In Episode 137 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy discusses how vendors can appropriately manage channel and direct sales with Crystal Harrison, Vice President of Channel & Pre-Sales Solution Architects at Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, and Tony Roy, President and Co-Founder of software provider Popmenu. Harrison and Roy share their best practice philosophies, strategies, tactics, and communication techniques to effectively work with both their internal sales teams and valued channel partners.  

“The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org. 

Watch Episode 137 now: 

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Full episode transcript via Apple Podcasts:

00:00:01.220 –> 00:00:04.840
Roddy: Hi, Jim Roddy here from the RSPA, jumping in before today’s podcast.

00:00:04.840 –> 00:00:12.700
Roddy: With an update on RetailNOW 2025, the retail technology channels, number one, trade show, education conference, and networking event.

00:00:12.700 –> 00:00:13.920
Roddy: So first, the basics.

00:00:13.920 –> 00:00:22.120
Roddy: You can join RSPA and Retail IT channel leaders, live and in person, July 27th through the 29th, on the strip in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace.

00:00:22.120 –> 00:00:32.980
Roddy: With nearly 200 exhibitors, RetailNOW is one-stop shopping for VARs and ISVs, and with an expected 1,600 or more attendees, it’s the place for extreme industry connectivity.

00:00:32.980 –> 00:00:39.120
Roddy: Across just 48 hours, you’ll meet new partners and new solution providers who can accelerate the success of your business.

00:00:39.120 –> 00:00:42.020
Roddy: Now, here’s something that’s new for Retail in 2025.

00:00:42.020 –> 00:00:55.400
Roddy: The focus of the event is going to be helping Retail IT VARs and ISVs better compete against what we call the margin obliterating, VC-backed, 800-number, one-size-fits-all POS providers who don’t have a channel.

00:00:55.400 –> 00:01:09.600
Roddy: The general session and many of the 18 breakout sessions will address that topic directly, and the remaining breakouts will offer guidance to help you become a better leader, improve your company culture, grow your sales, improve your customer service, and learn about new technologies.

00:01:09.600 –> 00:01:19.700
Roddy: If you’re serious about the Retail IT channel, and you’re serious about beating the 800-number guys, you have to attend RetailNOW 2025, July 27-29 in Vegas.

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Roddy: RetailNOW is where the industry meets.

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Roddy: For all the details and register at discounted early bird rates, visit the RetailNOW website today at gorsp.org/retailnow.

00:01:31.120 –> 00:01:32.660
Roddy: Again, gorsp.org/retailnow.

00:01:35.400 –> 00:01:36.420
Roddy: Enjoy today’s episode.

00:01:42.668 –> 00:01:50.488
Roddy: Welcome to another episode of The Trusted Advisor Podcast and Video Series, powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association.

00:01:50.488 –> 00:01:55.928
Roddy: Our goal on the pod is to accelerate the success of today’s and tomorrow’s leaders in the retail IT industry.

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Roddy: I’m Jim Roddy back with you again.

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Roddy: Thank you so much for joining us.

00:01:59.128 –> 00:02:04.248
Roddy: Now, this is a special episode that we’re recording based on an RSPA member request.

00:02:04.248 –> 00:02:14.768
Roddy: So a longtime reseller member reached out to me and he said, something along the lines of, it’d be great if the RSPA could show vendors who sell direct and through the channel how to balance that properly.

00:02:14.768 –> 00:02:16.208
Roddy: That’s not his exact quote.

00:02:16.208 –> 00:02:20.508
Roddy: He used phrases like, treat VARs like second class citizens, things of that nature.

00:02:20.508 –> 00:02:22.168
Roddy: He wants to elevate the conversation.

00:02:22.168 –> 00:02:30.648
Roddy: So to find out how this can be done, we reached out to several RSPA VAR members and asked them which of their vendors they believe does this well.

00:02:30.648 –> 00:02:35.308
Roddy: Two companies that were mentioned by those members were Toshiba and Popmenu.

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Roddy: So please welcome to the Trusted Advisor podcast.

00:02:38.188 –> 00:02:39.528
Roddy: First, Crystal Harrison.

00:02:39.948 –> 00:02:45.908
Roddy: She is Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Vice President of the Channel and Pre-Sale Solution Architects.

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Roddy: Hey Crystal, great to talk with you again and welcome to the podcast.

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Harrison: Hi everybody.

00:02:51.168 –> 00:02:54.128
Roddy: Great to have you here and our special guest is Tony Roy.

00:02:54.128 –> 00:02:58.288
Roddy: He’s the President and Co-Founder of Software Provider, Popmenu.

00:02:58.288 –> 00:03:00.548
Roddy: Tony, it is nice to connect with you.

00:03:00.548 –> 00:03:01.168
Roy: Thanks for having me.

00:03:01.168 –> 00:03:03.188
Roy: I’m looking forward to it.

00:03:03.188 –> 00:03:03.628
Roddy: Excellent.

00:03:03.848 –> 00:03:04.428
Roddy: So am I.

00:03:04.428 –> 00:03:12.068
Roddy: So if you can both help our audience understand your perspectives, tell us what your organizations look like in 2025.

00:03:12.068 –> 00:03:15.928
Roddy: And Crystal, if you can go first, and I think most everybody listening or watching, right?

00:03:15.928 –> 00:03:18.208
Roddy: They know the Toshiba brand.

00:03:18.208 –> 00:03:23.508
Roddy: Tony said before we started recording, he remembers one of his first gifts as a kid was a Toshiba TV, right?

00:03:23.508 –> 00:03:29.288
Roddy: But talk about what Toshiba looks like from a retail IT channel perspective today.

00:03:29.288 –> 00:03:31.248
Harrison: Yeah, and I’ll kind of start with that, right?

00:03:31.248 –> 00:03:41.308
Harrison: Toshiba, the mothership, we like to call it, makes everything from turbines to car engines to TVs and retail technologies.

00:03:41.308 –> 00:03:50.748
Harrison: They own multiple Holyum subsidiaries and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, who’s the company I work for, is one of those Holyum subsidiaries.

00:03:50.748 –> 00:03:56.148
Harrison: And at Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, we focus entirely on retail.

00:03:56.148 –> 00:03:57.688
Harrison: That’s all we do.

00:03:57.688 –> 00:03:59.828
Harrison: And it’s retail technologies.

