Growing channel partners are always looking at what’s next and new growth strategies. In many cases, these strategies follow the evolution of technology, marketing, and sales tools. IoT (internet of things) is the trend following technology. This is not a revolution; it is an evolution of connected device strategies that have evolved since the days of dial-up internet. The adoption of innovative technology is fueling growth and channel partners can contribute to this in a big way.
Creating value-added solutions is what resellers have built their foundation on–leveraging service, hardware, and support into meaningful solutions that solve significant business problems. The traditional channel model that has been in IT (information technology), telco, and traditional VAR services follow the principles of what IoT needs. It is not technology alone that fuels this; it is the solutions created and the value they bring. This goes back to one of the founding principles of IoT: Save money or make money? Or both? How does enabling technology help companies to save money or make money? There is one single strategy I have seen produce results within the IoT channel.
Educate first, sell second: Thought leadership and education-based marketing/selling is the process of making your prospects better and more informed customers. By investing time, resources, and energy in making your customers more educated, you build credibility and trust and make them more interested in your offer. People want to be more educated in their decisions. They crave the understanding of why they purchased (not what they purchased), and are less likely to simply take a recommendation. Invest time to be an educator and share your knowledge.
Kathy Sierra, author, and co-creator of the “Head First” series of books said it well: “Upgrade your user, not your product. ‘Value’ is less about the stuff and more about the stuff ‘the stuff’ enables. Don’t build better cameras–build better photographers.”
Consumers today live in a universally accessible digital and immediately gratifying consumer environment. Most are unlikely to buy without some sort of research or simple Google search. Simply typing IoT into Google returns over 1.5 billion hits. 2021 is just over 10 years since the first IoT “concepts” were officially coined. We have all heard the growth projections of connected devices. But the reality is the reseller community has one of the largest potential areas of growth. Value-added resellers and solution providers need to leverage their expertise to educate the market. In return, they should see growth exceeding traditional IoT market expectations.
Be the educator. The IoT marketplace is at your fingertips.
Terra Bastolich
Executive VP of Marketing & Business Development
GetWireless