Redirect Your Mobility Sales Focus

It’s a common scenario in airports — busy executives deep in thought as they type away on their notebook computers. As one executive struggles to get his belongings through security, he inadvertently drops his computer, and it crashes to the floor. The computer, filled with irreplaceable information, is dead. Data lost — game over.

In the same airport, just a few yards away from the executive, a utility company employee is working in a wiring closet. Just then, he reaches for a tool and knocks his notebook computer off a table. The computer falls on a concrete floor. He picks
up the computer, which is still running, and continues his work. No data lost — no trauma. “It’s that type of scenario that got me thinking, ‘Why shouldn’t business executives have the same kind of rugged mobility solutions that we have provided to utility companies for years?’” says Beverly McRae, director of sales for USAT Corp., a Panasonic Toughbook Premier Partner. McRae and her team of 39 USAT employees specialize in providing integrated computing and communications solutions for verticals such as utilities and law enforcement.  However, in 2007, she challenged the company to expand its focus to also go after emerging business-rugged and semirugged notebook market opportunities. What USAT did to address McRae’s challenge is an interesting VAR growth story that centers on a unique marketing campaign.

Follow Your Mobility Vendor’s Lead
Early in 2007, McRae noticed that Panasonic was running a new multimedia advertising campaign focused on selling semirugged and business-rugged computers to ‘road warriors,’ professionals who spend much of their time away from their desks. It was then that she rallied her sales and marketing team to brainstorm how USAT could capitalize on Panasonic’s push into this new market space. She saw sales opportunities opening up in new industries, and she recognized the lack of a push by USAT to capture them.  

“There was [and is] an awareness level building in the semirugged industry,” says McRae. “Panasonic opened my eyes to a potential new customer audience for USAT. We had to find a way to get that message out to prospective customers.” Although McRae’s team would introduce the business-rugged and semirugged computers to existing customers, she knew that would not be enough to expand the business into untapped markets such as traveling business executives. She wanted to increase sales with existing customers while adding new customers.

Educate, Motivate Your Mobility Sales Force
With a veteran, consultative sales force already highly experienced in Toughbook sales, you would think USAT would flip a switch and start selling semirugged and business-rugged computers. That was not the case. “After we made the commitment to move into this new market, we realized that this push required us to ‘retool’ our sales approach,” explains McRae. “Our sales team knew the benefits of providing fully rugged computers to utility customers, but they weren’t sure how to position business-rugged and semirugged computers to executives. After all, this is a horizontal approach to doing business, and we were conditioned for the vertical world of critical infrastructure.”

For instance, USAT salespeople were often dogmatic about leading with the fully rugged computers, even when those may have not been necessary for the customer. That wasn’t a bad thing when selling to utilities, but McRae wanted them to present additional options to nontraditional customers that did not have experience with rugged computers.

To address the new market, USAT sales representatives participated in Panasonic business-rugged product and sales training. Some salespeople also started carrying and using semirugged Panasonic Toughbook computers, including McRae herself. “It took more than just training and product demos to get our people to buy in on the concept of selling these computers to a different market,” says McRae. “I worked hard to generate a high level of excitement around this opportunity.” When all of USAT’s sales team were up to speed on the products, different team members were assigned different missions. Senior salespeople were tasked with selling to existing customers the business-rugged and semirugged products.

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The balance of salespeople were assigned to uncover new prospects. The USAT team often reviewed Panasonic’s marketing messages together, coming up with ideas to use internally. McRae also encouraged her sales team to actively look for examples of Panasonic’s national marketing campaign. In one instance, she said an employee was impressed to see a Toughbook ad on the tray table of a commercial airliner. She got her team to start saying things like, “Did you see the Toughbook ad on TV last night?”

Don’t underestimate the critical nature of what McRae did for her sales team. Business Solutions has featured many stories about VAR projects that struggled due to the lack of employee support. The mental aspect of getting the USAT sales team on board was as important as the product and sales training efforts. Once the USAT sales team felt a sense of ownership, they began to provide ideas to increase sales outside of the company’s traditional vertical markets.

To continue the momentum, McRae’s marketing team came up with an idea to advertise the Panasonic Toughbook line to executives traveling through the Raleigh-Durham, NC airport. Soon thereafter, the marketing project was born. USAT rented space from the airport and contracted with a national marketing company to construct a freestanding, glass-encased advertising display. The display is located in one of the airport terminals and attracts a lot of attention — due to the illusion of a Toughbook falling out of a briefcase about to hit the floor. As you can imagine, this display turns a lot of heads in an area where objects such as notebook computers often meet their demise. When combined with other methods of marketing such as e-mail blasts and Webinars, the complete marketing campaign has yielded USAT a tenfold increase in business-rugged and semirugged notebook sales in 2007 compared to 2006. It also allowed USAT to get in the door with a local customer it had been prospecting for years.

Expand Your Rugged Sales Reach
USAT’s sales of Toughbook computers to a hospice organization is a great example of how the VAR has expanded into nontraditional mobility markets. “When this client approached USAT with a need for mobile computers for their work force, we listened and learned about what type of computers were required,” explains McRae. “This specialized type of home healthcare worker requested something that was ultraportable, as it would be carried into personal homes. It also needed to be unimposing since hospice care is about humanity, not technology. It also had to be durable, as it would be used in a nonoffice work environment and preferably with a bright touch screen.” This was a perfect opportunity for USAT to propose the business-rugged Toughbook T5 series. USAT sold and installed 10 Toughbooks.
Since its refocus toward selling Toughbook mobile computing solutions to nontraditional mobility customers in 2007, USAT has multiple success stories of Toughbook computers being sold to customers outside its usual customer base in utilities, media, and the public sector. Those successes and USAT’s projected 20% increase in mobility hardware sales seem to confirm this market as a viable sales opportunity.

Is constructing a freestanding display in your local airport a way for you to increase sales? Perhaps, but it’s most important to see this example not as a model to imitate, but as an impetus to generate your own new ways of thinking and marketing your business. USAT’s success serves as an example of how an integrator recognized a new sales opportunity, teamed with a key vendor, strategized on a marketing plan, motivated its staff, and capitalized on that new sales opportunity.