As announced by The Var Guy a week or two ago, this past week we hosted our inaugural vendor peer group. Seven of our HTG sponsor vendors answered the bell and we had a great couple days together in Denver. A special shout out for IBM, SonicWALL, CA ArcServe, Great America Leasing, ConnectWise, E-Folder and Xerox. Lisa Jenkins from Xerox won the best practice contest. Each company had two participants in the room, and we gave them as much of the HTG experience as possible. It was a very exciting couple of days.
As is always the case, everyone was a bit tentative leading up to the meeting. The first time a new group meets is like going on a first date. People start out with some tentative positioning and want to make sure it all comes across the way they want. After all, this is far from the way their day jobs have been – sitting in a room over two days with folks who at some level could be considered competitors. Not what most are accustomed to. But after we did introductions and people began to share a little about life – important facts like being on the hunt for a husband or having 13,000 emails in their inbox – the laughter broke down the walls and people moved past their fears and the ideas and sharing began to flow.
We tackled issues that were specific to their roles in working with partners. How do you engage and activate partners? How should they communicate effectively without overloading our inboxes? What does a good partner program look like? It was great learning as ideas were shared and best practices exchanged. Everyone came prepared and ready to share – homework was done – which already sets this group apart from their solution provider peers. We struggle to get HTG members to get that homework done and posted – so thanks to our vendor group members for keeping that bar high.
It was enlightening to me to be able to facilitate and be part of the idea exchange. I was able to interject the voice of the partner and offer some tips and ideas that will hopefully help share the landscape for these companies as they interact with the partner community. That is part of the value – we all learn from each other when we spend time together – and I certainly learned much from this group.
Some may be wondering why we would create a peer group for vendors. One of the things we find about our HTG peer groups is that unless you experience them, it is extremely difficult to understand the value of a close knit community that becomes invested in each other. So we decided to create this group to help deliver that experience for our vendor sponsors – to let them be part of what we do every quarter – and to create the same kind of close community that can share life together. We are using most of the same objectives and goals as we have for HTG – planning and goals and execution and accountability – it is all part of this program.
So what was the outcome of the two days? The feedback was extremely positive and everyone who attended is ready to proceed and meet in Q3. But the best way to share how things went is to hear from one of the attendees himself. Ted Hulsy from SonicWALL shared this: “Ever since my first ‘seat at the table’ with an HTG group, I realized that working with peers is one of the best ways to learn and change. Now that I am in HTG, I feel so fortunate to be working with peers who have passion for their work, are trusting, and are willing to share the secrets of their success.”
That is what it is all about. Becoming part of a community that you can share with and help one another achieve more than you can do on your own. We believe in our mission. Get involved in a community – be it in your industry, your church, your community – just find one and get involved. It will change your life if you let it!
Showing posts with label Sonicwall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sonicwall. Show all posts
Monday, June 14, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
The Power of Partnership - Kudos to SonicWALL
Today I experienced the power of partnership - twice in one day from the same vendor - SonicWALL. Our first experience revolved around a technology challenge at a customer site with an implementation. We had fought an issue for a few weeks and just couldn't quite get things configured the way the customer wanted. Our customer was frustrated and we knew that our only real chance to save the sale was to get an engineer from our vendor to come in and help us. They stepped up and delivered in an amazing way. Engineer flys into the closest airport and drives to meet our team on site - rural Iowa. The problem turned out to be much more difficult than anyone expected, but they got it resolved after about four hours of working together on site with our engineer and the customer IT person. The customer response - blown away that we were able to secure a vendor engineer to come to their location and provide that level of support. Not only did it save the sale and implementation, it has given them confidence to move forward with another project which had been placed on hold. Our partner came in on a white horse, exceeded the customer expectations and helped both our companies drive business.
My second experience involved a conversation with the CEO of SonicWALL. Matt Medeiros took 30 minutes out of his schedule to do a conference call with a dozen HTG members who were with me for our pilot CEO Forum meeting. He was traveling in Texas but not only made the time, he gave us invaluable insight into the role and importance of leading our companies with a CEO mindset. I know the group was blown away that first of all Matt would make time to talk with us, but secondly was able to share his 5 step process of leading SonicWALL and a number of other key gems of information as we discussed the role. That half hour did a lot to cement the belief that SonicWALL truly understands the importance of their partners and the channel for the group. A perfect example of a leader that truly understands the power of partnership and investing in the folks that sell their products.
You may think this is a SonicWALL commercial. It certainly is not. It is just plain and honest reality. The local field team has a deep relationship with HTS/HTG and together we plan the business and work the plan. When we need them, they show up. When they need us to execute, we do. That is how partnership works. All the way to the top at SonicWALL. Leadership starts at the top, and in this company, they understand the importance and power of partnering from top to bottom. Thank you to the team and their leader for being the model vendor for the channel. You made my day and impacted both HTS and HTG in a very meaningful and significant way! Kudos to Kevin, Ben, George, Ted and any others that helped us make this possible. We appreciate the opportunity to partner with and work with each of you. And a special thanks to Matt who created and maintains a culture of partnership. We are blessed to be able to work with you and your team.
My second experience involved a conversation with the CEO of SonicWALL. Matt Medeiros took 30 minutes out of his schedule to do a conference call with a dozen HTG members who were with me for our pilot CEO Forum meeting. He was traveling in Texas but not only made the time, he gave us invaluable insight into the role and importance of leading our companies with a CEO mindset. I know the group was blown away that first of all Matt would make time to talk with us, but secondly was able to share his 5 step process of leading SonicWALL and a number of other key gems of information as we discussed the role. That half hour did a lot to cement the belief that SonicWALL truly understands the importance of their partners and the channel for the group. A perfect example of a leader that truly understands the power of partnership and investing in the folks that sell their products.
You may think this is a SonicWALL commercial. It certainly is not. It is just plain and honest reality. The local field team has a deep relationship with HTS/HTG and together we plan the business and work the plan. When we need them, they show up. When they need us to execute, we do. That is how partnership works. All the way to the top at SonicWALL. Leadership starts at the top, and in this company, they understand the importance and power of partnering from top to bottom. Thank you to the team and their leader for being the model vendor for the channel. You made my day and impacted both HTS and HTG in a very meaningful and significant way! Kudos to Kevin, Ben, George, Ted and any others that helped us make this possible. We appreciate the opportunity to partner with and work with each of you. And a special thanks to Matt who created and maintains a culture of partnership. We are blessed to be able to work with you and your team.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Will the Real Partners Please Stand Up?
I wrote a blog post about a year ago when partners were going crazy around a mistake SonicWALL made (http://peerpower.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-things-dont-go-as-planned.html) that caused some pain for folks when their units were not updating and working properly. Over the past 12 months there have been posts around issues at Ingram and ConnectWise. Things happen that cause pain for partners and it seems more and more that the response is to react and start blasting out emails and complaints rather than trying to understand what is happening. The most recent of these involves another great partner of the channel – the folks at HP.
