NEEDS ANALYSIS

One of the principal challenges to resellers moving into this space, according to marketing manager for printer vendor Lexmark, Stephen Bell, is that resellers need to offer a solution to a problem which might not be recognised within the customer's operations.

"There aren't any customers out there today saying, 'I wish I has a document management solution then all my problems will be solved'," Bell said. "They are far more likely to be saying, 'it takes too long to capture data and transfer it internally, I'm losing information, and there seems to be a lot of cost associated with simple processes'."

In order to understand the notion better, marketing communications director at printer and projection vendor Epson, Michael Pleasants, said resellers should start looking at the market from a whole new perspective.

"Fundamentally, this is a shift from the reseller's perspective to the customer's perspective; it is all about providing a higher level of customer service," Pleasants said. "In this case, the reseller understands printers; their features and benefits, but what he or she may not understand is how the customer uses those printers in the workplace."

Country manager for print distributor InfoPrint Solutions Company, Rene Kisselbach, has a similar opinion. While printing vendors have traditionally focused on the qualities and features of individual machines, they now need to orientate themselves more towards customers and their internal business patterns.

"When we talk about solutions we talk about helping the customers address their pain points, many of which they may not even associate with a printing, or document management solution," Kisselbach said. "Resellers need to be able to look at how document management can influence workflow. We need to ask whether tasks can be carried out electronically so that a document doesn't need to be printed at all."

PITCHING TO EXECS

However, one of the key challenges in switching to a solutions sell is that it needs to be pitched at a strategic rather than an operational level.

While office supplies resellers would traditionally only communicate with the IT manager, a print solutions package needs the input and support of the executive, or it's unlikely to succeed. Hence the extended sales cycle associated with document management solutions, and the need to restructure the sales cycle to recognise the whole selling process, and not just the final sale.

"The guy who is chartered with managing the networks and keeping the hardware budget under control is only really interested in minimising his own costs," Lexmark's Bell said. "You need to get into a higher level of management to look for ways to cut costs overall while creating a competitive advantage in the marketplace."

Moreover, selling a solution involves a higher level of business analysis, stretching the sales cycle still further, and taking traditional box movers outside their comfort zone.

"It's really about building relationships outside the IT manager space and working with the IT manager to help him appeal to a power sponsor, someone on the executive, the CEO or CFO," Kisselbach said. "The reseller needs to establish and maintain those relationships and understand that companies work on these multiple relationships."

Kisselbach takes the solution sell so seriously, he has overseen a significant restructure with his own company to refocus the sales approach and better support resellers making the transition into this new market.

"It's not just about the product, it's about changing and restructuring selling methodologies, so as to be able to identify customer's pain points and create a solution which aligns with the strategic direction," he said.