B2B Resellers You Can Survive the Epocalypse, Here's How to Start

I was reminded this morning of a conversation I had about 7 years ago with a senior sales executive from one of the big box, office products retailers. I was still a smoker back then and we were sharing an overhang to avoid the rain during a conference when our conversation turned to the relevance of certain, online retailers entering the office technology and products space. I remember his comment, "They sell nothing but cheap junk which they can't support. We're local, we've made the investment into having the right products, locations and feet on the street to support the customers." "When the times comes, we'll have an ecommerce solution too."

I've asked that same question dozens of times in the past to many of the distributors and resellers of office technology and products who support SMB. Never once did any of them believe that the ecommerce, e-retailers would ever become a serious threat to or now be on a path to completely displacing their "local" market share.

With the imminence of the big-data driven ecommerce retailers (i.e. Amazon) becoming a very real local provider of technology products and services I see two futures for the current channel of local B2B resellers and distributors who support them.

Here's the first version, where we've maintain the status quo or blind complacency, offering commodity based products and solutions only at the local level: In the end, after the smoke clears from the impending Epocalypse I see a charred landscape which is littered with putrefied and hollowed out corpses of the local reseller's and dealer’s ruined businesses.

Jack Welch said it best when he talked about complacency:

“Change before you have to."

There is a positive and less apocalyptic version of the future as well. In this future, while is may not be all rainbows and kittens yet, I don’t think the B2B reseller channel ends up completely DOA. Maybe it's only partly dead, meaning it's slightly alive and with a magic pill, "POOF" the angels sing, rays of sunshine stream down and the resellers supporting SMB are totally reborn.

In this more positive future, change is lead by innovator thinkers and is a place where B2B resellers are armed with disruptive technology, partners and distributors who support their ability to offer a plethora of truly innovated products and solutions. All of which are fulfilled, serviced and marketed far beyond the confines of their local SMB markets. It's only then, that the local B2B reseller and will be ready to take on the Amazonian e-retailers and their mass-marketed, distributive "local" solutions. 

I think that we can all agree that this future looks a lot brighter but in order to get there it’s going to require a lot of work, and it's going to require massive changes in the way that we think and act.

B2B Resellers hear me now, "You must evolve to survive!" 

How do we start the evolution?

Owners & Managers, you must be the harbinger of change for your organizations. innovative ways of thinking and actions supporting change must start at the top.

Innovative evolution is a lot more than just designing a new, localized marketing plan and offering a couple of new products or services. MPS with per seat billing and a slightly revamped product mix with a few new commoditized products and services is not a path to evolution. Updated sales / service training and buying a localized IT service provider isn’t going to help to position your company as a true solutions provider with your customers either.

To survive the "e"pocalypse you must go back to thinking like an entrepreneur and evolve your business from the ground up. Look for the opportunities to offer new solutions outside of your current business model and market. Hire the people that challenge your way of thinking and look for the "disruptive" partners and technologies. This is the path that resellers will need to take to in order to remain a relevant solutions partner for SMB.

The methodology of marketing used by Amazon and Walmart is based on an exhaustive, in-depth knowledge of their customers, and with this understanding there is a localization of nationally available products/solutions. Just being the “local” commodity reseller with good relationships isn’t going to be enough to survive what’s coming.

Technology has completely changed the way in which we define a reseller and what qualifies as "local" delivery/fulfillment options for goods and services. To date, resellers who support SMB haven't fundamental changed their way of thinking about the How, When and Why you engage the customer. Again, rethink your business model and look for disruptive partners who can offer you products, solutions and marketing options which allow you to expand your local fulfillment and service area.

When services like managed print and localized IT solutions become mass-reproducible and more readily available as they now are becoming with big-data driven e-retailers, they then become commodities. Printers, copiers and other similar "commodity" types of products are no longer business critical components requiring a traditional local B2B reseller for fulfillment. Localized anything isn't going to garner you a seat at the table anymore as a true business partner.

Yes, offering managed IT and security solutions is a move in the right direction but it’s just that, a start and it's not something that won’t be offered aggressively and at a nationally supported level by your competition in the very near future.

It's time to become an industry who will remain relevant to SMB through your ability to support numerous, innovative solutions. All of which can and will be delivered, serviced and marketed far beyond your current local markets. 

The time is here and now so I guess the question is, are you open to embracing it?