New HP President of Workforce Services and Solutions Dave Shull says partners need to change the dialogue with customers in order to build a “lifelong trusted” subscription services business.
“I think the first thing I would recommend to a partner is: change the dialogue with your customers,” said Shull, the former Poly CEO who took on the HP services subscription partner challenge after closing the deal last summer for Poly to be sold to HP for $3.3 billion. “Pick 10 or a dozen of your customers the same way I am doing with channel partners and ask them what has changed in the way they view IT services? What would make them view us collectively – our channel partners and us – as truly strategic?”
Shull, who officially started in the newly created workforce and services president’s post three months ago and reports directly to HP CEO Enrique Lores, has already met with dozens of HP partners in an open dialogue on how to structure partner compensation for partners in a “lifelong” customer relationship services model.
Partners need to shift the “dialogue with our mutual customers from tactical to strategic,” said Shull. “That is what creates that lifelong trusted relationship. But it is a different listening skill. It is a bit of an uncomfortable place because I am asking our partners and our customers things where I don’t necessarily know the answer but I think most of our joint customers would really value that kind of open ended dialogue.”
Shull said the subscription services transformation at HP is not unlike the one that he undertook with partners as chief commercial officer at satellite TV provider Dish Network. In that case, independent partners moved from selling the satellite Dish to streaming services like Netflix and HBO.
“It is not that different than what we are walking into here at HP,” he said. “Of course we have massive distributors. We have some very, very large global VARs. But we have a lot of entrepreneurs who are running their core businesses, they are selling day in and day out, they have the relationship with the customers. They have been selling those customers our PCs and our printers which we love and we appreciate. Now we are saying, ‘We have got to have a different conversation. We have got to have a broader conversation. Every time you touch that customer think about the lifetime value of that customer.’”
Click through the slideshow to see more of what Shull told CRN.
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Steve Burke has been reporting on the technology industry and sales channel for over 30 years. He is passionate about the role of partners using technology to solve business problems and has spoken at conferences on channel sales issues. He can be reached at [email protected].
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