IT Reseller asked Colin Booth (pictured right), Director of Professional Services with ScanSource Europe, a leading pan-European value added distributor, to explain how resellers may further their success by offering services early on in the sales cycle.
Your customer calls to place a hardware order. Do you leave it at that? If so, youre missing a great opportunity. The beginning of the sales cycle is the best time to discuss post sales support solutions to your customer, whilst they are still developing their budget. By providing your customer with the services they need to make their business successful, youre proving the value you bring to them as a partner in fulfilling their customers requirements.
Q: How can ScanSource Europe help?
A: ScanSource Europe offers best-of-breed automatic data capture, electronic point-of-sale and wireless products, which means you get the highest quality products the market has to offer from one source. You also get highly trained sales representatives, first-class technical support, in-stock products, and outstanding logistics.
But what about service contracts? ScanSource Europe is able to provide a complete portfolio of service contract offerings across EMEA for all of your customers requirements, whether it be onsite support or a return to workshop offering. ScanSource can provide the value-added services your customer requires, allowing you to focus on your core business of sales and customer service, while we manage the behind-the-scenes activities.
Q: What if a customer has multiple sites?
A: If, for example, you have a customer with sites across a number of countries in Europe and they require some form of service contract support on a variety of equipment, ScanSource can manage the entire process of providing multi-country support contracts to you and your customer. Our goal is to make it easy for you to deliver total solutions. Well provide the services you need to deliver the solutions your customer wants. And remember, in order to be the most successful:
do not be afraid to discuss service
always quote service up front
make sure you understand the importance of service contracts and their role in account management
be able to provide a variety of service options
realise the repeat revenue stream available
maximise the additional margin opportunity service provides.
Working with ScanSource Europe also brings added convenience, as youll have one source for all your products and services.
Q: OK, but what are others saying about ScanSource?
A: ScanSource Europe was recently awarded the Symbol Services award at the companys 2005 Global Partner Conference. According to Chris Ranger, senior director of services, Symbol Technologies, EMEA, ScanSource was honoured during the EMEA Partner Breakout Session In Recognition of Outstanding Service Achievement 2005 for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region for its contribution to Symbol services revenue, with the largest increase in services revenue year to date in 2005 over 2004.
And according to Roger Levenhagen, sales manager, distribution and resellers, Symbol Technologies, EMEA, This award recognizes the importance of services as part of a customer solution. ScanSource has been instrumental in educating the reseller community to position the appropriate service level as part of this solution. I look forward to the same level of growth in 2006.
This is further evidence of our dedication to the channel, our vendor partners and our reseller customers to deliver a total solution from start to finish. If youre looking for a partner that can help take you to the next level, contact ScanSource Europe and see how we can help.
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