offering something else? Probably. It could also mean that they’re engaged elsewhere with someone who has made an approach that’s caught their attention. The threat is that whilst they’re busy building trust elsewhere, they’re not spending time with us building trust.

So do you think you’re going to “stick to your knitting” or segue into positioning yourself as a trusted advisor where you’re always the “go to” guys?

Whenever you’re thinking about HOW TO GROW your business, just consider how you sell more things to more people, and start with those customers who’ve already said we trust you.

Business, channel, partnership, Sales, Selling

Are you a number one, or a number two?

Change or become irrelevant

As someone who gets to see a lot of new technology early, I’m often excited by the possibilities this affords our channel friends and colleagues.

How about you? Are you

1. Equally stoked by the opportunity of engaging with your customers to share an exciting new solution?

2. Not too fussed and prefer to stick to your core product or solution offer?

If you’re the second option here, then I’d urge you to consider this…

Your customers are investing in technology that you’re not providing and whilst they’re not talking to you, they’re building relationships and trust elsewhere. This carries risk for you as other suppliers are option 1 players and they’re following a LAND AND EXPAND strategy that will see them displacing you at some point.

Now let’s reconsider.. are you 1 or 2?