The most successful technology solution sell is the one that nails this sweet spot:
Thus as you shift from transaction sales, you’ll need to make a serious commitment not only to mastering the art of technology solution sales but also to …
- Developing significantly deeper relationships with your customers, and
- Accessing the technical skills that will enable you to tailor a mix of vendor solutions to fit your customers’ unique requirements.
How you go about this greatly depends on who you are. Over time, several routes have been pioneered — chiefly, hiring people who can undertake the transformation, acquiring an existing solutions provider, building solutions provider capability from scratch, and entering into partnership with an existing solutions provider with a proven history of success.
Each of these routes has its downsides, of course.
Hiring the right people takes time, and it’s difficult to know if you’ve really found the right folks who will stick with you.
An acquisition will give your transformation a kick — if you can afford it, have time to manage it, and understand how to integrate your business and someone else’s.
Building your own takes time and know-how and will likely delay your market entry.
That leaves partnering, which I’ll be talking about next time.
