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Hi Spiceworks community,

My question first and than my clarification, how do you go about choosing what resellers you work with and how do they get in touch with you if you don’t know them?

I’m a Client Executive in name and as such hold the “sales” stigma but I also hold a current VCP and MCSA and have invested a great deal of time and money into my professional knowledge. However, I am still subject to finding and retaining clients and I am not a big fan of the “cold call” because let’s face it who has time?

I have sent as many as 200 to 300 hand types emails in a day and heard back from 3 to 5 people, of those I do hear back from I will send more information about my personal qualifications and company by email and postal mail and may get an opportunity to earn 50% of those respondants business. So how should resellers reach out to you as IT professionals? What should the subject line say? Should we stay in the pit until invoked?

Any feedback is definately appreciated.

9 Spice ups
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I might be in the minority but I do take a fair share of cold calls - if the subject matter is related - or sometimes just to learn about new things. Folks who I bump into at product conferences or otherwise are up the ladder a notch or two. I give precedence to local businesses and service providers, followed by in-state, and then near state. Certainly the Spiceworks community has played a large role in selecting products and but to a lesser extent so far, services.

1 Spice up
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Of the “cold” calling things that work - ever get those surveys or token of appreciation with a $1 or $2 bill attached? I hear those get much better response rates, but still a game of numbers I suppose. They surely get my attention and response. Anyhow, maybe if you could figure out how to attach those to emails and require a survey experience to complete, you might bump your numbers. However, for just cold calling, 10+ pct seems pretty good, no?

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I don’t like cold calls - the majority come to our contact centre who take details and email them over - but to be honest there isn’t a “best” way to get my business. It’s all about timing really.

I keep a list of 5 vendors in Spiceworks who get all my RFQs, and if one annoys me they get dropped off. The next vendor to ask for my business takes their place on the list. If you’d called me 2 days prior to the annoyance, you’d get nothing.

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It definitely depends on the day, but I will occasionally take cold calls. Emails, they immediately get deleted. It doesn’t matter if it’s hand typed or not, spam is spam. If I know the business is new, or small, or if the salesperson tells me they rely on word of mouth, I’ll recommend them to colleagues, if the job was done correctly.

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Like I said I don’t cold call much and prefer emailing but then get stuck in spam or never read. There are a number of reasons to avoid the phone, most administrators aren’t sitting around waiting for me to call and if I do get a hold of them it’s rarely well received. Like trouble tickets you wouldn’t believe some of the responses I get.

Plus it’s a bandwidth issue, I can have an existing client needing a quote on VMware licensing and have to design and explain the quote out so if I’m calling 60-100 people I’ll rarely be able to service clients well.

I just moved back to a more traditional client executive role from a sales engineer role because I prefer the relationships but I think I forgot about the thick skin you have to have developing the client base and frankly email used to work a lot better than it does now.

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I put high value in word-of-mouth recommendations. Maybe give your current customers a referral bonus for referring new customers or leads to you?

5 Spice ups
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Good call, I generally try to stay a step above car salesman so I haven’t angled for referrals but I like the idea. My clients are generally very loyal so it’s worth throwing it out there.

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I’ve used the same primary supplier in my last few jobs.

I know the account manager well, he doesn’t BS, is very honest. Gets me the best, or near too, prices. Knows more than whats written on the marketing doc’s and is very reliable. When i need him to go out on a limb in an emergency (6pm in the day, need a part for 9am the next) it’ll get done. He’s never let me down. That’s why i use that particular company.

I can accept things can go “bad” as long as i’m not BS’d about it. If they/he cant do something or they’ve dropped the ball, they say there and then, i respect that, things get resolved. problem sorted.

Although in all fairness i cant remember the last time he dropped the ball. :-p

Others i used to deal with just came up with so much rubbish as excuses it was unreal. just be honest!

There’s 1-2 others, more local that i use for small bits and bobs, but most of my purchasing goes through that company.

Simple matter is that i don’t want to be messed around or BS’d. If you can find a company or account manager who can do that, everything else is immaterial in my books.

1 Spice up
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I think the main thing is just to realise that quite often I’m quite content that you’d be a good person and a good company to deal with, very often the people we already deal with are too and I’m not going to change supplier unless I have a good reason - hell I could change supplier every day if I simply based it on who I get on with and who promised us everything :slight_smile:

Also by the time I’ve gone through all the internal hoops needed to be able to buy from you, it probably just isn’t worth it for either of us unless it’s a very large order.

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I’ll take cold calls. Granted I was in sales and know what it is like to just be hung up on all day. Emails are always a good way to get some sort of attention as long as it isn’t full of pictures and garbage. Honestly if it looks like a newsletter it gets deleted 98% of the time without being read.

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So what I’m hearing is be on the front door step of the girl’s house when she decides she wants to go on a date?

In all fairness it makes sense, I don’t change who I use as a distributor very often and I don’t want my clients changing on me very often. I think the hardest part is when manufacturers have reached out to me about an account and we both know their current vendor is really over charging them. I recently saw a large medical system ban their decade old account manager from their locations after they realized how much they were paying over what the reseller had negotiated the manufacturer cost down to.