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Harrison: So if you look across the front end of a store, things like point-of-sale solutions, point-of-sale software, self-checkout, self-service solutions, and software that go along with that, hardware, software, and services across that, everything from wall-to-wall maintenance through the technology itself.

00:04:20.848 –> 00:04:33.628
Harrison: And we also have, over the last couple of years, added new innovations to our front-end store technology around IoT technology, loss prevention strategies, produce recognition strategies.

00:04:33.628 –> 00:04:43.088
Harrison: And we’ve wrapped all of that up with a vertical focus across grocery, hospitality, specialty, and convenience.

00:04:43.088 –> 00:04:47.668
Harrison: So that’s kind of who Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions is.

00:04:47.668 –> 00:04:59.568
Harrison: From my organization perspective, we used to have what I would call a very direct sales team with a very small channel.

00:04:59.568 –> 00:05:05.068
Harrison: And we have this year pivoted to more of a channel-first strategy.

00:05:05.068 –> 00:05:10.808
Harrison: So when you look at my channel organization, and they’ve asked me to lead that organization.

00:05:10.808 –> 00:05:29.548
Harrison: So when you look at my organization specifically, I have the channel sales, I have channel marketing, I have channel enablement for all of North America, as well as the solution architects that support all of those business, our direct and our channel sales teams for the Americas.

00:05:29.548 –> 00:05:37.468
Harrison: The nice thing about having all of those underneath my leadership is the fact that we control our own destiny.

00:05:37.468 –> 00:05:49.528
Harrison: Many times when you look at channel organizations at other companies, you might have channel sales is one pillar, and marketing is a different pillar, and enablement is a different pillar.

00:05:50.508 –> 00:05:56.068
Harrison: Each of those are dotted line and having to check with each other to get things done.

00:05:56.068 –> 00:06:08.748
Harrison: With everything being underneath my umbrella and my organization, I’m able to really accelerate the programs I’m bringing to market, and make the changes we need to make across all those organizations without having to have any red tape.

00:06:08.748 –> 00:06:11.048
Harrison: So we’re really in control of our own destiny.

00:06:11.048 –> 00:06:15.928
Harrison: So it’s working out really nicely for all the different projects I’m working on this year.

00:06:15.928 –> 00:06:16.308
Roddy: Got it.

00:06:16.308 –> 00:06:18.848
Roddy: You said that was a fairly recent change, right?

00:06:18.888 –> 00:06:23.048
Roddy: Like this isn’t the exact way Toshiba has been organized for years and years, is that correct?

00:06:23.048 –> 00:06:23.628
Roddy: Correct.

00:06:23.628 –> 00:06:25.648
Harrison: We were very siloed before.

00:06:27.108 –> 00:06:29.988
Harrison: I took over the channel in January of this year.

00:06:29.988 –> 00:06:35.708
Harrison: So I started working on building the plan last year.

00:06:35.708 –> 00:06:37.868
Harrison: So I have been very involved.

00:06:37.868 –> 00:06:47.108
Harrison: But one of the big changes I brought to management was, we have to collapse this, we have to bring it all together, and there’s a lot of work we got to do to roll out my new strategies.

00:06:48.048 –> 00:06:50.768
Harrison: And so that’s why we started making those changes.

00:06:50.768 –> 00:06:51.608
Roddy: Great, thank you for that.

00:06:51.608 –> 00:06:52.948
Roddy: I appreciate those details.

00:06:52.948 –> 00:06:54.208
Roddy: Thanks for setting the scene.

00:06:54.208 –> 00:07:01.248
Roddy: Tony, can you tell our audience the story of when and how Popmenu started, and then what the company looks like today?

00:07:01.248 –> 00:07:03.708
Roy: Sure, yeah, oh man, what a journey.

00:07:03.708 –> 00:07:10.068
Roy: We’re in our eighth year now, but Popmenu is an all-in-one SaaS solution for restaurants.

00:07:10.388 –> 00:07:22.868
Roy: We’ve been described as, think about an Amazon e-com experience on the front end, meaning the websites, my interaction with the menu, combined with a backend CRM system like Salesforce or HubSpot.

00:07:22.868 –> 00:07:26.368
Roy: Salesforce is actually one of our smaller investment partners.

00:07:26.368 –> 00:07:34.368
Roy: But we started the business eight years ago, really just with an idea of why are menus so bad online.

00:07:34.368 –> 00:07:36.768
Roy: We traveled a lot for work, both domestically and in Europe.

00:07:36.768 –> 00:07:38.468
Roy: I lived in London for nine years.

00:07:39.568 –> 00:07:42.388
Roy: You’d go to a restaurant site and you’d go straight to the menu, right?

00:07:42.388 –> 00:07:44.668
Roy: That’s the primary decision point.

00:07:44.748 –> 00:07:50.388
Roy: You’d see a static text experience or PDF and you’re like, wow, I wish I knew what that dish was or what it looked like.

00:07:50.388 –> 00:07:52.808
Roy: So I had an indication of quality.

00:07:52.808 –> 00:07:56.788
Roy: I wish I could read reviews about what items I should be trying.

00:07:56.788 –> 00:07:59.928
Roy: I wish I had a one-click path to purchase.

00:07:59.928 –> 00:08:07.528
Roy: What you found is you couldn’t get that information from the restaurant, so you’d have to go to some third-party site to look at reviews or find visual content and things like that.

00:08:07.608 –> 00:08:11.608
Roy: So that’s where the idea started is, hey, let’s just make menus better.

00:08:11.608 –> 00:08:27.488
Roy: And then when we got into it, we had underestimated just how fragmented it was for restaurant operators, meaning most of them even to this day are using 10 or 12 different tools or vendors, email, social media, online ordering, website, menus.

00:08:27.488 –> 00:08:29.848
Roy: It’s really crazy and those systems don’t talk to each other.

00:08:29.848 –> 00:08:31.388
Roy: You don’t get economies of scale.

00:08:31.388 –> 00:08:36.668
Roy: A lot of them are highly manual and restaurants don’t have the time for a lot of that manual activity that’s really important.

00:08:36.768 –> 00:08:39.708
Roy: So that’s how we started the idea.

00:08:39.708 –> 00:08:49.248
Roy: And then we’ve now grown to where really anything restaurants are using or should be using to attract and engage and ultimately transact with consumers is now in the platform.

00:08:49.248 –> 00:08:54.108
Roy: And so now instead of having 10 different tools or vendors, they have one instead of having manual work.

