CompTIA ChannelCon Online Covers Diversity, Partner Experience, What’s Next
… preparing your business now to take advantage of new opportunities and new markets will provide a competitive benefit when “normalcy” returns.
The Need for Education
Tim Basa, vice president of sales and operations at AppSmart, said many of his company’s partners have taken the time to educate and train their staff during COVID-19, a notion that should serve them well going forward. “They’ve said, ‘What can I do?’ Maybe they haven’t sold this product suite before, or they didn’t sell SaaS. But they wanted to pivot to SaaS or a contact center, and were quick to get educated,” Basa said.
Juan Fernandez, vice president of managed IT services at ImageNet Consulting, and vice chair of CompTIA’s Channel Development Advisory Council, agreed that creativity is often born from necessity, and he expects advances around powering the new mobile workforce and creating an improved customer experience.
“We have to innovate during this time. It’s 100% ‘have to think differently,’” Fernandez said.
Maintaining (and Growing) Your Sales Pipeline
The session ‘Maintaining (and Growing) Your Sales Pipeline in Times of Economic Uncertainty’ discussed the tale of two channels.
In times of economic uncertainty, our first inclination is to hunker down and brace for the worst. For companies that want to be standing after the dust settles, this is the time to nurture relationships. People must increase their audience and fill their pipeline. Heather K. Margolis of Channel Maven and Larry Walsh of The 2112 Group went through the ideal steps shops should be taking right now to ensure their success for the future.
“We now have no more excuses for waiting on digital transformation,” said Walsh. “The channel is grossly underprepared and not equipped for omnichannel. We need to figure out how to keep the customer. Even if you get them into the pipe, you have to figure out how to nurture the relationship. This has to happen through continuous engagement.”
“It is time to think about building relationships; that, and helping MSPs/solution providers build relationships around the business outcomes that you can help them achieve,” added Margolis.
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