About a week ago Dell Channel Group held several webinars where they shared the secrets to selling business laptops in this increasingly mobile and competitive world. While some of it sounded like “selling 101” (know your customer’s needs before you start selling), it did do a nice job of breaking the conversation down to six big ideas which any channel partner can use. It is pretty easy to sell a laptop, but selling the idea and strategy behind mobility is a lot different. Selling laptops lead to sales. Selling mobility leads to deep relationships, sales of hardware, and services. At the risk of oversimplification, here they are:
1. Find out what your customers are trying to accomplish: If they are battling IT complexity, make sure you sell those laptops with strong & centralized remote management features and security. If they are trying to manage costs, the answer is the same – laptops with embedded remote & centralized management tools lower the total cost of ownership.
2. Determine how laptops are being used: The usage environment says a lot about the type of laptop needed. A really mobile workforce requires lighter or more rugged laptops with advanced wireless, networking, and remote management capabilities. High performance use requires mobile workstations – not necessarily the lightest but certainly the most powerful. Standard office performance or limited mobility really points to small business laptops.
3. Assess what their IT environment looks like: High-end applications, centralized management, and flawless reliability & support really point to enterprise-class laptops (Latitude, Precision, and OptiPlex). Simple or non-standard environments call for small business laptops (Vostro), where most management is done at the laptop. And if the customer doesn’t have a centralized security or storage environment, there are great opportunities for partner services to standardize and protect.
4. Determine their level of understanding about laptops: Some customers will see a laptop as a critical element in a strategy to increase worker productivity. These are the ones that will be willing to pay for the features and support needed to protect and management them. Other customers see laptops as a way to un-tether people from their desks. These are the ones that are looking for more basic wireless and security features that are managed on the laptop (finger print readers, disk encryption, Wi-Fi catcher, etc.).
5. Assess their level of sophistication: Complex networks and more complex applications require business models like Dell Latitude laptops and Dell Precision Mobile Workstations. These models are specifically made for these types of uses. Simple networks and standard business applications require models like Vostro laptops & desktops or OptiPlex desktops.
6. Find out what they want to do themselves: This is both a hardware fit and services fit for the channel partner. The more your customers want your assistance – from simple deployment to managed services – the more you have an opportunity to sell services. More importantly, these kinds of services often provide visibility into the customer IT infrastructure, which can lead to even more opportunity.
Dell laptops come with the kinds of tools and features that allow a channel partner to deliver what their customer’s need, everything from self-managed laptops to enterprise-class ones with embedded remote management features. The replay of the webinar is available here, and it is certainly worth a listen. And Registered channel partners also have access to Dell’s Guide to Selling Laptops, Desktops, and Workstations, which can be found here, or you can look at the Easy Matrix Partner Tool here.
So in this environment, anyone can sell a laptop. The market wants them. But selling mobility can lead to much deeper relationships with customers that solves bigger issues that just the price of the box. If you want to see more of this kind of thing, let use know.