00:08:54.108 –> 00:08:56.888
Roy: Now, a lot of it’s automated or done for them.

00:08:56.888 –> 00:09:00.488
Roy: They can play the role of editor in chief instead of having to think of everything to create from scratch.

00:09:00.488 –> 00:09:09.488
Roy: So we have thousands and thousands of restaurants were primarily in North America, but we also have people and customers in the UK.

00:09:09.488 –> 00:09:18.668
Roy: And I’m actually joining you today from Chicago where we had the National Restaurant Association, and we signed customers in Mexico City, a couple in Australia and a few in Brazil.

00:09:18.668 –> 00:09:23.728
Roy: So what we do is really a global opportunity to help restaurants.

00:09:23.728 –> 00:09:30.988
Roy: I think from our perspective, restaurants have been overcharged for decades to use tools that we know are not going to optimize the results.

00:09:31.688 –> 00:09:39.748
Roy: And a lot of times, people that’s, those vendors that are working with restaurants are not always incentivized for the restaurant to be more independent.

00:09:39.748 –> 00:09:46.608
Roy: So we can do all those things instead of paying $2,000 a month, maybe they’re paying $600 or $700 with us, and they’re getting a lot better results.

00:09:46.608 –> 00:09:48.508
Roy: So that’s a good recipe.

00:09:48.508 –> 00:09:52.228
Roy: But that’s where we are, and we’re focused on scaling, you know.

00:09:52.228 –> 00:09:52.448
Roddy: Yeah.

00:09:52.448 –> 00:09:53.608
Roddy: So you said focused on scaling.

00:09:53.608 –> 00:09:55.648
Roddy: Like how many employees do you have right now?

00:09:55.648 –> 00:09:57.388
Roddy: Where are you looking to be in a few years?

00:09:58.028 –> 00:10:03.708
Roy: I think we’re around 260, 270 employees, 270 employees, something like that.

00:10:03.708 –> 00:10:03.868
Roy: Yeah.

00:10:03.868 –> 00:10:09.748
Roy: I mean, I think we focused more on like, it’s not always, you don’t always necessarily want to be overly labor intensive.

00:10:09.968 –> 00:10:15.708
Roy: We focus first and foremost on buying tools that make our existing team more efficient.

00:10:15.708 –> 00:10:16.888
Roy: They can do more with less.

00:10:16.888 –> 00:10:19.548
Roy: Obviously, AI is a thing.

00:10:19.548 –> 00:10:24.228
Roy: We’ve been doing AI for seven years, started with sentiment analysis on first party reviews.

00:10:25.208 –> 00:10:28.448
Roy: But now AI is built in throughout the platform.

00:10:28.448 –> 00:10:35.768
Roy: A really simple way that people can use AI is to help me generate the copy, basically what I’m going to say in the e-mail or the social.

00:10:37.088 –> 00:10:44.588
Roy: Most restaurants are way too busy and then they’re worried about writing the perfect post, and then what happens is they don’t have consistency in the messaging.

00:10:44.668 –> 00:10:46.188
Roy: That’s a big no-no.

00:10:46.188 –> 00:10:55.608
Roy: No matter what, just put a picture of that juicy burger and that cold beer in the background, and as long as you’re consistent, there’s a direct correlation between that and transactions.

00:10:55.748 –> 00:10:57.308
Roy: Our goal is to simplify it.

00:10:57.308 –> 00:10:59.688
Roy: Our headcount is what it is.

00:10:59.688 –> 00:11:04.128
Roy: I don’t know that we’re focused on trying to grow that to 300 or reducing that headcount.

00:11:04.128 –> 00:11:07.468
Roy: We’re more focused on how do you make them better and do more with less.

00:11:07.888 –> 00:11:08.368
Roddy: Not it?

00:11:08.368 –> 00:11:09.248
Roy: Yeah.

00:11:09.248 –> 00:11:10.048
Roddy: No, that’s helpful.

00:11:10.048 –> 00:11:11.188
Roddy: Super.

00:11:11.188 –> 00:11:23.788
Roddy: We’re going to talk channel management tactics a lot today, but first I want to hear each of your, I’d say philosophies or guiding principles related to treating your channel fairly, while also maintaining that direct sales force.

00:11:23.788 –> 00:11:30.808
Roddy: So Crystal, if you can go first, what is one principle or one philosophy that guides you and your team in this area?

00:11:30.808 –> 00:11:31.428
Harrison: Yeah.

00:11:31.428 –> 00:11:42.168
Harrison: I think my number one guiding principle is, we cannot scale or grow our business without the channel, period, the end.

00:11:42.168 –> 00:11:46.148
Harrison: In order to make that a reality, you have to have a channel-first strategy.

00:11:47.408 –> 00:11:50.608
Harrison: And so, that is my guiding principle.

00:11:50.608 –> 00:11:54.968
Harrison: That is what we have built as part of this new organization.

00:11:54.968 –> 00:12:10.008
Harrison: And when you’re dealing with a company like ours that has traditionally had direct sellers and a channel, what my message to those teams is, you can successfully do both if it’s done right.

00:12:10.008 –> 00:12:14.548
Harrison: And it does require a mindset change, and it does require a change in the way you do business.

00:12:15.308 –> 00:12:24.048
Harrison: Because you have to sit and tell, you have to get the sales teams to understand and stop thinking of them as two separate selling motions.

00:12:24.048 –> 00:12:33.388
Harrison: So in the past, our direct sales teams would go to market and they had their accounts, and they would never think to bring a partner in to help them.

00:12:33.388 –> 00:12:38.148
Harrison: And because of that, they were very limited in the number of accounts that they could cover.

00:12:38.148 –> 00:12:47.408
Harrison: And so there’s a lot of accounts out there that need a channel partner, because we have a small sales force, and we just didn’t have the bandwidth to be able to get to everything.

00:12:47.408 –> 00:13:08.268
Harrison: Now as you can imagine, from a sales team’s perspective, those people who are used to working on an opportunity and controlling the destiny of that opportunity from soup to nuts, for them it was a mindset change to be able to stop and think about that as, hey, if I bring a partner in, what is that going to do to my deal?

00:13:08.268 –> 00:13:09.748
Harrison: Am I still going to be able to win it?

00:13:11.088 –> 00:13:19.688
Harrison: That is a lot of the conversations that I’ve been having with our sales teams about how you successfully do that, and to stop thinking of it as two selling motions.