HP has made a corporate decision to take compliance very seriously. They are addressing some legal and regulatory compliance requirements proactively. There is a tendency by many of us in the channel to forget that our vendor partners don’t make the rules under which they have to operate as a corporation – they are dictated to by the government or in the case of many – governments all around the world who seem to focus on making it difficult for large corporations to succeed. HP, and Compaq before them, have been very strong channel advocates. They are not perfect, and have made plenty of bone headed decisions in the past. But the thing about HP that has always impressed me, particularly in the past few years, is that when there is a mistake, particularly in channel conflict, they take the appropriate action and side on behalf of the partner to correct the error. At least that has been my experience and why we have all our eggs in their basket. The same is not true from some other hardware providers who claim to be channel friendly. If there is a conflict, they default against the partner and deliver the “too bad” message. But that is for another day and time.
HP has been tasked with meeting compliance requirements. They have chosen to use an outsourced vendor to handle this process – recognized in the compliance industry as a best in class screening service provider. Using a third party also provides some separation by HP in case there is ever any investigation or question about the process. Partners have received faxes and emails with the message that they need to register on a secure portal, take a short training module, review the code of ethics, and then complete a questionnaire to assess compliance risk. The process is fairly painless. It took us two and a half to three hours. Yes it cost $120 to complete it. There are certainly things about this process that are poorly done:
1. Communication has been very poor – receiving notice of this via fax is a pathetic method – this is the 21st century after all
2. There is plenty of the training that does not apply to an SMB partner – not a big deal but an aggravation
3. There does not seem to be any connection between the communication and whether a partner has done the training – some get notices after completion while others still have not heard about the need to do it at all
4. Communication has been very poor – worth repeating again since it is soooooooo bad
OK – now that we have agreed that the process leaves something to be desired, let’s talk about the other side of the coin. There always are two sides to consider although partners tend to only want to see it their way. HP is setting a standard here. They are going to require partners to be compliant and follow the rules. They are setting a standard around business conduct that should give us some assurances that things will be done properly. In a way, they may be setting themselves up for some unfair competition from competitors who opt not to play so fairly. But bottom line they are making a statement about their desire to be a thought and industry leader and that is a very good thing indeed.
So what is the bottom line. As I see it, HP has a cost of doing business that they are passing on to their partners. They also are taking a proactive stance on being sure partners are compliant. Should we like it? Maybe not, but guess what, that is exactly what I do when I have an increase in my cost of doing business. It gets passed on to my customer. I am willing to bet you do the same, or soon will be out of business. Besides - $120 is an aggravation not an expense to be a partner. You pay $1500 or more to be a Microsoft partner. Many vendors are a lot more than that. Those that truly are HP partners have expressed over and over that this is not a big deal. It is part of being a true partner. Many have expressed the wish that the cost to be an HP partner be significantly higher. Those that are making a big issue of the matter likely aren’t really partners but looking to have access to things without being willing to truly step up and partner. Sitting on the HP small business advisory council allows me to see the reality of their partner channel. Less than 10 percent of their partners sell well over 80 percent of the product. So will there be tears in Houston if a bunch of people who carry the name of HP partner but don’t sell anything decide that spending 3 hours and $120 is too much to ask go away? I wouldn’t be shedding any tears. That is not the intended purpose of this compliance process, but it may well be one of the benefits. And quite honestly, when I have conversations with other HP partners who are invested and understand what it means to truly partner talk about this, they hope the herd is thinned by a significant percentage. Less people to compete with means better things for those who understand that partnership is give and take and requires everyone to work together.
Could it be done better? Absolutely. Is it a real issue? Not from my perspective. We are a very spoiled bunch in the IT VAR channel. They didn’t call and close a bunch of our shops like they did in the auto industry. They are asking for some true partnership and it is time for the real partners to stand up and differentiate yourself from the pack. Time to grow up and get down to the business of talking to customers and selling solutions rather than whining about something that doesn’t matter.
HP has made a corporate decision to take compliance very seriously. They are addressing some legal and regulatory compliance requirements proactively. There is a tendency by many of us in the channel to forget that our vendor partners don’t make the rules under which they have to operate as a corporation – they are dictated to by the government or in the case of many – governments all around the world who seem to focus on making it difficult for large corporations to succeed. HP, and Compaq before them, have been very strong channel advocates. They are not perfect, and have made plenty of bone headed decisions in the past. But the thing about HP that has always impressed me, particularly in the past few years, is that when there is a mistake, particularly in channel conflict, they take the appropriate action and side on behalf of the partner to correct the error. At least that has been my experience and why we have all our eggs in their basket. The same is not true from some other hardware providers who claim to be channel friendly. If there is a conflict, they default against the partner and deliver the “too bad” message. But that is for another day and time.
HP has been tasked with meeting compliance requirements. They have chosen to use an outsourced vendor to handle this process – recognized in the compliance industry as a best in class screening service provider. Using a third party also provides some separation by HP in case there is ever any investigation or question about the process. Partners have received faxes and emails with the message that they need to register on a secure portal, take a short training module, review the code of ethics, and then complete a questionnaire to assess compliance risk. The process is fairly painless. It took us two and a half to three hours. Yes it cost $120 to complete it. There are certainly things about this process that are poorly done:
1. Communication has been very poor – receiving notice of this via fax is a pathetic method – this is the 21st century after all
2. There is plenty of the training that does not apply to an SMB partner – not a big deal but an aggravation
3. There does not seem to be any connection between the communication and whether a partner has done the training – some get notices after completion while others still have not heard about the need to do it at all
4. Communication has been very poor – worth repeating again since it is soooooooo bad
OK – now that we have agreed that the process leaves something to be desired, let’s talk about the other side of the coin. There always are two sides to consider although partners tend to only want to see it their way. HP is setting a standard here. They are going to require partners to be compliant and follow the rules. They are setting a standard around business conduct that should give us some assurances that things will be done properly. In a way, they may be setting themselves up for some unfair competition from competitors who opt not to play so fairly. But bottom line they are making a statement about their desire to be a thought and industry leader and that is a very good thing indeed.
So what is the bottom line. As I see it, HP has a cost of doing business that they are passing on to their partners. They also are taking a proactive stance on being sure partners are compliant. Should we like it? Maybe not, but guess what, that is exactly what I do when I have an increase in my cost of doing business. It gets passed on to my customer. I am willing to bet you do the same, or soon will be out of business. Besides - $120 is an aggravation not an expense to be a partner. You pay $1500 or more to be a Microsoft partner. Many vendors are a lot more than that. Those that truly are HP partners have expressed over and over that this is not a big deal. It is part of being a true partner. Many have expressed the wish that the cost to be an HP partner be significantly higher. Those that are making a big issue of the matter likely aren’t really partners but looking to have access to things without being willing to truly step up and partner. Sitting on the HP small business advisory council allows me to see the reality of their partner channel. Less than 10 percent of their partners sell well over 80 percent of the product. So will there be tears in Houston if a bunch of people who carry the name of HP partner but don’t sell anything decide that spending 3 hours and $120 is too much to ask go away? I wouldn’t be shedding any tears. That is not the intended purpose of this compliance process, but it may well be one of the benefits. And quite honestly, when I have conversations with other HP partners who are invested and understand what it means to truly partner talk about this, they hope the herd is thinned by a significant percentage. Less people to compete with means better things for those who understand that partnership is give and take and requires everyone to work together.
