What You Missed: Sales Advice From the “IT Guy”.
Maybe you are in sales, and you are reading this blog. Most people would generically classify me in IT. I might argue we are all in sales, but I’m not going to insult your intelligence.
Instead, I’m going to tell you what you are missing. I’m going to tell you what I see almost every single sales person walk by in every single ‘assessment‘, and what they always fail to counsel their clients in every single interview. It is low hanging fruit. It amazes me.
We let our clients browbeat us with price, or features, or some misperceived value they have stuck in their head which is often only slightly true.
Can I get an ‘amen‘ here?
So are you in sales, or are you in education? Let me ask this another way: Are you a baby-sitter, or are you the most educated person on how documents move in and through your client’s organization?
How can you know your client’s business better than they do?
This is a fair question. After all, you aren’t looking at their P&L, and most likely they aren’t going to show it to you - even if you are a “consultant” to their business.
What’s your next best alternative?
Ask questions - lots of questions. You job is to uncover truth… and you have to be passionate about:
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Helping your client’s business like it is your own.
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Seeking truth.
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Showing your client what truth is in their business.
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Being willing to walk if they can’t or won’t commit.
Armed with truth (answers) clients have to be prepared about what they are going to hear. Some, many, will be in flat denial. So you have to ask why they called you in.
And here’s where the turn comes that you are missing.
Very few clients are really solving security problems relating to documents. Oh, everyone talks about security - and sure you can sell them the latest whiz-bang data-overwrite kit for their do-everything-but-make-coffee paperweight in the “copy room”.
But did you SOLVE their security issue?
You have to understand that security is not a 1-stop shop. It is like that thing you try to present to your clients called a “document strategy” right? Well, this is part of that.
The client has to take ownership of this overall strategy for it to be effective (see point on flat denial) and commit to doing something about it. That is the hard part.
Here’s a softball… sure your clients have firewalls at the gate, anti-virus loaded across their swath of computers, data-security kits, and they might even have “remote monitoring services” (this is where you say, “ooohhh - aaahhhh!”).
But what are they doing to secure that piece of paper coming out of that printer, copier or fax?
Folks, paper is a preferred method of information conveyance for a reason - it’s PORTABLE…
That nice, little 3-page document can be neatly folded and put right inside your pocket and there is not a thing they can do about it - or is there? This could be sales leads, or lease documents, HR records, or that oh-so valuable P&L they didn’t want you to see (but your Accounting Manager just sold it to your competitor).
“No, that would never happen in my company,” the client exclaims! (see point on flat denial - again).
So is it that easy? Maybe I am over-simplifying, but are you walking past security risks in your clients’ companies every day? With print auditing software, document management systems, and processes these risks can be greatly reduced (and help your client sleep a little easier at night).
Think about giving control back to your clients, about protecting their informational property. There’s what you missed - take it from the IT guy.
Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.
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ChangeForge... a catalyst to affect the paradigm by Ken Stewart is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.changeforge.com. -
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