00:13:19.688 –> 00:13:23.868
Harrison: Instead, think of it as force multiplying yourself.

00:13:23.868 –> 00:13:36.228
Harrison: If you have a loyal and a great channel, they can be out there transacting, they can be out there complimenting the work you’re doing, they can be picking up and doing the heavy lifting.

00:13:36.228 –> 00:13:44.328
Harrison: Those account executives have more time to go be the brand ambassador for Toshiba that they are and open more doors.

00:13:44.328 –> 00:14:04.088
Harrison: And so that’s the message that I have taken back to our direct sales teams that don’t think of this as, hey, I’m losing control because I did put programs in place to be able to allow them to still control the destiny of that opportunity or that account while still working with a partner.

00:14:04.088 –> 00:14:06.488
Harrison: And in that scenario, everybody wins.

00:14:07.028 –> 00:14:14.848
Harrison: And the reality is, when you start feeding your channel in that way, your channel begins to reciprocate.

00:14:15.228 –> 00:14:22.448
Harrison: And that is just not something we’ve experienced in the past with the way we did business before, where they were very separate selling motions.

00:14:22.448 –> 00:14:24.648
Harrison: And they’re now starting to feel that.

00:14:24.648 –> 00:14:25.368
Harrison: My sellers are.

00:14:25.368 –> 00:14:28.868
Harrison: They’re like, oh, wow, I just got an opportunity from a channel partner.

00:14:28.868 –> 00:14:30.488
Harrison: And they never got those before.

00:14:30.488 –> 00:14:33.328
Roddy: So and I don’t want to cast the spurs on anybody.

00:14:33.328 –> 00:14:41.948
Roddy: But I just know from working with salespeople in the past and talking about partner relationships, a lot of times it’s hey, there’s this partner is going to come in and the first thing is they’re going to screw this thing up.

00:14:41.948 –> 00:14:42.208
Roddy: Right.

00:14:42.208 –> 00:14:52.108
Roddy: So it sounds like you were saying you have to change that mindset of no, this person can actually help you and be like you said, a force multiplier versus someone who’s going to bollocks the whole thing up if I’m understanding that correctly.

00:14:52.108 –> 00:14:52.628
Harrison: That’s right.

00:14:52.628 –> 00:14:53.088
Harrison: That’s right.

00:14:53.088 –> 00:15:01.488
Harrison: And to give my account executives the comfort level of that, we put into place a deal registration program.

00:15:01.488 –> 00:15:09.728
Harrison: And that deal registration program, we can approve as either a Toshiba-led opportunity or a channel-led opportunity.

00:15:09.728 –> 00:15:16.988
Harrison: And we have complete rules of engagement around how we go to market with that partner, what our expectations are with that partner.

00:15:16.988 –> 00:15:20.488
Harrison: And if it’s Toshiba-led, that means it’s an opportunity we’re driving.

00:15:20.488 –> 00:15:24.068
Harrison: And we’re aware of and we brought a partner in to work with us.

00:15:24.068 –> 00:15:27.008
Harrison: And if it’s channel-led, it’s obviously the opposite.

00:15:27.008 –> 00:15:28.228
Harrison: We’re not aware of that opportunity.

00:15:28.228 –> 00:15:29.728
Harrison: The channel is bringing that to us.

00:15:31.328 –> 00:15:43.128
Harrison: And because we put these rules of engagement in place, it’s given our sales teams a lot more comfort in the fact that I’m going to be able to bring a partner in, I’m going to tell them, I want you to do this, I don’t want you to do that.

00:15:43.128 –> 00:15:46.448
Harrison: I’d like you to come in and help me with this part, and I’m going to do that part.

00:15:46.448 –> 00:15:54.848
Harrison: And it becomes a very collaborative pursuit between our partners and our selling AEs.

00:15:56.848 –> 00:16:00.188
Harrison: And so far, that’s been working really, really well.

00:16:00.188 –> 00:16:00.788
Roddy: Good.

00:16:00.788 –> 00:16:01.048
Roddy: Good.

00:16:01.048 –> 00:16:02.088
Roddy: Thank you for that, Crystal.

00:16:02.088 –> 00:16:07.768
Roddy: Tony, what would be a guiding principle or philosophy that really drives you to treat your channel fairly?

00:16:07.768 –> 00:16:10.208
Roddy: We’re also having a direct sales force.

00:16:10.208 –> 00:16:11.188
Roy: Yeah.

00:16:11.568 –> 00:16:17.728
Roy: So channel, in our business, we’re focused primarily on SMB restaurant owners.

00:16:17.788 –> 00:16:21.188
Roy: So it could be anywhere between 1 to 100 locations.

00:16:21.188 –> 00:16:24.048
Roy: Incredibly difficult profession.

00:16:24.048 –> 00:16:27.408
Roy: They are the busiest people on the planet, in my opinion.

00:16:27.408 –> 00:16:32.988
Roy: There’s a million different challenges and obstacles that change every day for these guys.

00:16:32.988 –> 00:16:41.008
Roy: For us, what it does, the channel, you know, one example of a great channel partner for us is Cisco, the largest food distributor in North America.

00:16:41.008 –> 00:16:46.388
Roy: And what they do is, you know, our job is to help their customers be more successful.

00:16:46.968 –> 00:16:51.368
Roy: If those customers are healthier, then obviously they’re going to buy more products and services from Cisco.

00:16:51.368 –> 00:16:54.088
Roy: So everybody wins in this scenario.

00:16:54.088 –> 00:16:56.548
Roy: What it does for us is it really validates us in the market.

00:16:56.548 –> 00:17:05.028
Roy: Like, you know, for example, Cisco is going in every day or a couple of times a week, you know, delivering the products, selling them new things.

00:17:05.028 –> 00:17:06.348
Roy: They’re trusted advisors.

00:17:06.348 –> 00:17:14.928
Roy: And so if Cisco says, hey, you should meet with Popmenu because you’ve told me you have these three challenges and you’re not able to get enough customers in the door, Popmenu can solve that.

00:17:16.028 –> 00:17:17.628
Roy: It’s like we’ve been vetted, you know.

00:17:17.628 –> 00:17:21.328
Roy: So already we’re kind of in a better spot than if we’re just calling blind.

00:17:21.328 –> 00:17:25.348
Roy: When you call blind, it’s almost like, well, you’re just, are you just, are you just like another salesperson?

