This week Jim Smith, IT sales specialist for managed network services with ASI Business Solutions in Dallas shares his dealership’s most notable sale of the week.
What was your most notable sale this week?
Smith: We are providing a depth of knowledge and talent to a client’s over-worked IT department. We’re picking up their Help Desk and providing them with on-site support on a scheduled basis. Another thing we’re working on with them that hasn’t closed yet is a project to refresh all of their networking switches throughout their infrastructure.
Who bought it?
Smith: An educational institution with a staff of 225 plus students.
Why did the customer choose it?
Smith: This is going to relieve the pressure on their two-person IT department that supports to do more high-level things, work on budgets, talk about planning, and coordinate with other folks in that organization.
How long did this sale take to close?
Smith: Months. For things like this the relationship has to be built and it takes quite a while to actually lay the foundation to build on software, it’s a huge trust factor because if you pull the wrong wire you blow up their entire infrastructure. People take that seriously and they’re very meticulous in their investigations of who they want to work with. It has to be a price fit, a culture fit, and a good intellectual fit from a knowledge and deliverable standpoint, and they have to know that when something breaks and they place a phone call you’re going to be there for them.