Could it be done better? Absolutely. Is it a real issue? Not from my perspective. We are a very spoiled bunch in the IT VAR channel. They didn’t call and close a bunch of our shops like they did in the auto industry. They are asking for some true partnership and it is time for the real partners to stand up and differentiate yourself from the pack. Time to grow up and get down to the business of talking to customers and selling solutions rather than whining about something that doesn’t matter.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
HTS Annual Vendor Planning Meeting
Today we held our 5th annual HTS planning meeting. We huddled in the KC Microsoft office with our field reps from Microsoft, SonicWALL, Ingram Micro, HP and Altigen. The goal was to review our performance from 2009, evaluate what we could have done better, and then create a joint plan across all our vendor partners for 2010. When we started doing this 5 years ago, there was a lot of question and concern. "You really expect us to sit in a room with competitive vendors and share our thinking and plans for next year?". I have always had a simple answer. "It is up to you. You only have to participate if you want to do business with us next year." This is not an optional activity. It is about partnering and creating solutions across our vendor partners to drive business. No one has ever failed to show up. And each year it gets better and better and the walls have come down and we are working to build cross vendor solutions we can take to our markets.
We come away with joint training plans, joint sales models, joint marketing programs - just a unified approach to making HTS and our vendor partners successful. We started our event last night with a dinner for all our vendor participants to allow some pre-game activity - tailgating if you will to help warm up the crowd. Had a nice time at On the Border eating and sharing about life. Today we dove in early - reported on our YTD status - and shared specific information with our vendors. In fact, we give them all our data on our customers and sales activity. Many would say we are crazy to trust a vendor with the keys to our kingdom. Our feeling is that it is only when we truly partner and work together that we will succeed. Jane Cage, our COO and pivot table queen, is able to slice and dice our data in dozens of ways. Our vendor partners can see things in that data we would never see because they work with many different partners in many different markets. We look to them for guidance and best practices they learn from watching others. It is a very valuable experience and well worth the risk in our opinion.
Our team left today with a list a mile long for us to consider as we write our 2010 business plan. And our vendors left with a list we had for each of them for commitments we expect them to execute for us next year. It is a two way street. Both of us are accountable in this, and we will review mid year to make sure everyone is executing. If you aren't planning with your vendors and distribution partners, you are really missing something special. It truly can propel your business. It will put you in a very elite class of partners - not many are willing to be transparent and go to the work of pulling together an event like this. But it is well worth the effort and can help you grow in ways you will never be able to do any other way. As I say over and over - the differentiator between partners is not sales or technical skills - it is understanding the power of strategic relationship management. That begins with planning with your vendors and disty partners. If you want to be status quo - try and do it yourself. If you want to be one of the elite partners in the channel - get over yourself - reach out and work with the folks who can propel you to the next level!
We come away with joint training plans, joint sales models, joint marketing programs - just a unified approach to making HTS and our vendor partners successful. We started our event last night with a dinner for all our vendor participants to allow some pre-game activity - tailgating if you will to help warm up the crowd. Had a nice time at On the Border eating and sharing about life. Today we dove in early - reported on our YTD status - and shared specific information with our vendors. In fact, we give them all our data on our customers and sales activity. Many would say we are crazy to trust a vendor with the keys to our kingdom. Our feeling is that it is only when we truly partner and work together that we will succeed. Jane Cage, our COO and pivot table queen, is able to slice and dice our data in dozens of ways. Our vendor partners can see things in that data we would never see because they work with many different partners in many different markets. We look to them for guidance and best practices they learn from watching others. It is a very valuable experience and well worth the risk in our opinion.
Our team left today with a list a mile long for us to consider as we write our 2010 business plan. And our vendors left with a list we had for each of them for commitments we expect them to execute for us next year. It is a two way street. Both of us are accountable in this, and we will review mid year to make sure everyone is executing. If you aren't planning with your vendors and distribution partners, you are really missing something special. It truly can propel your business. It will put you in a very elite class of partners - not many are willing to be transparent and go to the work of pulling together an event like this. But it is well worth the effort and can help you grow in ways you will never be able to do any other way. As I say over and over - the differentiator between partners is not sales or technical skills - it is understanding the power of strategic relationship management. That begins with planning with your vendors and disty partners. If you want to be status quo - try and do it yourself. If you want to be one of the elite partners in the channel - get over yourself - reach out and work with the folks who can propel you to the next level!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Can't Miss Events in 2009
We are just about 6 weeks from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, and I thought it would be a good time to remind you why events like this are so important to us as partners. There are only a few events on my “cannot miss” list any more:
1. Quarterly HTG meetings
2. ConnectWise Partner Summit
3. VentureTech Network Invitational
4. Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference
5. HP Americas Partner Conference (when held)
6. SonicWall Peak Performance (when held)
Certainly there are a number of other quality events that occur in the channel each year, but to be honest, if I don’t pick and choose I will be attending an event or two every week. And as our organization has matured, it has become more important to select the events that will make the largest impact on our company that is possible. There is a real cost, and a significant opportunity cost to be out of the office, on the road attending events. So why are these six my picks?
HTG quarterly meetings are the backbone of my community involvement. At those meetings each quarter I get to focus on my business – checking out the benchmarking numbers that show how I did relative to the group we participate in, HTG as a whole, and the industry. It also gives me a great big batch of best practices and fresh ideas to evaluate, as well as a quick evaluation by the other 11 members of my group as we go through the peer board review. The days spent at HTG are the best investment I can make in terms of working on my business.
Since ConnectWise is the platform we run our business on, attending their partner summit is a no brainer. There is no one single thing that can impact my business as deeply and quickly as tweaks made to the PSA tool we use. So attending their event, rubbing shoulders with the other users there, and learning how to get the most from that product is a great investment of time. ConnectWise is the operating system of our business, and we need to continue to raise our effective utilization of the software to drive process and success in our business.
VTN is a great distributor affinity group that gives me a unique touch with key manufacturers and distribution executives. This is the one venue where I can shake hands and have dinner with executives from the major vendors in the industry. It also is a great place to hear quality content and be part of a large community of partners who are mature and focused. Supplemented by two quarterly local chapter meetings, VTN gives me a broad look at the industry and allows me to connect at a different level than any other event I attend.
