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karlkovacs

Re: How adopting IT as a hobby creates customer trust

In today’s idea economy, companies are rapidly transforming to the Idea Economy, moving away from the traditional siloed data centers. Along with this, anybody involved in the sales cycle has to move from selling silos to empowering companies with Transformation Area solutions.

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In all the years I’ve spent in IT, presales and sales roles have been the most challenging and rewarding jobs. Talking to CEOs and CTOs provides a glimpse into challenges they face. I have the chance to transform their business using my technical knowledge and skills to deliver an innovative IT solution. Regardless of the vertical or horizontal market, I’m the one who balances ideal solutions (and sometimes costly) with affordable solutions. Once I’ve designed a solution, the sales team takes over to work on the statement of work, budget, and who is responsible for each section of the project.

Transforming Sales

The challenge sales people face today is you can no longer talk about siloed solutions to meet a specific business challenge. The sales cycle has completely changed and along with it, the knowledge and level of understanding of the idea economy. Businesses are transforming at a rate faster than Moore’s law and the sales force has to keep up or lose business. Customers are more interested in your knowledge of the solutions than your low golf score. Impress them in the boardroom, not the golf course.

"The challenge sales people face today is you can no longer talk about siloed solutions to meet a specific business challenge"

IT as A Hobby

Today’s sales force needs to be as educated as the presales team when it comes to transforming businesses in the Idea Economy. It isn’t enough to know the high level facts of a particular solution or transformation area. CEOs, CTO, and other business executives are becoming more knowledgeable to the issues and possible solutions. They want to know exactly how your business can help accelerate business growth, solve business pain, and transform their business from a static to an agile model.

There are no short cuts available to you. The only way to help your customer is to learn and earn their respect and business from your in-depth knowledge of each of the Transformation Areas. Maybe a customer needs to enable workplace productivity and, based on your conversations, you determine they need to start with transforming to a Hybrid Infrastructure. The only way you can help your customer is by learning a new hobby. I’m not talking about your client’s favorite hobbies either. It’s Information Technology. 

IT is ubiquitous and knowing this will help you better understand your client’s business and how you can advise them. Decisions can’t be made over a lunch meeting or even on the golf course, anymore. There is too much at stake nowadays. They require pulling in various members of a company and listening to their 3, 5, and 10-year goals. Your challenge is to translate their goals into actionable IT solutions leveraging Transformation Areas. You can’t do this unless you have adopted IT as a hobby.

A key point I need to make is learning a new hobby never stops. Technology in most hobbies is always changing and you need to adapt. Remember Moore’s Law? The pace of change and the rate of adoption are increasing as business’ look for new ways to evolve, expand, and win new business---just like you are looking to win new business.

Learn more about HPE Transformation Area Solution Bundles and find the latest materials and training you can use to facilitate a discussion with your customers here.

 "How are you adapting to IT as a hobby? Need help? We are here to answer your questions"


Thank you,

Karl Kovacs
About the Author

karlkovacs

20+ years in IT, including data center architect, pre-sales engineer, certification development, and management. Currently working as a Product Marketing Manager with HPE Storage Networking. Passion for technology, gadgets, and the outdoors. Always looking for ways to blend them together in one big adventure.

Comments

I like that phrase "IT as a Hobby."  That makes a lot of sense.  The things I've been most successful at in my life are the things I was passionate about.  That may be true of everybody.  Get passionate about IT and begin to consume it on a regular basis.  This will keep you informed and better equipt to meet the challenges of helping customers with solutions in today's fast-paced and informed world.