If you are still not sure how well you are doing by now, here is a one-question test to help you gauge how well you are doing…
What percentage of your current customers are still part of your revenue stream?
If your answer is most, then you are probably going to be OK. But, don’t gloat or sit back. Just keep on doing what you are doing.
Regardless of your answer, you should double down on retaining your current customers first, then start fishing for new clients as soon as you feel you got your house in order!
I have been taking some notes as I speak to channel partners who are doing very well.
Here are 12 things that they have been doing over the past 6 months of this crisis:
- Do whatever you can to take care of yourself, family, employees, friends and community. This matters the most!
- Call all of your customers to talk, but don’t try to sell anything. I know it’s difficult but fight back the urge. That said, ensure their work from home set-up is working properly and secured.
- Ask them how they are holding up and let them know that you are there if they need help. Widen your definition of help beyond technology.
- Find out what is keeping them awake at night. Be a good listener. It is the best thing you can to do.
- Be innovative in helping them solve as many of their pain points as possible. Push the boundaries of digital everything as this is the new playground.
- Send your clients something personalize to show them you really care and mean it. Some sent food baskets. Some sent health stuff. Some sent gift cards for food. Some just sent a greeting card wishing them well.
- Review and map out everything that you currently do with your clients. You need to know where they are today in order to help lead them go where they need to go. Again, put a digital twist where possible.
- Educate them (without the sales pitch) about what they could do to overcome the current challenges. Think way out of the box here and beyond technology. One MSP helped their customers to get up to speed on social media. Many helped their clients and families to learn how to use video conferencing tools. Some offer virtual training sessions.
- Work with them to solve their problems and finance costs where possible. Some are tight with cash flow so helping them to afford stuff is 80% of the battle. Helping them to reduce costs and/or become more efficient is the sweet spot. Don’t forget to protect them from hackers!
- Get your vendors and distributors involved and ask for their support. Most are wide open to helping their partners with better credit terms, pricing and support.
- Improve your digital footprint and social selling skills. Folks with the better social selling game will have a huge competitive advantage. Everything was already headed in this direction so it is just we are here sooner rather than later. Embrace it with open arms!
- Rethink everything you do and re-prioritize. There are many awesome tools available to help channel partners streamline operations, buy better and market better. Do not forget to button up your in-house security practice.
Hopefully this top 12 list helps you in some way. I know it is not always convenient to find the time (and energy) to learn by attending events or catching up on what’s new, but this is a very good time to do both.
Learning is the brain food that fuels new ideas, innovation to accelerate your success. The cool thing about most virtual events is when you register, you do get the recordings so you can view on demand and share.
Why not attend the monthly ChannelNEXT events and/or subscriber to e-ChannelNEWS. Both are free! Come hang out with us and your peers and discover something new and exciting!
We will also host our next fun freestyle virtual hang out on Aug 26 between 4 PM and 5 PM EDT. It is the closest thing to meeting in-person.
These are complicated times to say the least, but it can also be an opportunity of a lifetime.