Microsoft WPC – the next upcoming event I will attend – is all about building relationships broadly across a large organization. It would take weeks of time on campus in Redmond and airplanes criss crossing the country to be able to see and meet with the number of people I am able to connect with in 4 days at WPC. There is no other gathering where I can get access to the quantity of a vendor’s staff that Microsoft provides at WPC. Mornings allow access to executive keynotes that provide a roadmap for the future. Afternoons are filled with breakouts, but sprinkled in all of the open spots are one on one’s and small meetings with program managers, product folks, field team and a variety of others from the Microsoft company. If you just attend WPC for the content delivered from main stage and breakouts, it is a good value. But if you really take advantage of the time to connect with people, it is an unbelievable opportunity to build relationships with key people across that organization that can be fantastic resources for you to leverage and work with to grow your company. There is no question that the success of HTS has been influenced heavily by our attendance at WPC. We have connected with dozens of Microsoft teams and staff who have helped us grow our company in a lot of areas. It takes a consistent presence and a lot of effort to schedule meetings, connect at receptions and events, find people at parties and lunch, but it is well worth it if you do it well. Of course, there is also the benefit of getting to know the partners who are typically the movers and shakers in the channel because those are the typical attendees. That gives rise to partnering opportunities and other lessons that happen as we build relationships with folks from around the world.
HP and SonicWall are also key partners for HTS and thus on my list of much attend events. They do not hold their conference each year, so it is not as regular as the other events I attend, but when they happen, I will plan to be there. A lot of the same reasons that I called out about WPC apply to these events as well. Great places to connect and grow your relationships and ultimately your business.
So the real question is – which events are on your “must attend” list? I know that WPC is a rather expensive event to attend, but the venue is always superb, the event and content very well done and the opportunity to create relationships that can make a significant difference is there for the asking. Things are tight, which means there will be less people there to compete for the meeting slots and opens the door for more interaction and connections. It will be too late when you hear the feedback that Microsoft put on another fantastic partner conference. We are on the dawn of some great new products with Windows 7, Exchange 10, Office and on the list goes. Can you afford to be in the dark about all that is on the horizon? Don't be one of the partners who says they want to have a deeper relationship with Microsoft but then fail to execute on one of the most important things they deliver to the channel each year - WPC. Your call - just don't talk out of both sides of your mouth at once......
1. Quarterly HTG meetings
2. ConnectWise Partner Summit
3. VentureTech Network Invitational
4. Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference
5. HP Americas Partner Conference (when held)
6. SonicWall Peak Performance (when held)
Certainly there are a number of other quality events that occur in the channel each year, but to be honest, if I don’t pick and choose I will be attending an event or two every week. And as our organization has matured, it has become more important to select the events that will make the largest impact on our company that is possible. There is a real cost, and a significant opportunity cost to be out of the office, on the road attending events. So why are these six my picks?
HTG quarterly meetings are the backbone of my community involvement. At those meetings each quarter I get to focus on my business – checking out the benchmarking numbers that show how I did relative to the group we participate in, HTG as a whole, and the industry. It also gives me a great big batch of best practices and fresh ideas to evaluate, as well as a quick evaluation by the other 11 members of my group as we go through the peer board review. The days spent at HTG are the best investment I can make in terms of working on my business.
Since ConnectWise is the platform we run our business on, attending their partner summit is a no brainer. There is no one single thing that can impact my business as deeply and quickly as tweaks made to the PSA tool we use. So attending their event, rubbing shoulders with the other users there, and learning how to get the most from that product is a great investment of time. ConnectWise is the operating system of our business, and we need to continue to raise our effective utilization of the software to drive process and success in our business.
VTN is a great distributor affinity group that gives me a unique touch with key manufacturers and distribution executives. This is the one venue where I can shake hands and have dinner with executives from the major vendors in the industry. It also is a great place to hear quality content and be part of a large community of partners who are mature and focused. Supplemented by two quarterly local chapter meetings, VTN gives me a broad look at the industry and allows me to connect at a different level than any other event I attend.
Microsoft WPC – the next upcoming event I will attend – is all about building relationships broadly across a large organization. It would take weeks of time on campus in Redmond and airplanes criss crossing the country to be able to see and meet with the number of people I am able to connect with in 4 days at WPC. There is no other gathering where I can get access to the quantity of a vendor’s staff that Microsoft provides at WPC. Mornings allow access to executive keynotes that provide a roadmap for the future. Afternoons are filled with breakouts, but sprinkled in all of the open spots are one on one’s and small meetings with program managers, product folks, field team and a variety of others from the Microsoft company. If you just attend WPC for the content delivered from main stage and breakouts, it is a good value. But if you really take advantage of the time to connect with people, it is an unbelievable opportunity to build relationships with key people across that organization that can be fantastic resources for you to leverage and work with to grow your company. There is no question that the success of HTS has been influenced heavily by our attendance at WPC. We have connected with dozens of Microsoft teams and staff who have helped us grow our company in a lot of areas. It takes a consistent presence and a lot of effort to schedule meetings, connect at receptions and events, find people at parties and lunch, but it is well worth it if you do it well. Of course, there is also the benefit of getting to know the partners who are typically the movers and shakers in the channel because those are the typical attendees. That gives rise to partnering opportunities and other lessons that happen as we build relationships with folks from around the world.
HP and SonicWall are also key partners for HTS and thus on my list of much attend events. They do not hold their conference each year, so it is not as regular as the other events I attend, but when they happen, I will plan to be there. A lot of the same reasons that I called out about WPC apply to these events as well. Great places to connect and grow your relationships and ultimately your business.
So the real question is – which events are on your “must attend” list? I know that WPC is a rather expensive event to attend, but the venue is always superb, the event and content very well done and the opportunity to create relationships that can make a significant difference is there for the asking. Things are tight, which means there will be less people there to compete for the meeting slots and opens the door for more interaction and connections. It will be too late when you hear the feedback that Microsoft put on another fantastic partner conference. We are on the dawn of some great new products with Windows 7, Exchange 10, Office and on the list goes. Can you afford to be in the dark about all that is on the horizon? Don't be one of the partners who says they want to have a deeper relationship with Microsoft but then fail to execute on one of the most important things they deliver to the channel each year - WPC. Your call - just don't talk out of both sides of your mouth at once......
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
When Things Don't Go as Planned......
This past week one of our best vendor partners - SonicWall - had a problem that has sent some chills through the channel. While this is not going to be a description of the problem - a licensing server failure after routine maintenance gone bad - it is my perception of how the issue was handled and some realities we need to face as solution providers. (If you want to read the internal Sonicwall analysis of the cause and the resulting actions taken - I have posted it with permission here: http://www.heartlandtechnologies.com/pdf_files/SonicWALL_LM_System_Root_Cause_Analysis_and_Corrective_Action_Report.pdf)
So what should our reaction be when a vendor has an issue? Some partners would say we should react strongly, move on to another vendor, get angry, string them up - lots of reaction out there in the channel when any vendor has an issue. While we can't just pretend it didn't happen, we can respond appropriately and act as the word used to describe us is put into action - partner. My opinion of partnering revolves around a few things:
1. No vendor is perfect. There will be days things don't happen quite as planned. Let's be honest, it happens in our businesses more than we want to admit. Technology sometimes doesn't work. People make mistakes. Things just happen. I am reminded of something I learned from scripture - "let him who is without sin cast the first stone". That won't be me - I am far from perfect and so is HTS. Reasonable is the way I think we have to approach it.
