It’s that time of year again, when the IT channel starts looking ahead to a new year filled with opportunity, possibility, and the forgone conclusion that we will face and overcome new challenges no one could have seen coming.
However, before the year starts to ramp up and the holiday season feels like ancient history, let’s take a moment to consider a few ways to fine tune your business operations this year to make your business more profitable. Below, you’ll find a few easy ways you can improve your operations and make more money with the tools already available to you.
1. Leverage the benefits of a single security vendor
For many, this was the rallying cry of 2021, and if you didn’t’ partake in any vendor consolidation yet, it might be a good time to do so. There are multiple operational efficiencies, savings, and soft benefits that come from choosing one security vendor to go “all in” with for your security solutions. Standardization speeds sales cycles, staff certifications and training, and can provide a clear and simple roadmap for cross-sell opportunities.
2. Shorten process time with well-integrated products
This might be seen as a counterpart to the first recommendation, but it offers unique paths to profitability. Not all security platform vendors are alike, and you may find some who offer disparate solutions that are bolted on to a hub-like, “single pane of glass.” In that case, what are you really offering to your customers? Nothing more than individual security solutions that have been packaged nicely, yet offer little efficiency through deep, purpose-built integrations. A security platform should run like a symphony, and your techs are the conductors. If they are trying to play each instrument, they’ll be wasting a lot of time and the result isn’t very pretty.
Instead, look for security platforms that are unified, with integrations between solutions designed to have each component work harmoniously together. Platforms designed to unite security processes will decrease your staff’s time managing the platform, allowing them to work with more customer accounts. Plus, well-integrated platforms will share information through fast, efficient processes, giving your customers a better security posture, which keeps your reputation strong.
3. Sell the platform, not the product
As far as tactics are concerned, it’s important to approach net-new clients in 2022 with a holistic approach to their security needs; as you well know, today’s threats cannot be stopped by a single technology alone. Be realistic about the cyber-threat landscape, and close deals based on full-spectrum coverage of their IT environment that uses the full scope of your security platform. It will keep them safer and will reduce the need to cross-sell new solutions they desperately need.
One of the best ways to achieve this is to sell your experience, your reputation, and your superior service as a trusted security advisor. Shifting the sales conversation away from the lowest prices will ensure your prospective customer is purchasing an investment in their future.
4. Join an engagement-based channel partner program
This might be one of the more lucrative moves to make in the coming year, as it can provide discounts, rebates, 24x7 support, marketing funds and more – all without requiring a sales quota. Engagement-based channel partner programs are different from traditionally structured programs in that they reward learning and interaction with their parent business; the more you train and certify your staff in the solution portfolio, the greater rewards you can access. With this type of program, it’s entirely possible to rack up major discounts on every product purchased from your vendor before you even make a sale. Investing a little bit of time into a channel partner program like this can rapidly create a significant difference on the profitability of every sale moving forward.
These are just a few ways you can increase profitability this year: the opportunities to increase your efficiency, reduce your staff’s time managing tools, and increase your bottom line will vary from business to business. However, if you implement the strategies outlined above, you may be able to make tweaks to your go-to-market strategy that can put you out in front of your market and leave your competition wondering, “What’s their secret to success?”
Joseph Tavano is channel marketing specialist at WatchGuard Technologies. Read more WatchGuard guest blogs here. Regularly contributed guest blogs are part of ChannelE2E’s sponsorship program.
