1. Many [not all] ‘Solution Specialists’ aren’t properly trained and really don’t have the right tools to go onsite and gather the business requirements proficiently.
2. Many [not all] ‘Sales Reps’ don’t know how to ask to get paid for conducting the assessment [ouch].

1. SE’s or technicians are thrown into the fire and asked to ‘survey’ what the customer’s business and technical requirements are in regards to imaging. Most of their experience is with the output side (printing) and now they need to fully understand the input side of the workflow. So.. the tools they are likely to use are fabricated from existing output surveys, or worse yet; they quickly make a spreadsheet, guess at the questions, and hope it gathers enough data that when the system is configured it will meet most of the client’s requirements. KEY: Proper training and professional software toolkits can eliminate this dilemma and ensure the solution will fit the need [happy customer, happy vendor].
2. Most sales reps are experienced in ‘transactional’ selling. More frequently called ‘box-selling’ wherein the rep has a brief engagement with the prospect, qualifies, sells and moves on to the next opportunity. Now they are expected to realize this was yesterday’s way of selling, and today it is all about solution selling. In order to do this you must know the business requirements. To do that you must do an assessment. If you send expertly trained, certified staff to conduct the interviews you will have to pay them. The rep has to explain that to the prospect and ask to get paid. This changes the outcome from “your opinion” [done for free] to a professional observation [paid for]. The later will be taken seriously! KEY: Build the rep’s confidence and belief structure and he will see the value and not be afraid to ask to get paid [motivating training is needed].

I find myself teaching another CDIA+ class in beautiful So Cal. Thinking it would be another “typical” class, with students asking basic questions about imaging [in general], posing situations that require them to use the recently taught info I just gave them, and helping them ready for the certification exam. I quickly found that it was not! Turns out the class was 50% System Engineers, with many of them having real-world experience with years of actual installations! I must say “It was refreshing”! This group was taking what I was teaching, applying it to their existing client base, and finding answers to some pressing issues. They had been struggling with the ‘finer-points’ of imaging [sales and technical] and once in a classroom environment they immediately capitalized on the info I gave them, combined that with their peers’ experience and came up with real solutions [to very real problems]!

All of this warms an instructor’s heart... All kidding aside, the CDIA+ class has morphed over the last ten years into so much more than just a prep for an exam. It now addresses current sales challenges, current mind-set challenges, and helps move the document management [as well as MFP sales person] professional into the year 2010.

Perhaps you should consider joining in on a class sometime. It just might be what you need to jump your “numbers” up to where you want them to be...?

We work very closely with CompTIA, the owners of the certification for technicians called PDI+. They were looking for a good case study to share with their contemporaries, so I reached out to a training client that became certified last year after taking our online training course. Our client's original intent for the training and certification was to add another certification to their long list of credentials to show-off to their clients. They got way more than they expected!

In short, here is what our client said about PDI+:

I ask you: “What can CDIA+ do for you?” Before you finish reading this blog post, you will certainly know the answer to this question. Whether you are a document imaging professional interested in your personal professional success, a leader or manager with a vested interest in the success of your electronic document management (EDM) sales or service firm, or a records manager responsible for compliance, CDIA+ can do something for you.

First, let’s answer a more fundamental question: What is CDIA+? The Certified Document Imaging Architect (or CompTIA CDIA+) credential is an internationally-recognized credential for professionalism and competency in the document imaging industry; it is the leading standard when it comes to document imaging. In the mid-1990s, the Computer Trade Industry Association (CompTIA) and industry leaders recognized a need for establishing a global standard of proficiency for document imaging professionals. With support and assistance from industry professionals, CompTIA launched the CDIA program in 1995.

The exam itself was designed to test the candidate’s knowledge in the technical, interpersonal, and management aspects of developing and implementing EDM solutions. The exam is divided into five domains, weighted to represent the relative importance of each domain to the job requirements of an experienced document imaging professional. The domains and their corresponding weight are summarized below.