2. We should hold vendors accountable. At the same time, we also need to hold our vendors accountable to provide us the best service, products and information possible. That means we communicate constructively about what can be done better. We help make changes that are needed, offer suggestions where appropriate, and participate in the solution. It is easy to second guess things after the fact. Could SonicWall have communicated sooner? Probably. Hindsight is always 20/20.
3. We should evaluate how they take responsibility when there are issues. One of the things that I watch closely is how a vendor reacts when things don't go well. Some run and point fingers. Some deny that anything is wrong. In this case, SonicWall gets a strong grade from me for openly communicating with the channel. Multiple emails, phone calls and follow up communications. They admitted there was a problem and they put resources into action to work at resolution. I had multiple calls from key SonicWall team members making sure we were able to serve our clients well. They took the bull by the horns, ate some crow and appologized for the situation. That impresses me and tells me a lot about the leadership at the top of SonicWall. Matt Medeiros, CEO, personally called me yesterday to check on the status of our customers. That is class and much appreciated.
4. We should never forget that as SMB VAR's - the customer is our responsibility. More and more I am seeing SMB VAR's that seem to want to "hand off" the customer responsibility to a vendor. It is primarily happening with MSP and help desk relationships, but it seems to be slowly migrating everywhere. We want to sell a solution, leverage a service or product, and then pretend we are off the hook with our customer. If there are issues we just point fingers at the vendor we are partnered with. But our customers could care less why there is a problem. They only know that as their trusted business advisor they depend on us to take care of them. So yes in this case, SonicWall caused an issue. But at the end of the day it is an issue we own together. The customer is our customer and they entrusted their business to us. We can't pass that off on anyone. We have to take ownership of the customer relationship and stay focused on serving them no matter what. Selling any solution does not relieve us of the responsibility to make sure the customer is taken care of. No matter what......
My advice is to partner closely with your vendor partners. They will make a mistake now and then. They will try your patience and do things that don't make sense, at least on the surface. But they are your partner, and you need to put skin in the game to make investments, build relationships and work hard to be successful together. While I hope we don't have any more issues like this for a long time, I know that more than before this happened, we are partnered with a great company and will continue to build and grow our businesses together as we tackle whatever comes at us.
So what should our reaction be when a vendor has an issue? Some partners would say we should react strongly, move on to another vendor, get angry, string them up - lots of reaction out there in the channel when any vendor has an issue. While we can't just pretend it didn't happen, we can respond appropriately and act as the word used to describe us is put into action - partner. My opinion of partnering revolves around a few things:
1. No vendor is perfect. There will be days things don't happen quite as planned. Let's be honest, it happens in our businesses more than we want to admit. Technology sometimes doesn't work. People make mistakes. Things just happen. I am reminded of something I learned from scripture - "let him who is without sin cast the first stone". That won't be me - I am far from perfect and so is HTS. Reasonable is the way I think we have to approach it.
2. We should hold vendors accountable. At the same time, we also need to hold our vendors accountable to provide us the best service, products and information possible. That means we communicate constructively about what can be done better. We help make changes that are needed, offer suggestions where appropriate, and participate in the solution. It is easy to second guess things after the fact. Could SonicWall have communicated sooner? Probably. Hindsight is always 20/20.
3. We should evaluate how they take responsibility when there are issues. One of the things that I watch closely is how a vendor reacts when things don't go well. Some run and point fingers. Some deny that anything is wrong. In this case, SonicWall gets a strong grade from me for openly communicating with the channel. Multiple emails, phone calls and follow up communications. They admitted there was a problem and they put resources into action to work at resolution. I had multiple calls from key SonicWall team members making sure we were able to serve our clients well. They took the bull by the horns, ate some crow and appologized for the situation. That impresses me and tells me a lot about the leadership at the top of SonicWall. Matt Medeiros, CEO, personally called me yesterday to check on the status of our customers. That is class and much appreciated.
4. We should never forget that as SMB VAR's - the customer is our responsibility. More and more I am seeing SMB VAR's that seem to want to "hand off" the customer responsibility to a vendor. It is primarily happening with MSP and help desk relationships, but it seems to be slowly migrating everywhere. We want to sell a solution, leverage a service or product, and then pretend we are off the hook with our customer. If there are issues we just point fingers at the vendor we are partnered with. But our customers could care less why there is a problem. They only know that as their trusted business advisor they depend on us to take care of them. So yes in this case, SonicWall caused an issue. But at the end of the day it is an issue we own together. The customer is our customer and they entrusted their business to us. We can't pass that off on anyone. We have to take ownership of the customer relationship and stay focused on serving them no matter what. Selling any solution does not relieve us of the responsibility to make sure the customer is taken care of. No matter what......
My advice is to partner closely with your vendor partners. They will make a mistake now and then. They will try your patience and do things that don't make sense, at least on the surface. But they are your partner, and you need to put skin in the game to make investments, build relationships and work hard to be successful together. While I hope we don't have any more issues like this for a long time, I know that more than before this happened, we are partnered with a great company and will continue to build and grow our businesses together as we tackle whatever comes at us.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
HTS Recieves CRN Fast Growth 100 Award
HTS was honored this past week by being named to the CRN Fast Growth 100 Awards list for 2008. We were recognized on the 2007 list at #67 but this year have climbed to #24. We are honored and blessed by the good things that have been happening at HTS. We recognize that this is a team award - that management may guide the ship - but there are 85 professionals that are touching and serving our clients every day that make growth possible. The team at HTS has made this award possible, and we are grateful for each and every one of them.
Check it out online at http://www.crn.com/it-channel/209600540?pgno=3. You can learn all about the Fast Growth 100 online at CRN as well. This is a very prestigious award for us to recieve two years in a row. Part of the celebration will be a day in Chicago mid October where we will be able to connect with others on the list and learn from those who have achieved much in their companies as well.
We never quit learning, which is why the Heartland Tech Groups are so important for us. Part of the credit for this award has to also go to the many companies in HTG that we have learned from quarter after quarter. We may be one of the largest in the organization, but we certainly don't have it all figured out and learn continually from each of you as we share our businesses and lives together. Thanks to each of you for your impact, encouragement and participation.
We also recognize that our key vendors - Microsoft, HP and Sonicwall - have made this possible by providing us with great products we can build solutions and services around. And of course our distribution partner Ingram has been a huge part of our growth and success not only by delivering products on time but by investing in our company through many avenues - most importantly connecting us with great people.