00:17:25.348 –> 00:17:33.488
Roy: Now, how do I, you know, whereas when a channel person makes an introduction or represents you, there’s a level of being vetted, so to speak.

00:17:33.488 –> 00:17:38.028
Roy: So for us, it accelerates our access to ownership.

00:17:38.028 –> 00:17:42.188
Roy: And it goes and we start off already kind of like on second base, so to speak.

00:17:43.208 –> 00:17:52.228
Roy: And we’ve expanded that relationship so where our channel is defined as, you know, either it could be like a lead partner, they’re sending us referrals or reseller networks.

00:17:52.228 –> 00:17:57.268
Roy: You know, for example, we’ve really built out our reseller network for in the POS space.

00:17:57.268 –> 00:18:01.408
Roy: So people like Heartland or Square Leverage reseller companies.

00:18:01.408 –> 00:18:06.388
Roy: And so we’ve tapped into that market where those guys are a bit more sophisticated from a technical perspective.

00:18:06.388 –> 00:18:09.888
Roy: They can talk about Popmenu in a way that’s going to represent the brand.

00:18:09.888 –> 00:18:12.208
Roy: And well, it extends our GTM.

00:18:12.208 –> 00:18:15.368
Roy: It just naturally we have more conversations and we have more conversations.

00:18:15.368 –> 00:18:19.828
Roy: We grow the business and we learn faster and we can develop the product.

00:18:19.828 –> 00:18:22.728
Roy: So that’s kind of how our system, I would say for us, it’s critical.

00:18:22.728 –> 00:18:29.188
Roy: Like I don’t know how you can be selling to restaurant space and not be ingrained in channel relationships.

00:18:29.188 –> 00:18:33.688
Roy: Like, I just think it would be too expensive, take too much time.

00:18:33.688 –> 00:18:37.288
Roy: So it’s been a huge aspect of our growth.

00:18:37.468 –> 00:18:38.928
Roy: I was actually very lucky and fortunate.

00:18:38.988 –> 00:18:40.848
Roy: We started the business, I didn’t really know anything about restaurants.

00:18:40.848 –> 00:18:42.808
Roy: My last company was CareerBuilder.

00:18:43.068 –> 00:18:49.188
Roy: I remember I was walking door to door, and I walked into a restaurant and I saw a Cisco truck outside.

00:18:49.188 –> 00:18:59.008
Roy: I just did a Google search and I didn’t know, and I was in Southern California and they popped up the Riverside office, and I just cold called the president, Saul Alisberg, great guy.

00:18:59.008 –> 00:19:02.488
Roy: He called me back in 10 minutes, invited me in and the rest is history.

00:19:02.488 –> 00:19:04.268
Roy: I owe him a lot.

00:19:04.868 –> 00:19:06.748
Roy: I think the channel is huge, like Crystal was saying.

00:19:07.808 –> 00:19:09.128
Roy: It allows you to be more or less.

00:19:09.128 –> 00:19:12.128
Roy: There’s a vetting aspect of it, so it’s huge for us.

00:19:12.128 –> 00:19:12.468
Roddy: Thank you.

00:19:12.468 –> 00:19:19.208
Roddy: It seems like your philosophy there was help our partners help their customers become more successful.

00:19:19.208 –> 00:19:20.008
Roddy: That’s what it sounds like.

00:19:20.008 –> 00:19:21.948
Roddy: It’s not just, hey, what can we get out of this?

00:19:21.948 –> 00:19:24.828
Roddy: It’s really a pass through and realize they’re trusted advisors.

00:19:24.908 –> 00:19:44.888
Roy: If you think about Cisco can have the best products, they can have the most reliable delivery times, their sales consultant can just be great with response time, but at the end of the day, if the restaurant doesn’t have enough guests to service, if they can’t do it in a way that’s creating some margin impact for them, then someone like Cisco is always limited in how many products they’re going to be able to sell that customer.

00:19:45.148 –> 00:19:48.588
Roy: So it is like, I hate consultant speak, but it is a win-win-win.

00:19:48.588 –> 00:19:51.628
Roy: At the end of the day, most important is the restaurant owner wins.

00:19:51.628 –> 00:19:56.108
Roy: But for Cisco, they give their client a better opportunity to be healthier.

00:19:56.108 –> 00:19:57.768
Roy: And healthy businesses stay in business.

00:19:57.768 –> 00:20:00.808
Roy: Healthy businesses, they buy more premium products.

00:20:00.808 –> 00:20:07.068
Roy: Healthy businesses that improve their margins, they expand in the third and fifth locations, which again create more buying opportunities.

00:20:07.068 –> 00:20:10.808
Roy: So, I mean, one is it’s proved itself out.

00:20:10.808 –> 00:20:14.248
Roy: So we do make a great impact for a vast, vast majority of our clients.

00:20:14.248 –> 00:20:18.708
Roy: And so that whole pitch to Cisco ended up becoming true like we thought it would.

00:20:18.708 –> 00:20:21.588
Roy: So that’s a good example of how we think about it.

00:20:21.588 –> 00:20:22.968
Roddy: Great.

00:20:22.968 –> 00:20:28.088
Harrison: Tony, it sounds like we need to get you on our ISV program.

00:20:28.128 –> 00:20:28.908
Roy: Yeah, I was thinking we should do it.

00:20:28.908 –> 00:20:30.268
Harrison: So we can have a good partnership.

00:20:30.268 –> 00:20:32.468
Roy: Yeah, let’s do it.

00:20:32.468 –> 00:20:35.528
Roddy: Just so you know, that’s part that’s happened in these podcasts before.

00:20:35.528 –> 00:20:39.468
Roddy: We had a couple of folks who hadn’t worked together and then they ended up having a great partnership.

00:20:39.468 –> 00:20:41.928
Roy: We had one or two that resulted in the same fashion.

00:20:41.928 –> 00:20:44.928
Roy: Yeah, we get somebody on there and like, oh, well, we do this and we don’t do what you do.

00:20:44.928 –> 00:20:45.788
Roy: So yeah, absolutely.

00:20:45.788 –> 00:20:46.668
Roddy: Yeah, perfect.

00:20:46.668 –> 00:20:50.628
Roddy: And the opposite has never happened yet where they end up disliking each other and say at the end of the podcast.

00:20:50.628 –> 00:20:52.008
Roddy: I never want to talk to you again.

00:20:52.008 –> 00:20:53.588
Roddy: We still have about 30 minutes left.

