"What we are seeing is the transactional business or the run-rate business really fall off," Frank Rauch, vice president of HP's Solutions Partners Organization said."... People that used to buy a few servers a month, whether they needed them or not, as part of a regular routine are taking a second look at that. What we are seeing clearly accelerate is (sales for) partners focused on cost optimization projects. We are also seeing that the buying cycles are becoming a little bit longer because the customer governance processes are becoming a little tighter. What used to be a CIO decision or an IT director decision now goes to the CFO or the board. So what we are trying to do is equip our partners with training..."
"We want to get a healthier channel," Rauch said, "We want to get a more competent channel..."
HP Enterprise reps undergo training in the "Socriatic Selling" methodology - the art of asking questions. With the economic downturn as a trigger, HP is now offering this sales training to its partners.
"Appointments are getting harder to get. Projects are getting harder to justify," Rauch continues, "There are a million distractions not only in the partner organizations but in the manufacturer organizations and in the customer organizations. The ability to have that laser focus and a methodology to boil through that is going to be key."
But HP will not be doling out this wisdom to all -
"My approach is not a peanut butter approach," Rauch stressed, "My approach will be to work with partners that are dedicated to acquiring new HP customers selling the HP portfolio and providing a reasonable ROI (return on investment) on the money that we give them."
"We have a lot of competitive partners knocking on our door right now," he said. "And we are not opening that door to everyone."
Source: HP Provides Sales Punch For VARs Grappling With Downturn
By Steven Burke, ChannelWeb
3:27 PM EST Fri. Feb. 06, 2009
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