None of it could happen at all if we weren't surrounded by fantastic small and medium businesses who entrust their networks and IT needs to us every day. Our team continues to go out and find ways to help our clients succeed which is really the end game for all of us.
So while I am humbled by the award and position we have been given, I also know it took a village, if you will, to allow us to become what we are today - a small business VAR (or solution provider, or system integrator or whatever you want to call us) in the middle of an Iowa cornfield. It didn't happen without the investment of very many people and to each who have been part of that journey I say thank you!
Check it out online at http://www.crn.com/it-channel/209600540?pgno=3. You can learn all about the Fast Growth 100 online at CRN as well. This is a very prestigious award for us to recieve two years in a row. Part of the celebration will be a day in Chicago mid October where we will be able to connect with others on the list and learn from those who have achieved much in their companies as well.
We never quit learning, which is why the Heartland Tech Groups are so important for us. Part of the credit for this award has to also go to the many companies in HTG that we have learned from quarter after quarter. We may be one of the largest in the organization, but we certainly don't have it all figured out and learn continually from each of you as we share our businesses and lives together. Thanks to each of you for your impact, encouragement and participation.
We also recognize that our key vendors - Microsoft, HP and Sonicwall - have made this possible by providing us with great products we can build solutions and services around. And of course our distribution partner Ingram has been a huge part of our growth and success not only by delivering products on time but by investing in our company through many avenues - most importantly connecting us with great people.
None of it could happen at all if we weren't surrounded by fantastic small and medium businesses who entrust their networks and IT needs to us every day. Our team continues to go out and find ways to help our clients succeed which is really the end game for all of us.
So while I am humbled by the award and position we have been given, I also know it took a village, if you will, to allow us to become what we are today - a small business VAR (or solution provider, or system integrator or whatever you want to call us) in the middle of an Iowa cornfield. It didn't happen without the investment of very many people and to each who have been part of that journey I say thank you!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Are you ready for Summit
Today we had our first day for the HTG peer group meetings here in Dallas ahead of the SMB Summit. People are arriving and activities are picking up. We had an HTGALL reception tonight at the Texas Grill and had a great time connecting with each other. Each of the five groups met individually all day today and will repeat the tomorrow. We heard from HP - Dan Smith and Pradipta Dutta - over lunch and then in HTG1 this afternoon. There are some exciting announcements for SMB partners that were announced last week. Things are looking up. We sent these guys back with a list of tasks that would make working with HP a little easier for us as partners. If you have feedback, please send it to me. As I sit on the HP SMB advisory council, I want to be your voice to our friends at HP.
Far and away the funniest thing I heard today was from Alex Ziogas, HTG7 member from Chicago. Alex is such a timid young man but he provided the analogy of the week, month and maybe the year. Pay close attention to what he said: "Buying from Dell is like being married to a wife that cheats on you all the time". Maybe not exactly verbatim but you get the drift. HP is far from perfect but at the end of the day they really are our choice in the channel. OK - IBM and Lenovo and a few others fit the bill too, but Dell - now that is like loving a cheating woman. The one thing that was so obvious from the discussion - very direct and somewhat heated at times - is that doing business with HP is too difficult. If they can just get that part fixed they can own the channel completely.
Sonicwall is here doing a CSSA training. Part of the challenge today was the offer to give a free firewall to anyone who smoked one of the units. Of course, one of the creative HTG members was able to give everyone a good laugh with his digital smoke. Check out the photo of Eric Adkins and the SW he was working on.I want to alert you to the HP cocktail party that is being held on Friday night - opening night at the Summit. It will be held from 7:00 - 9:00. Drinks & Desserts will be served in Salon C. Hint - there will be a ticket for this in your badge holder so don't lose it!
See you in Dallas!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
New Product Announcement from Sonicwall
SonicWALL is pleased to announce a revolution in network security appliances – the brand new Network Security Appliances (NSA) Series. Built on a high-speed multi-core processing platform, the NSA Series enables deep packet inspection without adversely impacting the performance of mission-critical networks and applications. Come learn about the exciting this new breakthrough in network security performance and inspection capabilities.
Hear about their promotion!!
As an added benefit for our loyal customers who elect to upgrade from a previous generation SonicWALL PRO to a new NSA solution, our resellers will be offering an instant trade-up allowance of up to 10% off MSRP and we will even transfer remaining security service subscriptions to the new NSA for free (offer expires on March 31, 2008).
Webinar dates to choose from:
Event Date: April 8, 2008 Event Time: 10:00 AM (Central Time)
Event Date: April 9, 2008 Event Time: 6:00 PM (Central Time)
Register here.
Hear about their promotion!!
As an added benefit for our loyal customers who elect to upgrade from a previous generation SonicWALL PRO to a new NSA solution, our resellers will be offering an instant trade-up allowance of up to 10% off MSRP and we will even transfer remaining security service subscriptions to the new NSA for free (offer expires on March 31, 2008).
Webinar dates to choose from:
Event Date: April 8, 2008 Event Time: 10:00 AM (Central Time)
Event Date: April 9, 2008 Event Time: 6:00 PM (Central Time)
Register here.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Final Thoughts on the HP Partner Conference
I spent a couple days at the HP Partner Americas Event in Las Vegas this week. It was a very well done event full of a boat load of great content. HP always does things up first class. There were a few key takeaways from my perspective. Mark Hurd addressed the crowd and really focused on partner loyalty. It is all about partnership and relationship at a deep level. I have been preaching that for a long time as well. We have to go deep with our vendor partners. HP wants that to happen. None of this partial commitment – a big theme was being ALL IN with HP. I heard a similar message across the strip at the Sonicwall conference earlier in the week from CEO Matt Medeiros. Both companies are going to focus on partners who are loyal and sell their entire product set. Great news for HTS as we are aligned that way already.
A second observation was the type of partners at the HP event. I fit in that group from an age perspective. They wore suits and ties, which is a big stretch for me, but the average age of the attendees at the HP event was fairly high. This is a seasoned set of partners who will not be leading their respective companies forever. A great opportunity for HP to build some customer loyalty for the future by investing in the channel and helping grow up the next version of partners. Things will change in how the partner business happens. Web 2.0 is going to change a lot and the millenials (young workforce in their 20’s) are already changing how IT has to work and function. A lot more of that change is coming. Our HTG peer groups are focused on helping partners get positioned for the future.
The third observation is in the way HP runs a first class event. They had plenty of staff on hand, their systems worked for scanning into the breakouts, the meals were good and entertainment fantastic. How can you beat Steve Young and Sheryl Crow? Sonicwall held its event at the Plazzo which did have nicer rooms than Caesars. It is a brand new hotel so that is a bit of an advantage. The HP investment was in the event itself. Sonicwall takes a little different approach. Their meals were a step down, their entertainment a lot less – three impersonators, three “attitude girls” and a money machine – but they paid for a majority of the room cost so it was a lot less expensive to attend. Sort of a David and Goliath approach to the event. Both were good and I am glad I was able to attend both, but hope they don’t run them concurrently again. It was a bummer missing key pieces of both events. My hat goes off to both these companies for understanding the need to allow partners to come together to learn and grow. I appreciate that investment and support. It is those kinds of things that create loyalty. Thanks to Mark and Matt for believing in the channel.
