Chapter 5: Algebra to Add Value? And You Thought That Was History

If they don’t buy it, they won’t buy it:
How a little algebra can help you add value and sell more

Let’s face it – the world of IT distribution is sexy. Every time you turn around, there’s a new technology or toy that changes the way we think, the way we work and the way we sell. Technological innovation is exciting, and we’re lucky to be a part of it.

Unfortunately, our attraction to gadgets often causes us to lose sight of our customers’ actual business needs. How many times have you been in a meeting with a prospect – rhapsodizing about speeds and feeds – when you suddenly realize that you’ve completely lost the prospect? She’s counting ceiling tiles or cleaning her fingernails with your business card, and not hearing a word you say.

That’s when it’s time for algebra.

Yep, you read that right. OK, well, maybe it’s not exactly algebra, but it sure looks like it. Check it out:

Q x A = E

Don’t run screaming with a 10th-grade flashback just yet. I promise this will be mostly painless.

A Colorado-based Six Sigma process improvement expert by the name of George Eckes came up with this simple formula for change management, but – believe it or not – it applies directly to your efforts to add more value in the channel. Here’s how.

The Q stands for “Quality.” The A stands for “Acceptance.” And the E stands for “Effectiveness.” And in case you’ve forgotten your arithmetic, the x stands for “multiplied by.”

What this means to you is that both the quality of your solutions (or services or value) and the customer’s acceptance of them have an impact on your overall effectiveness.

In plain English, you can put the newest, coolest, most innovative technology in front of your customer, but if you can’t get that customer to accept that technology as a solution to one or more real business problems, you might as well have brought a slide rule and punch cards to the meeting.

How about some examples to make this clearer?

Let’s assume that we can rate both quality and acceptance on a scale from 1 to 10. And let’s say you’ve got the newest, coolest, most innovative technology, so maybe that’s a 10. And let’s also say that you’re customer doesn’t really believe it will solve any important problems, so maybe that’s a 1. You’re overall effectiveness is only 10, out of a possible 100.

Now, instead, let’s say you have a moderately innovative piece of technology, and maybe it isn’t quite as sexy, so we’ll give it a 5. In this case, however, the customer is moderately sold on this as a solution to a real business problem. We’ll give that a 5 too. Suddenly, you have an overall effectiveness of 25 – two and a half times more effective than you had in the first scenario. See how powerful multiplication can be?

But if you’re thinking that acceptance comes through the sales techniques you’ve been using – well, as Judas Priest once said, you’ve got another thing coming. Today’s customers (by the way, that’s all of us, too) require far more than a salesperson to be sold.

In the next article, we’ll explore how to truly gain acceptance and launch your effectiveness into the stratosphere.

Eryc Eyl / Freelance Writer and Business Consultant