On January 14th and 15th, 2019, Vicom had its yearly Sales Kickoff. It’s the one time throughout the year where we bring the Vicom Sales, PS, Marketing, and Executive teams together to review our performance from the previous year—2018 was the best year in our history—and discuss our strategy, mission, and vision for the upcoming year. One of the most critical parts of our yearly Kickoff is the attendance of our strategic vendors/partners (I use both terms interchangeably here) who are there to share in our success and our vision of Vicom’s future. As I reflect on the two days and discussions that took place, presentations delivered, and good time had by all, I can’t help but think of the power of partnership. Let’s unpack that a bit this month.
When you think about what an IT solution and service provider like Vicom does, many of the solutions and services we provide are around or part of a solution offering by one of our strategic vendors. That means the success of Vicom is closely tied to the success of our strategic partners—and vice versa. That’s been the case as we’ve been working in partnership with our strategic vendors since Vicom’s inception 37 years ago.
In the IT world, partnerships are essential. A Solution and Services Provider recommends a solution, helps design the right solution for a customer’s specific needs, delivers that solution, installs that solutions, and then provides a plan to help support and manage that solution throughout the solution’s lifecycle. For Vicom, that lifecycle generally starts with a solution from one of our strategic vendors—hence the importance and power of the relationships we have with them. That’s a testament to the power of partnership—the partnership between Vicom and our strategic vendors.
The partnership between Vicom and our strategic vendors brings value to our customers by continually ensuring they receive best-of-breed solutions and services. When we provide the best solutions and services possible for a customer's important initiative, the customer wins. When it’s a solution or service from one of our strategic vendors, our strategic vendor wins, and of course, Vicom wins. It’s win-win-win all around due to the power of partnership.
The theme for our Sales Kickoff this year is Strength (as you see from our Kickoff theme graphic), and it has the following meaning to Vicom:
Strength in our company
Strength in our sales execution
Strength in how we deliver the solutions and services we sell
Strength in how we go to market
Strength in the relationships with our strategic vendors
Strength is what helps us to be successful, and we can’t do it without the close relationships with our strategic partners. When we work closely with our strategic vendors, we are stronger together, our customers know it, and receive value from it. When we work closely with our strategic vendors, more times than not we win together as we go to market. Our strategic vendors are and will always be important to Vicom as we continue to grow and succeed. That success is due, in part, to the power of partnership and we let our partners know how important they are to us by continually reinforcing it in our words and, most importantly, in our actions in how we work together.
Think about your own business and how important your partners are to you, whatever business that is. I’m sure you feel the same way that we do—that your partners and vendors are critical to what you do and how you wouldn’t be as successful without them or their support. I was continually reminded of that throughout our Sales Kickoff this year—which an excellent reminder.
So how important are your partners to your firm and your business? For us, they are so important, that they are the centerpiece of our Sales Kickoff each year. How about you? Do your partners and vendors know how important they are to you? Is the relationship reciprocal? Do you work together in such ways to reinforce it? If so you will continue to win together—for your firm, your customers and your partners. That’s the power of partnership.
Andy