As the technology marketplace grows, many CIOs struggle to find trust-worthy, knowledgeable solution-providers who can actually service the products they need. CIOs may need to vet several different solution providers just to find one who has the necessary certifications for the project.
On the other side of the puzzle, vendors continually spend their trying to build a lucrative channel. Disruptive outbound marketing tactics have made the typical technology buyer more desensitized to being “sold” on a solution. However, Vendors feel they are spending more money than ever before to snag (mostly) unqualified leads. For these Vendors, helping their channel generate leads often feels like they’re throwing money from a tall building not sure where it will scatter. The Vendors know they need to lower costs and increase their ROI, but the technology marketplace is so fraught with skepticism and distrust that breaking through the noisy clutter to talk directly to the customer is more difficult than ever before.
Enter xPeerient.
Encourage Your Channel Partners to Become xPeerient Vetted IT Solution Providers
In a nutshell, Xpeerient is a dating site for the IT Buyer who is in need of finding the right IT/Telecom solution. For example, a CIO might come to Xpeerient to look for a recovery solution with storage back-up and replication, server, and security elements to it. Once the job is posted, any solution providers with the correct vendor certifications are alerted that a “match” for their services has been found. Similar to Match.com (so I hear) you only see the connections that fit your guidelines; height, location, age, background…you get the idea.
By encouraging your channel partners to become Vetted IT Solution providers on xPeerient, they will have the opportunity to broaden their reach to the right customers and lower the cost of customer acquisition.
New, Qualified Business for IT Providers
The IT Buyer is happy because through xPeerient they now only receive messages from qualified solution providers poised to meet their needs (rather than get inundated with cold calls or blind dates from the WRONG people). It’s like only seeing profiles of people you’d actually be compatible with.
Solution providers now benefit from the certifications they’ve worked so hard to get. Don’t have the right qualifications for one section of the posted job? Why not partner with another solution provider for that aspect of the implementation? (I’ll stop the dating site analogy here).
Vendors not only get their partners into qualified leads highlighting their products but they are also able to identify opportunities where the technology buyer hasn’t outlined a specific technology, just a pain point.
Vendors also have the opportunity to access helpful data that help them identify and reward their best partners. After all, using data provided by xPeerient vendors have the power to see which of their partners are most efficient in selling their products to the customer.
Vendors are also able to see which products and companies and solution provider to which they’ve lost business. That way they can work with channel partners to strengthen their sales pitch, educate them on those products and provide education material that will help turn those qualified leads into customers.
So why wouldn’t you use a “dating site” where customers, solution providers, and vendors could be open an honest about needs, qualifications, and benefits?
*Disclaimer: Channel Maven Consulting President and Founder, Heather K. Margolis, is a member of the Board of Advisors for xPeerient.