Case Study: Look Beyond ID Card Sales

By Mike Monocello, Business Solutions magazine

You casually stroll into your customer's site to make a courtesy call only; instead of seeing the beaming smile of the receptionist, your eyes are drawn uncontrollably to the new IT equipment on the front desk. That is, the new equipment that your company didn't provide. While you can't be too upset because your company doesn't sell and install the equipment your customer purchased, it still pains you to know that your customer did business with another VAR. You've been cheated on! Mike Sloe, president and owner of systems integrator Total ID Solutions, had a similar experience when he noticed a customer had a new visitor management system. It was then that the integrator, who specializes in identification systems, discovered that he was missing opportunities to sell technologies complementary to ID cards and printers. "My initial thought was that there's no good reason why we shouldn't have been the company to sell that solution," he explains. "Visitor management solutions aren't much different from what we were currently selling." Shortly thereafter, Total ID Solutions began selling visitor management systems. In the time since, Sloe has also found access control and time and attendance solutions to be a natural transition from basic identification systems. While Sloe wholeheartedly believes in the value of selling complementary technologies, he's quick to point out that the transition to be able to do so isn't always easy.

Used with permission from Business Solutions magazine.