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As hardware vendors churn out products at an unbeatable price and with lesser
time-gaps, end-customers are often caught at the receiving end of their
technical specifications. Sandwiched in between are the customer-interface
personnel and the reseller community, who have to keep themselves abreast of the
incessant flurry of products and features.
Whilst introduction of new product lines by various principals is on a
continuing high, resellers' staff needs to be educated and re-educated (with
versions of the existing products) about the products. If one is good at
performance, the other has got the looks; another has got a cost advantage and
so on.
Seeking ways to settle down with a strategy to overcome the brandishing
heavyweight is the channel community. It is employing some innovative ways to
avoid turning gold into dust if customer-interface personnel are ill equipped
with product knowledge.
Constant Training Essential
Conventional wisdom has it that constant training on various products and
solutions is one of the best ways to keep the staff abreast about the ground
realities. But what needs to be emphasized is not just the existing products,
but future trends too.
Elaborating this, Mumbai-based Ontrack Solutions' Director, G Balakrishnan
said, "Focusing too intently on hardware and software trends and dramatic
advances in computing is one good way to keep your staff informed about the
profound implications in the future. This way, when there's an extension of
the existing product, it becomes quite easier for them to grasp the
details."
Why Have Training?
India is on the radar of every technology company as a buyer of IT products,
as well as an offshore outsourcing partner. Knocking on the doors of native
retailers, vendors started verticalizing solutions like storage, security,
networking and others. Customers are bombarded with a combination of solutions
and hence expect solution providers or systems integrators to consult them about
these as well.
 As
far as hardware infrastructure is concerned, vendors are coming up with a slew
of product platforms, targeting customers at the entry-level, mid-range and
high-end. The story doesn't end up here, for there are segments like small and
mid-sized corporates, SOHO, enterprises and PSUs, for which vendors compete to
offer customized products, integrating desktops, printers, fax machines suiting
their requirements.
Given this scenario, resellers have to keep their manpower tuned to the
situation, as they directly interface with the customer. If they are unable to
convey the desired information, it will mean a loss of an entire customer base.
Hence, training is essential.
Types Of Training
Irrespective of the employee category, training is an essential element.
Categorically, training sessions could be broadly classified into three levels-entry-level
training, technical training, and pre-sales and post-sales training. While
entry-level training includes training for the staff being employed like
technical support staff or field staff or pre-sales and post-sales staff;
technical training is for personnel who provide customer support. The latter
needs highly focused training to give them an insight in to the product or
solution they are offering.
This is also that part of the staff that have to prove to be effective when
the customer needs assistance by giving valuable solutions. Hence, training for
this slot is an ongoing process so as to update the technical staff with the
developments happening around new products, and its impact on their offering.
Not to be ignored are the pre-sales and post-sales staff who need to be
trained to be effectively able to interface with the customer. They need to be
equipped with an overall view about the wide range of products they offer, their
implications, area of operations and so on.
Take Road Less Traveled
Hitting peaks and troughs amidst much hullabaloo in the new entrants is
Chennai-based Quadsel Systems. Its MD, Girish Madhavan, minimizes the time and
cost involved in providing training at all levels. He suggested, "We have
deployed in-house training mechanism, which all the 63 employees have to attend
everyday. There would be two speakers from the employees taking turns to talk
about the product in detail." This way, everyone gets an opportunity to
address his colleagues and gets exposed to good oratory skills.
Organizing your staff according to the client base and product offerings is a
good approach. Elaborated Bangalore-based Frontier Business Systems' MD, Ravi
Verdes, "Our pre-sales staff also does field job. We allocate them a
certain set of customers and they take care accordingly. Though as a service we
offer both pre-sales and post-sales support, we don't have personnel
categorized for both."
He further suggested that staff should also be given the task to handle
selected products. Not everyone should handle the customer without any
specialization. "We divide the staff and the respective person should take
care of the product line that he is in charge of," explained Ravi.
Added Balakrishnan, "While the principal provides some training on the
product being released, the staff later after attending the session can comeback
and conduct the same session to the rest of the staff. This could be one of the
best ways to disseminate information."
Bottlenecks
Attrition and IT are inseparable and the channel community is not barred
from this issue. Confirmed Balakrishnan, "First, getting the right kind of
people is difficult and that is followed by retaining them. To overcome this, we
have charted out some incentive packages for our employees that holds them to
strike even harder. Besides, there should be a clear growth-path as far as
career moves are concerned."
Memory building exercises is what Girish recommends. "Employees in this
group are not really smart and intelligent to grasp things that easily and
convey the same to the customer. So to get down to their level, one should make
them understand the concept and help them in retaining that."
Sunitha Natti
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