Why Pre-sales Consultation Is Critical (and Profitable) for Resellers

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

These words, often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, can be applied to resellers that successfully partner with a distributor to leverage a modernized, pre-sales strategy. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do it, and an effective pre-sales engagement yields a consistently creative sales experience, helping to grow reseller revenue and profitability through expertise.

It all starts with thoughtful, front-end strategy and planning.

Ask, Don’t Just Answer
Traditional pre-sales tech support teams simply field questions from resellers. This results in a very limited sales experience, leaving growth, proper customization and money on the table. Ingram Micro’s Solution Design & Services (SD&S) team takes a different approach by asking probing questions to the reseller, which uncovers the true business need and helps resellers build end-to-end solutions for their clients.

Our team has 250-plus technicians working directly with resellers and their end user customers to design solutions accurately and efficiently–sharpening the axe, so to speak. Ingram Micro SD&S provides a variety of value-added services beyond technical engagement–including VIP reseller programs, cloud support, personalized delivery service and Express Warehousing–that complete those solutions and help resellers grow their business.

Sometimes these front-end questions are as simple as:

By asking these questions upfront, resellers are enabled and equipped to help their clients.

The right point of contact
Some distributors use sales reps as the single point of contact for resellers. It’s been proven more effective to deploy technicians to work directly with the reseller, so the right questions can be asked. After all, the experts operate on the front lines. Ingram Micro SD&S now offers resellers pricing on quotes to streamline the sales process even more.

Today, resellers turn to the SD&S team for guidance when tasked to build an end-to-end solution. Our certified technicians make knowledgeable recommendations and provide accurate quotes. If custom pricing or shipping need to be discussed, resellers immediately get connected with the appropriate representative to assist.

More ways Ingram Micro can help with pre-sales:

Want to chop down the tree the best way with the best tools? It’s all about pre-sales engagement. Get to know Ingram Micro’s Solution Design & Services team.

David McFarland is Director of Ingram Micro’s Solution Design & Services, Customer Service, and Customer Experience.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.