00:20:53.588 –> 00:20:54.148
Roddy: So we’ll see.

00:20:54.148 –> 00:20:54.848
Roddy: We’ll see where it goes.

00:20:54.928 –> 00:20:56.548
Roddy: Hopefully, it’ll stay that way.

00:20:56.548 –> 00:20:58.088
Roddy: We’ll keep our streak going.

00:20:58.088 –> 00:20:59.188
Roddy: So well, thank you for that.

00:20:59.188 –> 00:21:05.348
Roddy: So and let me channel again the reseller who this podcast is for.

00:21:05.348 –> 00:21:06.708
Roddy: He can be skeptical.

00:21:06.708 –> 00:21:11.828
Roddy: And so he might have heard everything you guys said and was like, yeah, those are like slogans you put up on walls.

00:21:11.828 –> 00:21:14.408
Roddy: But tell me about the specific action.

00:21:14.408 –> 00:21:19.308
Roddy: So Crystal, if you can talk first, like what’s a key tactic, right?

00:21:19.348 –> 00:21:25.588
Roddy: That makes sure that you to help you manage your channel and manage direct sales and managing the friction in between.

00:21:25.588 –> 00:21:29.788
Roddy: You mentioned one before you said about a deal, a deal registration program.

00:21:29.788 –> 00:21:41.008
Roddy: Can you again, can you speak specifically to that skeptical reseller and say, oh, here’s like one or two or three key things that we do that help, you know, reduce the friction and conflict between the two groups?

00:21:41.108 –> 00:21:42.688
Harrison: I actually have nine things.

00:21:42.688 –> 00:21:43.888
Harrison: All right.

00:21:43.888 –> 00:21:44.848
Roddy: Here we go.

00:21:44.848 –> 00:21:45.888
Harrison: It started at the top, right?

00:21:46.288 –> 00:21:52.448
Harrison: As a global company like we are, of course, we have some very large customers like the Walmarts of the world.

00:21:52.448 –> 00:21:56.848
Harrison: And so we set up front to our partners.

00:21:56.848 –> 00:22:02.548
Harrison: Here’s our 10, 15 direct accounts that are always going to stay direct, right?

00:22:02.548 –> 00:22:06.028
Harrison: That’s the way those companies prefer to buy.

00:22:06.028 –> 00:22:14.028
Harrison: But the remainder of the thousands of accounts that we do business with, we’re going to put through the channel.

00:22:15.068 –> 00:22:21.448
Harrison: And to make a channel first strategy work, it has to start at the top.

00:22:21.448 –> 00:22:38.948
Harrison: So you will see from our organization’s perspective, our CEO went on an all hands call globally and said, we are moving to a channel first strategy, and this is the way things are going to be, and lots of changes are going to happen because of that.

00:22:38.948 –> 00:22:49.868
Harrison: At our executive leadership team, we, because this, you know, to go channel first, there’s a, there’s a sales side of that, and then there’s also an operational side of that.

00:22:49.868 –> 00:23:03.768
Harrison: That means your products have to be ready for the channel, at your, all of the systems have to be ready for the channel, all of your demo programs, and all those things have to be in place, and inventory distributors, and all those things, every time you launch a new product.

00:23:03.768 –> 00:23:10.208
Harrison: So there’s a lot of back end things that we actually had to fix as a company to be able to make this strategy a reality.

00:23:10.688 –> 00:23:26.848
Harrison: And I spent the last year building all of those systems and getting all of that done so that this year as we started to launch products, they would all be with that channel first mindset in place, so that we could actually execute on it from a sales strategy.

00:23:26.848 –> 00:23:32.308
Harrison: So from the sales side, starts at the top, CEO down has enforced that.

00:23:32.308 –> 00:23:37.528
Harrison: We put executive leadership on the channel, which we didn’t really have before.

00:23:37.528 –> 00:23:42.108
Harrison: So somebody to really drive that strategy across the organizations.

00:23:42.108 –> 00:23:45.088
Harrison: And then our sales leaders are all bought in.

00:23:45.088 –> 00:23:50.628
Harrison: So that’s what I mean by a top down organization message from that.

00:23:50.628 –> 00:23:56.228
Harrison: So your front line managers are telling the sellers, hey, where’s the partner in on this?

00:23:56.228 –> 00:23:58.108
Harrison: Reinforcing that message.

00:23:58.108 –> 00:24:02.908
Harrison: The other side of that is you have to incentivize your sellers.

00:24:02.908 –> 00:24:03.848
Harrison: They’re going to look at this.

00:24:03.848 –> 00:24:14.288
Harrison: If I’m a direct seller and I’ve been selling at some price point, my margins are going to be reduced and my revenue is going to be reduced when I bring a channel partner in because I’m selling through the channel now.

00:24:14.288 –> 00:24:23.548
Harrison: So what we did was we put in into their compensation plans incentives to be able to push their deals through the channel.

00:24:23.548 –> 00:24:28.388
Harrison: When they hit a certain threshold, they get 2x kickers on their commissions.

00:24:28.388 –> 00:24:34.628
Harrison: So that was another piece that made the sellers feel comfortable that they weren’t going to get penalized for using the channel.

00:24:34.628 –> 00:24:39.848
Harrison: So now you got managers pushing down that and you’ve got sellers being incentivized.

00:24:39.848 –> 00:24:44.128
Harrison: On top of that, we put the deal registration in place like I mentioned.

00:24:44.128 –> 00:24:56.788
Harrison: So they could feel comfortable that they were still going to be in control of their big deals that they’ve been managing in the past, and that they were going to get to choose the partners they wanted to bring in and work with.

00:24:56.788 –> 00:25:11.848
Harrison: Then on top of that, we put very strict rules in place that said, if you’re in an existing account, because we weren’t going to try to go back and retrofit deals that we closed two years ago and try to make that work.

00:25:11.848 –> 00:25:19.528
Harrison: But we said in all existing accounts, if it’s a net new opportunity, it must have a partner attached to it.

00:25:19.528 –> 00:25:26.568
Harrison: And if it doesn’t have a partner attached to it, not only does it need their direct line manager’s approval, but it needs my approval.

00:25:26.568 –> 00:25:37.868
Harrison: And from my perspective, I’m not going to just approve because someone says, oh, you know, it’s not easy or it’s going to be difficult or the margins don’t look good enough.