A second observation was the type of partners at the HP event. I fit in that group from an age perspective. They wore suits and ties, which is a big stretch for me, but the average age of the attendees at the HP event was fairly high. This is a seasoned set of partners who will not be leading their respective companies forever. A great opportunity for HP to build some customer loyalty for the future by investing in the channel and helping grow up the next version of partners. Things will change in how the partner business happens. Web 2.0 is going to change a lot and the millenials (young workforce in their 20’s) are already changing how IT has to work and function. A lot more of that change is coming. Our HTG peer groups are focused on helping partners get positioned for the future.
The third observation is in the way HP runs a first class event. They had plenty of staff on hand, their systems worked for scanning into the breakouts, the meals were good and entertainment fantastic. How can you beat Steve Young and Sheryl Crow? Sonicwall held its event at the Plazzo which did have nicer rooms than Caesars. It is a brand new hotel so that is a bit of an advantage. The HP investment was in the event itself. Sonicwall takes a little different approach. Their meals were a step down, their entertainment a lot less – three impersonators, three “attitude girls” and a money machine – but they paid for a majority of the room cost so it was a lot less expensive to attend. Sort of a David and Goliath approach to the event. Both were good and I am glad I was able to attend both, but hope they don’t run them concurrently again. It was a bummer missing key pieces of both events. My hat goes off to both these companies for understanding the need to allow partners to come together to learn and grow. I appreciate that investment and support. It is those kinds of things that create loyalty. Thanks to Mark and Matt for believing in the channel.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sonicwall Partner Conference
I have been in Las Vegas this week for the Sonicwall Partner Conference being held at the new Plazzo Hotel. Another fantastic venue and great job by the Sonicwall crew. Matt Medeiros kicked off the event Sunday afternoon with his state of the union address. I really enjoy Matt. He is energetic and leads the company the way it should be led - with passion from the heart. I get jazzed every time I am able to spend a little time with him. He is infectious with his love for the vision he has for Sonicwall. Leadership comes from the heart, and being around leaders like Matt gives me an example to follow and a company to get excited about.
2008 is going to be a break out year for Sonicwall. The key phrase I heard over and over was "everything is going to be new" this year. They have a fantastic product roadmap across all their lines of business. But key to it all is they remember the partner. They are listening to feedback and working hard to correct some of the issues they have experienced in the rapid growth they have had. Support is being brought back internal to Sonicwall and much more of it back to the US. They have heard the channel loud and clear.
Matt said one thing in his keynote that has stuck with me. "I've never seen a company cost cut itself to prosperity". Truer words have never been spoken. With the uncertainty of the economy, some companies are trying to adapt by slashing all kinds of things. Expenses and people. While I know we all have to control our costs, the ability to endure tough times is not handled by slashing things, particularly key components of the company like sales and marketing expenses for example.
The true test of my believing in a company is what I actually do about it. Two years ago or so when I heard Mark Hurd at HP, I immediately went and purchased some HP stock. I did the same when Steve Jobs came back to Apple. I now have Sonicwall in my investment portfolio. I am a believer in their future. This is not a solicitation for you to do the same, but I believe in putting my money where my heart is, and right now, it is totally in the Sonicwall camp. They understand the future, and it is now.
Thanks for a great week in Vegas!
2008 is going to be a break out year for Sonicwall. The key phrase I heard over and over was "everything is going to be new" this year. They have a fantastic product roadmap across all their lines of business. But key to it all is they remember the partner. They are listening to feedback and working hard to correct some of the issues they have experienced in the rapid growth they have had. Support is being brought back internal to Sonicwall and much more of it back to the US. They have heard the channel loud and clear.
Matt said one thing in his keynote that has stuck with me. "I've never seen a company cost cut itself to prosperity". Truer words have never been spoken. With the uncertainty of the economy, some companies are trying to adapt by slashing all kinds of things. Expenses and people. While I know we all have to control our costs, the ability to endure tough times is not handled by slashing things, particularly key components of the company like sales and marketing expenses for example.
The true test of my believing in a company is what I actually do about it. Two years ago or so when I heard Mark Hurd at HP, I immediately went and purchased some HP stock. I did the same when Steve Jobs came back to Apple. I now have Sonicwall in my investment portfolio. I am a believer in their future. This is not a solicitation for you to do the same, but I believe in putting my money where my heart is, and right now, it is totally in the Sonicwall camp. They understand the future, and it is now.
Thanks for a great week in Vegas!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Partner Conferences
Today I am on the way to Las Vegas for the beginning of partner conference week. Sonicwall's conference begins today, and HP's starts tomorrow. Why they can't communicate enough to make sure they don't overlap is beyond me. But at least they are in the same town and I will catch pieces of both. I find these events very valuable - not because of the content so much - but because of the people. It is the single best place to gain access to key executives and the best of their partner base. There is no other place I know to visit with the cream of the crop for these vendors. They don't invite every partner, they invite those who are engaged and performing. So I love being able to network and meet up with partners who are not worried about how they get a discount on this sku or a few dollars of MDF for a lunch and learn. These are typically partners with a plan and folks who have been making it happen. If they weren't they wouldn't be there. That said - it you are in Vegas for either of those events let me know. I would love to catch up with you and see what is happening in your world. I have a couple reporters looking to talk with some good partners as well.
I am really looking forward to hearing from Matt Mederios and Mark Hurd. What is said from the top does matter. A couple years ago when Mark came on as CEO of HP, I was so impressed I actually went home and bought some HP stock. That was a good decision (not quite as good as the Apple stock I bought but still good). Don't ever think that the vision and direction of a leader doesn't matter - certainly not a true leader. These two companies have true leadership at the top. That is one of the key reasons we partner with both of them. They also have some great additional leadership in key areas. I am especially excited to meet Adrian Jones this week from HP. He came into the HP organization to lead SPO and has been a huge help in correcting some of the issues their dealer authorization arm has caused. I love working with people who just make it happen and Adrian has been one of those folks at HP along with some of his reports. I am grateful to be able to work with people in large companies who still understand the importance of people. Same things goes for Sonicwall. Both companies have their issues, but at the end of the day they are approachable and willing to work at making things right.
Let me know if you will be in Vegas. See you there!
