Computer Monkey:  IT

IT Business

Thursday, June 14, 2007 Computer Dealer News, May 25, 2007, Vol 23 No. 8   Back  (Related)    Email to a Friend  (Related)    Print this Page  (Related)    Digg this article  (Related)    Related Content So, do you want fries with that? We can learn some lessons from the fast food industry on how to cross-sell IT products 6/13/2007 12:33:00 PM by Lynn Greiner If any industry understands the concept of the cross-sell, it's fast food.

No one escapes from a burger chain without having been offered at least one upgrade or addition to their meal.

For the vendor, it can mean enhanced customer loyalty and a fatter bottom line.

While computer dealers usually don't endanger their customers' waistlines, the same philosophy still holds true, says Compugen president Harry Zarek : You sell the fries with the burger.

While you can simply add fries by suggesting a laptop buyer purchase a carrying case, for example, the opportunities can extend far beyond the initial sale.

Recognizing those opportunities takes training, said Mary Ann Yule, director, marketing and procurement for Toronto-based CDW Canada, a branch of the online hardware and software sales giant a lot of training. New CDW account managers go through an intensive five week course of study when they join the company, followed by sessions once a week for another eight months. Then they receive manufacturer training twice a week and quarterly CDW training sessions.

We have an ongoing investment in training them on how to cross-sell, how to attract customers, how to ask the right questions, how to probe the customer, Yule said.

One of the areas our manufacturer partners help with is they train on their technology today, they talk about their technology in the future and their road maps, so that our sales organization is well aware of them, they'll clearly talk about their cross-platform technologies, and they help our sales organization better understand how they can cross-sell versus their competition.

Vendors take this kind of relationship very seriously. We invest significant resources in Partner Account Managers (PAMs), who look, together with the partner, at where they can grow opportunities to expand services, noted Lora Gernon , director of the partner group at Microsoft Canada.

She said that cross-selling opportunities come from broadening horizons, such as when a partner who provides traditional network infrastructure begins offering Windows or Microsoft Office solutions.

A little imagination helps too. With printers, there's a lot more scope than people realize, said Paul Patterson , Lexmark Canada's marketing and communications manager.

Asking questions led to Lexmark's Page Plus program, which allows resellers of workgroup lasers and MFPs to offer a multifunction printer with three years of supplies and an extended warranty in one package. We have to be very flexible, Patterson noted. We don't want customers going other places (for consumables).

All computer vendors have programs to encourage selling options, said Zarek. HP has the Attach program. If you attain a given (sales) level (of options) over a given period, you get additional rebates. From a company point of view, those are the kind we like to do. Those dollars don't go to the street, they're an additional margin generator.

1. Enhanced customer loyalty  (Related) 2. Think of the product's use  (Related) 3. Effort and resources  (Related)

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