00:25:37.868 –> 00:25:44.768
Harrison: For me, really the only thing in my mind is the customer says, I absolutely do not want to buy from a partner.

00:25:44.768 –> 00:25:48.068
Harrison: And in that case, we have to respect the customer’s decision.

00:25:48.068 –> 00:25:56.028
Harrison: But I have given talking points to those sales reps to try to convince them of the value a partner can bring to them.

00:25:56.028 –> 00:25:59.828
Harrison: And so that was part of the extensive seller training we did for our teams.

00:26:00.308 –> 00:26:02.368
Harrison: So we did that in one-on-one sessions.

00:26:02.368 –> 00:26:05.488
Harrison: We did that at our sales kickoff.

00:26:05.948 –> 00:26:12.088
Harrison: And we really spent a lot of time with our sellers walking them through, this is how you do this correctly.

00:26:12.088 –> 00:26:14.548
Harrison: Telling them you have to bring the partners in early.

00:26:14.988 –> 00:26:21.148
Harrison: If you bring them in at the tail end just to transact, you don’t give them the opportunity to help you along the way.

00:26:21.148 –> 00:26:26.188
Harrison: And they do things better than we do, and we do some things better than the partners do.

00:26:26.668 –> 00:26:40.468
Harrison: So when we work together and bring all of our expertise together, that truly allows us to be better together and have a much better opportunity at winning that deal than trying to go it alone.

00:26:40.468 –> 00:26:44.168
Harrison: So that was a message that we trained our sales teams on.

00:26:44.168 –> 00:26:54.608
Harrison: Another thing that we did is in the past, we used to have our channel account managers, they were actually not assigned to business partners, they were assigned to end user customers.

00:26:54.988 –> 00:27:03.168
Harrison: So they might get a territory that had a thousand customers in it and whatever partner transacted that, they got credit for it.

00:27:03.168 –> 00:27:06.488
Harrison: So they weren’t driving business with our partners.

00:27:06.488 –> 00:27:16.608
Harrison: So we changed that to where now they’re not assigned to any end users, they’re assigned to the business partners and their business holistically.

00:27:16.608 –> 00:27:24.848
Harrison: And the other thing that that did is now they’re not trying to hold on to accounts because, oh, I’ve got this quota to make and I need this deal to make my quota.

00:27:24.848 –> 00:27:31.448
Harrison: And so now I’m running an end user deal instead of making a partner successful and letting them run it.

00:27:31.448 –> 00:27:37.428
Harrison: So now I have the ability to say to my sellers, hey, why don’t you take this opportunity?

00:27:37.428 –> 00:27:39.628
Harrison: You know, it’s a half a million dollar opportunity.

00:27:39.628 –> 00:27:47.328
Harrison: I’m going to take that from my channel, from the channel led and I’m going to assign it to one of your sellers so they can go work that deal with our channel.

00:27:47.328 –> 00:27:56.188
Harrison: So that fosters relationships, AE to AE relationships, that also gets our sellers to feel the impact of our channel.

00:27:56.188 –> 00:27:58.568
Harrison: Our channel has been bringing this business for years.

00:27:58.568 –> 00:28:02.188
Harrison: We’ve just never given any of it to our direct sellers.

00:28:02.188 –> 00:28:05.628
Harrison: So that starts to break down those walls.

00:28:05.628 –> 00:28:17.908
Harrison: And then we have made a very concerned effort to get our sellers engaged directly with the sellers at our partners, so that they can start building those relationships.

00:28:17.928 –> 00:28:20.048
Harrison: Because at the end of the day, people buy from people.

00:28:20.048 –> 00:28:28.308
Harrison: And they’re going to go, you know, we’ve trained these sellers to say, hey, go get your five or six partners that you know really well.

00:28:28.308 –> 00:28:29.988
Harrison: You know all their value add.

00:28:29.988 –> 00:28:31.808
Harrison: You know what they can bring to the table.

00:28:31.808 –> 00:28:34.808
Harrison: You trust them and go to town with them.

00:28:35.188 –> 00:28:39.588
Harrison: And make them your team.

00:28:39.588 –> 00:28:42.288
Harrison: And when you do that, magic happens.

00:28:43.568 –> 00:29:07.168
Harrison: And then on top of that, the last two things that we’ve done to really reinforce this with the team is as we had sellers transition to other roles or retire or move on, we’ve had the opportunity to backfill a number of our sellers and every person that we brought on came with a huge channel background.

00:29:07.168 –> 00:29:21.028
Harrison: So that really helped because now Toshiba, his legacy has been, and IBM before that, had a large direct selling sales force and some of our sales reps have been with us for 20, 30, 40 years selling direct.

00:29:21.028 –> 00:29:29.888
Harrison: So now they’ve got these cheerleaders who’ve had experience with the power of what the channel could do for them saying, hey, look at the success I’m having.

00:29:29.888 –> 00:29:36.788
Harrison: So all of those things combine with the fact that you can never, ever let up on the channel first communication.

00:29:36.788 –> 00:29:43.208
Harrison: It comes out of our mouths every single conversation, in every event that we have.

00:29:43.208 –> 00:29:44.528
Harrison: I’ll just give you an example.

00:29:44.528 –> 00:29:46.528
Harrison: We just had our sales kickoff.

00:29:46.528 –> 00:29:59.208
Harrison: And last year, I don’t think the channel was mentioned ever once in a single session or in a single TED Talk or a single event that we did at sales kickoff.

00:29:59.208 –> 00:30:08.828
Harrison: This year, there was not a single presentation from any presenter that did not have a channel first strategy as part of what they were promoting.

00:30:09.668 –> 00:30:14.688
Harrison: So, it really is a combination of all of those things.

00:30:14.928 –> 00:30:20.908
Harrison: And I wish I could tell you we’re 100% done and that this is firing on all cylinders.

00:30:20.908 –> 00:30:23.868
Harrison: I would say we’re probably about 80% of the way there.

00:30:23.868 –> 00:30:33.608
Harrison: And we still are working on about 20% of those sellers, getting them more comfortable and moving them around and getting them into the strategy.

00:30:33.608 –> 00:30:35.428
Harrison: So, I say this all the time.

00:30:35.428 –> 00:30:37.268
Harrison: It’s an evolution, not a revolution.

00:30:38.548 –> 00:30:45.248
Harrison: But, you know, we have done a ton of work to make this a reality.

