Little worm on a big hook
Posted: February 28th, 2010 | Author: robfranklin | Filed under: Business, IT Community, small business | 7 Comments »The title of this post comes from a line in a classic film, in my opinion, which is The Crow. During the film Skank is asked by Top Dollar ‘Don’t you feel that?’; he response by saying ‘I feel like a little worm on a big f*****’ hook.’, classic line. So what is the relevance? Let me explain.
For those that rotate in the same IT circles as I do then you will have seen much of the buzz at the minute surrounding the CompTIA Reseller Forum this week and the TCA Conference. Both of these events were fantastic but I will not go into how the day panned out as other have done this already, you can read about it here or here. One of the points that was raised in the resellers forum was the relationship with vendors or distributors and the IT Resellers. The fact is that many of the traditional distributors don’t give a lot of attention to small IT resellers, the kind of people that were at the Resellers Forum, as they are moving lots of boxes to the big retailers such as Ebuyer, Dabs etc. The reality is that much of the time it is cheaper for the reseller to buy from the likes of EBuyer and Dabs as they are generally cheaper than buying through the normal distribution channel. The problem for the reseller is the consumer, the very people they are selling to can buy from these guys as well.
One of the suggestions from a friend and fellow member, Richard Tubb from Netlink IT, was to engage with the vendors and distributors on a personal level by asking them ‘How can I help you’. Now this philosophy, in this context, is quite unusual. Don’t get me wrong the concept is not alien to me, as a BNI member I am a big believer of ‘Givers Gain’ which basically says if I help you then someday you will help me too. However, I have never thought of it in this context and it started me thinking about things. After thinking about this a little I realised that this was something that I was already engaged in with a distributor of mine, Security IP. Some of my fellow AMITPRO members will already know Security IP but they are small distributor by comparison to others out there but that does not make them weaker but stronger in my opinion. My account manager there is James Cole who I have known for more years than I care to recall as I knew him at the last company he worked for. We have always had a candid relationship as I explained from the outset that I would likely never bring him any *big* orders but I would do all I could to get him in front of other people like me to that they can get more business, and I did this because I wanted to not because there was anything in it for me. What has happened is that when there are any new products coming out then he calls me and we get to be one of the first to try it, more importantly our feedback is heard and, where appropriate, acted upon. I also get help with marketing
Now as a small IT reseller would I get that type of support from a larger distributer? Almost certainly not, so why would a smaller distributer want to engage me in such a way? Well that I can only speculate from my point of view but firstly we have a relationship; what I call a personal-business relationship where by the personal boundaries blur slightly around that edge of the business relationship. Secondly, from the outset we have both made a concerted effort to help one another to develop our businesses by helping the other. Not in a conscious or premeditated way, if either of who has not been able to reciprocate it would not have made any difference, the relationship was there anyway.
So what is the point of the post? The point is that we live in a time when everything has been commoditised and we go after the cheapest price, much of this has been created by the box shifters like EBuyer, Dabs even Asda and Tesco. In spite of this there are still suppliers, distributors and vendors out there that want to make those personal connections and work with small IT resellers who don’t think that they are ‘big’ enough to be noticed. So speak up because you may just be surprised.
- Rob
As you rightly say, it’s all about relationships. Great blog post Rob!
Great story, thanks for sharing. I agree, relationships with the smaller distributors and personal relationships are key for a smaller IT company. I’ve found that the larger distributors just don’t want to know us – and why would they? Even the supposedly SmallBiz-Friendly distributors like West Coast are outrageously difficult to work with when you’re a small concern. eBuyer, as you correctly noted, are way easier to deal with and just as cheap. I can often buy Dell equipment from eBuyer for less than Dell will sell it to me, even after my partner discount!
So, I try to work with others in the Small Business Specialist Community – people like Vlad Mazek over at Own Web Now. They are more helpful and you can actually get to talk to “the main man” when you have an issue.
Thanks,
Tim Long [SBS MVP]
I work with Symantec and you’d probably call us a “big vendor”. I was having a very similar conversation with one of my colleagues the other day who is very senior in our Channel Marketing team. He was telling me that he drew a circle 10 miles around his house and then called up every “small” reseller within that location and asked if they would mind spending time with him to talk about doing business with us. Almost all said “Yeah sure, but you’re not going to like what you hear”! However, he did and got some great feedback which he’s seeking to put into action. Hopefully those resellers and others if they read this will realise that we’re not all sitting there in our ivory tower trying to concoct strategies to make your interactions with us harder and harder but actually are interested in your growing your businesses.
The very fact I came here from a link from Richard Tubb, who I follow on Twitter, precisely because he posts or links to stuff that makes me think, tells you there’s at least two us in Symantec.
I’m now following you too … man that sounds creepy.
@Richard, as always Ric thanks for the feedback. Its always good to know what I write makes sense!
@Tim, thanks for commenting! As a small reseller it is difficult for us to compete with the ‘mail order’ society that we are in. This is one of the reasons why, when I set the business up, I didn’t try to push the supply of hardware. There is simply no way to compete. The interesting thing is that it we are being asked more to supply the goods as most clients don’t want the hassle of ordering it themselves.
@mike, great to hear from you. Please don’t think this was a ‘bashing’ session as that wasn’t the case. I truely believe that there are vendors and distributors out there wanting to engage small resellers fully but neither party has made the first step yet, thats what this post was about. I also think that some of the small resellers may find it difficult fully engage larger companies such as yourselves and the big disty’s because they are small they may not think that “you” would be interested without actually asking first. Really great to hear Symantec engaging the small resellers, I would be really interested in speaking with someone about the new products coming out from you guys if you could put me in touch
As for ‘following’ me, consider yourself counter-followed
Rob,
Many thanks for the kind words re myself and Security IP. We really do appreciate them.
Having worked in other disti’s who expect you to make umpteen calls per hour to produce a revenue figure at the end of each second/minute/hour/day etc it has always been the focus of Security IP to work with and (hopefully) listen to our customers regardless of who or how big they are.
The least we can do is give our customers thetime of day!
I do appreciate the recognition.
Thanks
James
@Rob – certainly didn’t feel “bashed” and if you were we probably deserve it!
Yes – a two-tier distribution channel has its challenges, especially around picking VAD’s where the V actually means something. Many decisions are beyond me but I do everything I can to lobby for them to be made with you guys in mind.
I’ll be in contact directly around getting your feedback on some plans.
Mike
Rob,
Great post.. 2010 is the year I have been doing the very same thing, its all about relationships. I always buy from the small guys when I can rather than the big guys. Its all about the go giver mentality..