One of the truisms in business is that providing a product or service that lends itself to commoditization presents a challenge for the dealer/reseller. Commoditized products frequently see a large pool of providers, many of which are driven by price.
Thus, it can be said that while phones have become commoditized, unified communications (UC) systems are not. Certainly, price plays a role on some level, but for customers that crave the rich feature sets that UC offers, this presents an opportunity for technology purveyors to truly differentiate themselves from the pack.
While Verticomm doesn’t offer the cheapest solution, Mike Gilly—the firm’s division manager, communication services for the division of All Copy Products—believes the value points settle on the product, the reliability of the cloud and how the company supports it. He feels selling the value of your system is critical to maintaining margins and having a healthy business.
Connecting with clients, especially through support channels, is a significant differentiator for Verticomm. “Clients aren’t calling a 1-800 number, they’re calling into our dispatch,” he said. “We answer calls live and don’t leave people on hold for 30 minutes or an hour, as with some of the providers in the market. Our engineers are responsive and we develop a rapport with clients. We tend to assign the same engineers to clients so that they get a personal level of support. Plus, it’s local support.”
Another dealer that doesn’t bill itself as the cheapest option available is Coordinated Business Systems of Burnsville, Minnesota. Company President Kirk Studebaker believes that “what you sell will determine how you sell it,” and for Coordinated, that consists of a stable platform and a full-service experience for the customer. And for the ideal, target customer, the lowest price won’t always win the day.
“It is very important for our salespeople to understand who our customer is and who our customer isn’t,” Studebaker said. “They can buy the same platform for less money, but they will have a different experience. If consistency in personnel, rapid response and quick decisions don’t matter you probably aren’t our customer.”
While many providers push cloud-based offerings to their clients, Studebaker sees the value of providing the on-premise option. In some cases, the choice is less philosophical and more practical.
“Some places just can’t have a reliable cloud experience, either based on where they are located or the age of the infrastructure they are dealing with,” he added. “If the investment to upgrade infrastructure is similar to the investment in on-premise, that is the direction we will take them. If for whatever reason the infrastructure can’t be brought up to an acceptable level, we will move to on-premise.”
For a company such as Fraser Advanced Information Systems of West Reading, Pennsylvania, value selling is the cornerstone of its business. Identifying the challenges, frustrations and pain points associated with a prospect’s current vendor allows the dealer to stand out from the price-driven crowd, notes Melissa Confalone, vice president of sales.
On the subject of cloud versus on-premise, Confalone sees more acceptance/higher comfort levels in the market for cloud-hosted solutions. “Even if they have a working premise system, they are willing to discuss the issues with such a system,” she said. “If they are already working with a cloud provider, we find customers are willing to share their poor experience with support and customer service they are experiencing. By sharing information, we can work with them to build the solution that best meets their needs.”