I am really looking forward to hearing from Matt Mederios and Mark Hurd. What is said from the top does matter. A couple years ago when Mark came on as CEO of HP, I was so impressed I actually went home and bought some HP stock. That was a good decision (not quite as good as the Apple stock I bought but still good). Don't ever think that the vision and direction of a leader doesn't matter - certainly not a true leader. These two companies have true leadership at the top. That is one of the key reasons we partner with both of them. They also have some great additional leadership in key areas. I am especially excited to meet Adrian Jones this week from HP. He came into the HP organization to lead SPO and has been a huge help in correcting some of the issues their dealer authorization arm has caused. I love working with people who just make it happen and Adrian has been one of those folks at HP along with some of his reports. I am grateful to be able to work with people in large companies who still understand the importance of people. Same things goes for Sonicwall. Both companies have their issues, but at the end of the day they are approachable and willing to work at making things right.
Let me know if you will be in Vegas. See you there!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Working with Vendors
We had a great day yesterday in our HTG peer meeting sharing about business and life. One thing keeps coming up over and over the more time I spend with partners - the frustration of trying to work with vendors. I had numerous conversations with partners yesterday and most every day for that matter, about how they struggle to be connected to the vendors their very business depends on for success. It is a strange phenomenon. Vendors are very dependent upon us as partners to sell and support their products for success as well. So it really is a situation where both parties need the other to succeed. But somehow there are so many breakdowns in that relationship it just seems to be a mess for many most of the time. Partners get frustrated and jump to the next vendor thinking the grass has to be greener over there only to find the same end result. The reality is that a partner-vendor relationship is about people and that is a very complicated affair. It is really not all that different than being in a deep friendship or marriage - you have to work at it and not give up. Marriages fail because people decide it is not worth working through the problems to get to the other side. There has to be something better. Partner - vendor relationships fail for the same reasons. They consist of imperfect people who don't always do what is expected (even though those expectations are not clearly defined by either party). They consist of change in personnel and programs and direction by both companies. They are a moving target that require a lot of determination and hard work. But if I was going to sum it up in one word - success in building a vendor relationship requires one thing - COMMITMENT. From both sides - moment by moment and day by day. It is not always going to be pleasant or fun. It will be frustrating. But as partners we need to make wise choices on who we will go to market with, select a handful of go to market partners, and then make a deep commitment to get connected and stay committed to them. We can't move with every change in the wind. We have to be honest when we are frustrated and work with them to resolve it. We also need to be grateful when things are good and thankful when their products and programs have a positive impact. I hear a lot more whining than I do gratitude from the partner community. It is like vendors "owe us" or something. They don't owe us any more than we owe our customers. Certainly we don't like to think of that relationship that way. I treat my vendors like a customer, as that is what they truly are. We are blessed to have deep relationships with our key vendors - Microsoft, HP, Sonicwall, Ingram and a few others. Building those has taken many years and a lot of work, and the process never ends. People change and it is a continual process of going deeper and wider in each of those companies. But it is well worth it. We are blessed to have great vendor partners. It is a win win for both of us. It can happen. But it starts with a commitment and then rolling up your sleeves and getting to work.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Investing in Team
Today and tommorrow the HTS team which I lead is at an offsite in Kansas City. We hold an annual all hands retreat each year to bring together our entire team and get people connected and on the same page. We started this back in the late 90's and have been holding a time away and together for 10 years now. It is one of the best investments we make in building team and positioning us for growth.
During our two day event we focus on a number of training objectives. This year we have training being presented by our key vendors - HP, Microsoft, Sonicwall and 3Com. Our distribution partner will be with us as well - Ingram Micro. We will be learning about their key technologies for 2008 and positioning our team as the go to partners with these partners. This year we are taking a page out of the HP playbook by doing a lot of our sales and technical training in one large room with our sales people sitting with the engineering staff that supports them. This is something we learned from sending a couple of our staff to the HP technology summit in Houston last year that has paid big dividends for us. It will allow these small teams of a sales person and the appropriate engineer to talk about specific customers who can benefit from the solutions being presented as we go through the day. Our objective is to leave Saturday afternoon with a list of target clients that we can go present these solution ideas to and hit the ground running.
Of course one of the main purposes of the event is to have fun together. Tonight we have our opening celebration. This years theme is based around the concept of an orchestra and each of our 8 locations will be presenting a song - yes singing or lip syncing - to the group that describes their office. Last year we did an olympic theme and again had each office do a skit along those lines. It gets pretty creative and crazy but there are lots of laughs and pokes at the boss so I just hold on and see what happens. We are blessed to have a great part of our management team in Jane Cage who is awesome at driving this event each year. She is focused on having every detail in place and making sure each person gets the most value possible being at the event.
So what does it cost? A lot. We pull 80 plus people from the field plus feed and house them off site at a hotel in KC. I am typing this blog post from my room there now as we came in a day early as a management team to prepare and make sure we are ready to get the maximum return from our time together. So if we measure the cost in dollars out, we are only looking at one side of the equation. That is what a lot of us do as partners. But when we consider the impact of training, team building, relationships, vendor interaction, distribution interaction and just overall letting our hair down for some fun - it far outweighs the cost. I encourage you to make and take time to build your team. Having a staff that is connected and together on the same page is a key to success and growing your business. You can't get there alone. All of us are smarter than any one of us. It is about us.....not me.
During our two day event we focus on a number of training objectives. This year we have training being presented by our key vendors - HP, Microsoft, Sonicwall and 3Com. Our distribution partner will be with us as well - Ingram Micro. We will be learning about their key technologies for 2008 and positioning our team as the go to partners with these partners. This year we are taking a page out of the HP playbook by doing a lot of our sales and technical training in one large room with our sales people sitting with the engineering staff that supports them. This is something we learned from sending a couple of our staff to the HP technology summit in Houston last year that has paid big dividends for us. It will allow these small teams of a sales person and the appropriate engineer to talk about specific customers who can benefit from the solutions being presented as we go through the day. Our objective is to leave Saturday afternoon with a list of target clients that we can go present these solution ideas to and hit the ground running.
Of course one of the main purposes of the event is to have fun together. Tonight we have our opening celebration. This years theme is based around the concept of an orchestra and each of our 8 locations will be presenting a song - yes singing or lip syncing - to the group that describes their office. Last year we did an olympic theme and again had each office do a skit along those lines. It gets pretty creative and crazy but there are lots of laughs and pokes at the boss so I just hold on and see what happens. We are blessed to have a great part of our management team in Jane Cage who is awesome at driving this event each year. She is focused on having every detail in place and making sure each person gets the most value possible being at the event.
So what does it cost? A lot. We pull 80 plus people from the field plus feed and house them off site at a hotel in KC. I am typing this blog post from my room there now as we came in a day early as a management team to prepare and make sure we are ready to get the maximum return from our time together. So if we measure the cost in dollars out, we are only looking at one side of the equation. That is what a lot of us do as partners. But when we consider the impact of training, team building, relationships, vendor interaction, distribution interaction and just overall letting our hair down for some fun - it far outweighs the cost. I encourage you to make and take time to build your team. Having a staff that is connected and together on the same page is a key to success and growing your business. You can't get there alone. All of us are smarter than any one of us. It is about us.....not me.
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