If I can’t ever get a hold of anyone it’s tough to help them out technically or by stretching their budgets but that’s the nature of the game. It sounds like people have gotten a little more forgiving to phone calls.

What’ the best time for you to receive a call?

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Don’t.

Seriously: Don’t.

I’m busy. I manage technology for lots of SMBs and really don’t have the time, temperament, or inclination to deal with people wanting me to buy things from them that I don’t want or need and never asked about. If I need something I’ve never used before, I ask my colleagues (including the Spiceworks community) for recommendations.

If you’re retuning my call, it means I need you for some reason and gave you my mobile number. Abuse that access one time and we’ll never do business again.

Yep. More, I never call up any that I cannot put down.

Respect my time and odds are high that we’ll continue to do business. Abuse my time and you just shot yourself in the foot.

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The best thing you can do Josh is to not sell the company but yourself.

I don’t deal with companies, they suck. I deal with people.

Be that honest, nice guy that is available 24/7. Yes 24/7, It has happened that at 3am hardware fails and I need a replacement shipped ASAP because all I have is old hardware that might work for a day.

Most times when we need a vendor or we are looking to upgrade, we may look at available options even if we have the preferred person to deal with. Not everyone specializes in everything.

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I did have a question about this one, so I hear this from time to time. “If we were interested in using your company we’ll contact you” but they don’t have my contact information and many have never heard of us as a nationwide brand.

Like I said my background is in virtualization and business continuity but I technically cover a host of hardware, software and service.

What makes you consider a new multi-line vendor outside of happenstance?

Thanks again for all your responses on this. I’m definitely not trying to solicit business but want to respect my clients and prospects time while reestablishing my book of business in a way that makes sense for IT pros.

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When they sell something that nobody that we currently use can supply would be the short answer.

Through whatever set of criteria most companies will have a list of preferred suppliers and it’s usually not a 2 minute job to use someone who isn’t on that list - so there needs to be a good reason to do that.

Here’s an example, I need to buy a bunch of switches, I know the model I need and I know how many and the vendor I typically use has stock and the price is acceptable.

Why would I use you instead?

Typically what happens for us is we want to look at some kit from a manufacturer that nobody that we deal with is affiliated with, so we end up looking at someone else which may be through Google or it may be via manufacturer recommendation i.e. “Hello we’re interested in your product who would you suggest we speak to in our area please?”

Or sometimes we need a service or product of a large enough value or uniqueness that it goes out to tender in which case if you’re the guy who left his details we know where

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Josh,

There’s not a one size fits all answer to your question as evidenced by the varied responses above. Volume, consistency and bringing something valuable to your prospects when you cold call is important. In reality, you might call 7-10 times before you have a conversation. Emails rarely work as a first outreach but they’re great as a follow up to a conversation. Do your research on the company you’re targeting and look up a few people on LinkedIn and see if you have any connections for a warm introduction. CEO’s care about the bottom line. CFO’s care about lowering operating expenses. Purchasing and sales reps care about the cost of sales. The VP of sales cares about the top line. How does what you have to offer address these pain points? Craft your pitch to show value otherwise you will be - as others have said - wasting your prospects’ time.

Whatever you do, don’t try to pitch something to someone that’s going to displace their job.

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I hate cold calls, who’s got time to talk on the phone. But I do look at marketing emails most of the time. If it looks like something that might be useful I contact them or file it for later. What I hate is when they think they need to send you something every few days, I got the info if I needed it I would have used it. Maybe check-in during the next quarter but don’t pester people with emails, easiest way to get on the spam list.

1 Spice up
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Without reading the above, and at the risk of parroting other responses:

I hunt the reseller. Cold calls annoy me. If the product or service is designed in such a way I can give you a test run (like buy some stuff from you, low impact like Toner).

If you cold call me, AND your product happens to be something I’m working on or have in the back of my head, you can give me your website address, and I’ll take a look. I’ll go froward from there.

If I find you, it’s because you provide something I need, and I’ve heard good things bout you / your company.

Now - all of the above complete, your foot is in the door. Lie to me, screw with me, or ignore my requests for information, you’re done, and I’ll never look at your company again (unless I get the EXACT opposite stuff from a different rep, but he/she has to start over).

My CDW guy got in the door by having toner I needed, and my previous reseller got away from the toner I needed. Since then, he’s been very responsive, and has gained more and more of my business. And he hasn’t lied to me, once (at least, that I’ve been able to catch him on).

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I usually go on personal recommendation.

Cold calls are fielded at reception. I am just not interested.

If I have a need I go looking, and to be honest I usually go to Spiceworks and ask fellow Spiceheads if they could make a recommendation.

If a vendor sounds like they are reading from a sheet I cut them off as I cannot waste time with someone who knows nothing about the product/service they are selling.

If they sound like they are my friend on the first call they are doomed to failure. I just don’t like over familiarity from someone with whom I have no relationship.

Later on down the line we are often on first name terms as I enjoy an amicable relationship with vendors I trust, but it has to be earned.