What A New VAR Can Teach You About Selling To Retailers

By The Business Solutions Network

It's common in the retail IT VAR world to meet resellers who are second or third generation veterans. VARs who started attending industry events as children. VARs who have experienced a lot of change over the years.

Today, some of those resellers have been scrambling to adjust their business models to the most recent changes taking place in the world of retail IT. Others, aren't adjusting.

Last week I spoke with a reader who offered me a unique perspective on this situation. The reader is new to retail IT, starting his business only a year ago. Hearing him talk, it's clear that he doesn't have the lifetime of VAR experience that most other have. Whether he knows it or not, that's a good thing.[pullquote]He looks at the retail market as one where technology innovation has created a ton of opportunities for him to offer great solutions to his customers."[/pullquote]

You see, he's not burdened by memories of how things use to be. He didn't experience hardware margins high enough to purchase a vacation home. Rather, he talks about his services model and looks at the recurring revenue from payment processing as a no brainer must-have for his business. He holds digital signage, video surveillance, and mobile technology as technologies he has to sell. At least, he has to if he really wants to solve his customer's problems.

In short, this new retail IT reseller isn't hampered by a business model born 30 years ago. He doesn't long for the way things were. He looks at the retail market as one where technology innovation has created a ton of opportunities for him to offer great solutions to his customers. And, he's loving his job, which he finds very rewarding. This, at a time when others are sweating it out looking for an exit strategy or scratching their heads trying to figure out how to adjust their business.

I share this with you for two reasons. First, to let you know that if you aren't offering all the latest technologies to your customers, there's a new breed who gladly will. Second, to remind you that solving customer problems with technology is supposed to be fun and rewarding. If it's not, you need to ask yourself if you're in the right business. ♦