The leaders of four channel partners join Yankee Group's Steve Hilton to discuss what it takes to be successful in today's dour economic and emotional times.
Each month, SMB expert Steve Hilton of Yankee Group answers real reader questions about small and midsize business technology in Ask Steve.
"The nation's economy will be in shambles throughout 2009," laments the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet. Juxtapose such sentiment with the euphoria of Vegas slot machine winners and you'll appreciate the channel partner panel I moderated in March at the 2009 Channel Partners Conference & Expo. We put four channel partner CEOs, presidents, and founders in front of several hundred of their peers and asked them what it takes to be successful in dour economic and emotional times.
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This month, Ask Steve presents some practical advice from Laura Bernstein of CRA, Steven Gerhardt of D&M Enterprise Group, David Goodwin of Advanced Technology Consulting (ATC), and Ben Stiegler of Synertel.
We discussed successful and not-so-successful tactics in five categories, and we'll cover all five below.
Customer Segments
Tough times cause us to rethink the types of customers we serve. Are we wasting our time with existing segments? Are there adjacent customer segments demanding our time? Bernstein and CRA drive communications costs out of her customers' businesses. She's found that two unexpected segments -- CLECs and subs -- make good customers for CRA's solutions. She believes her supply-chain-based segments make good customers because increasing efficiencies and lower costs are absolutely critical for their selling models to their customers. Gerhard and D&M take a holistic view of their selling proposition in relying almost exclusively on referral-based selling. In essence, he relies on exponential growth, believing a happy customer is key to more referral-based customers.
Next Page: 4 More Tactical Areas
