Adam Harris: Have you considered what IT related issues are keeping your customers awake at night?

Adam Harris advises tech firms to look at what their customers’ issues are – and tailor their proposition accordingly…

Building the value proposition for your business should be straightforward. You look at your customers and prospects, analyse common problems and then build a proposition that reinforces the problems, positions your offer as solving the problems and then states the benefits of working with your company as the ideal solution provider.

If it is that easy, why do so many IT companies lead with a description of their products and services and then fail to take into account the needs of their customers? Our industry is talking about cloud computing and BYOD as the most important changes. Have you considered what IT related issues are actually keeping your customers awake at night?

A market research study conducted by CompTIA in September 2012 (Trends in the UK IT Industry) found that the top five IT initiatives (those marked as high priority by respondents) were: IT security (by 46 per cent); data storage/backup (by 33 per cent); mobility (by 32 per cent); online presence (by 30 per cent); disaster recovery/business continuity (by 29 per cent). Cloud computing ranked ninth, marked as high priority by 24 per cent, still important but not always the most important. Social technologies ranked 14th and last, marked as high priority by 14 per cent. What this market data means is that if you set your business stall out as the best cloud computing firm in the market when nearly half your prospects see IT Security as their highest priority, you may struggle.

So, set your business stall out to appeal to your customers’ highest priorities, make an initial sale by knocking on the open door and then go on to cross-sell and up-sell to your higher value solutions because you did such a great job on the first project.

Adam Harris has a background as a successful serial entrepreneur in the IT channel, and works with IT resellers, vendors and Trade Associations. A seasoned facilitator and public speaker, Adam uses his extensive network and personable demeanour to increase client opportunities. A founding Director of Transmentum, Adam’s focus is on helping the IT channel embrace the opportunities offered by the Managed Services/Recurring Revenue revolution.

adam.harris@transmentum.co.uk