00:30:45.248 –> 00:30:55.648
Harrison: And the best proof I can give you that it’s starting to work is I just had a business partner technical conference last week, or actually the week before last, right?

00:30:55.648 –> 00:31:01.748
Harrison: A bunch of our 34 of our business partners came in and we were teaching them on all our new products for launching.

00:31:02.428 –> 00:31:07.488
Harrison: And we went, you know, we covered the strategy again in case they hadn’t heard it.

00:31:07.488 –> 00:31:21.228
Harrison: And when the CEO came in, a comment was made by one of the partners that said, hey, you know, when you guys announced this back in January, we were a little skeptical on whether you could really pull it off because we’ve heard that before.

00:31:21.228 –> 00:31:25.068
Harrison: But we want you to know, Rance, we feel it.

00:31:25.068 –> 00:31:29.668
Harrison: We feel the progress you’re making, and it’s very positive and we love it.

00:31:30.288 –> 00:31:35.328
Harrison: So that’s the best testament I could give you to the program starting to really work.

00:31:35.328 –> 00:31:35.728
Roddy: That’s great.

00:31:36.068 –> 00:31:39.728
Roddy: We always say people ask us, you know, from like the RSPA, how’s the show going?

00:31:39.728 –> 00:31:40.288
Roddy: How’s this going?

00:31:40.288 –> 00:31:41.688
Roddy: We’re like, well, it’s not our opinion.

00:31:41.688 –> 00:31:45.128
Roddy: It’s the reseller’s opinion or the software provider’s opinion.

00:31:45.128 –> 00:31:55.248
Roddy: So thank you for that, for giving the thorough, right where it’s not just a strategy, it’s not just one tactic, it’s all those things working in concert.

00:31:55.328 –> 00:32:02.868
Roddy: Now, Tony, I don’t expect that you have nine points as well, because I don’t know, I’ve never run across any vendor who has something like that.

00:32:02.868 –> 00:32:11.028
Roddy: But I guess talk about some of the key tactics that you embrace at Popmenu to balance direct sales and channel sales.

00:32:11.028 –> 00:32:12.388
Roy: Yeah.

00:32:12.388 –> 00:32:18.408
Roy: I think when you think about resellers, in our space, the restaurants, there’s two control points.

00:32:18.408 –> 00:32:24.868
Roy: You have the backend control point, which is your POS providers that are doing inventory and all these types of things.

00:32:25.388 –> 00:32:31.228
Roy: The front-end control point is everything restaurants are doing to attract and engage with consumers.

00:32:31.228 –> 00:32:32.208
Roy: So that’s where we are.

00:32:32.208 –> 00:32:35.108
Roy: And so what we do is we plug in to those POSs.

00:32:35.108 –> 00:32:39.068
Roy: The POS space, it’s similar to the Cisco analogy.

00:32:39.068 –> 00:32:47.208
Roy: If you have a great POS system, maybe you have a very advantageous payment structure with your payments program, that’s all great.

00:32:47.208 –> 00:32:58.368
Roy: But again, if the restaurant doesn’t have enough guests to service, if they’re not fueling it, then they don’t get to optimize all the things that this POS provider is doing for the client or can do for the client.

00:32:58.368 –> 00:33:02.288
Roy: There are some POS providers that are trying to get into the front end space.

00:33:02.288 –> 00:33:06.948
Roy: Not all of them have the resources to be able to execute on that well or at all.

00:33:08.208 –> 00:33:18.888
Roy: If a POS comes to us, first and foremost is we have an integration, so those two systems work seamlessly, so it acts as the all-in-one solution that every restaurant is striving for.

00:33:18.888 –> 00:33:19.988
Roy: Heartland is a good example.

00:33:20.128 –> 00:33:27.968
Roy: Heartland, we integrate with them, which means if somebody is using our platform, the orders inject directly into the system, there’s no extra steps for the staff, it’s efficiency.

00:33:27.968 –> 00:33:37.068
Roy: Well, we know we can drive more traffic to the restaurants, we know our unique user experience can drive better conversion rate, and we can influence the guest check average.

00:33:37.068 –> 00:33:43.048
Roy: Well, if I’m a Heartland, that’s great for my customer, it’s also great because now I’m making more money on my payments revenues.

00:33:43.048 –> 00:33:55.328
Roy: For us, for our perspective, it’s we provide you an opportunity to safeguard yourself from being undercut by another competitor, and then two, we can impact the revenue of that partner.

00:33:55.328 –> 00:33:57.308
Roy: So I think that’s been great for us.

00:33:57.308 –> 00:34:04.688
Roy: Fortunately for us, if you’re in the POS space, there’s a level of understanding of this restaurant challenges and technology.

00:34:05.048 –> 00:34:13.928
Roy: So I think they understand based on our marketing and based on their experience and hearing and seeing us in the market, they already know that we can do what we say.

00:34:13.928 –> 00:34:26.208
Roy: And so the resellers, there’s really no hesitation in wanting to partner with Popmenu, but you will, in any relationship, it’s like, well, I’ve got a task to go sell my payments product and my POS product.

00:34:26.208 –> 00:34:27.428
Roy: So that’s always going to be my focus.

00:34:27.428 –> 00:34:33.568
Roy: So if I’m going to represent Popmenu, it has to be really easy for me to articulate and I have to know that it’s going to do what it says.

00:34:33.568 –> 00:34:39.988
Roy: And so we spend a lot of time, like Crystal, educating our partners so that they can do a quick elevator pitch.

00:34:39.988 –> 00:34:41.388
Roy: They know the common objections.

00:34:41.388 –> 00:34:44.528
Roy: They know the big selling points for a vast majority of customers.

00:34:44.528 –> 00:34:45.628
Roy: And then we provide support.

00:34:46.168 –> 00:34:56.908
Roy: So if it’s a strategically important client or prospect, we have a team that’s dedicated to be there side by side with the reseller or the channel partner so that there’s not a game of telephone happening.

00:34:56.908 –> 00:34:59.948
Roy: But yeah, hopefully that answers the question.

00:35:00.108 –> 00:35:00.508
Roy: It does.

00:35:00.508 –> 00:35:11.288
Roddy: And also, if I can expand upon one point, because I talked to your colleague, John Picharrillo, when we were planning on doing this podcast, because he’s our main contact from RSPA standpoint.

00:35:11.288 –> 00:35:18.408
Roddy: And when I asked him about, because I said, you know, we had some resellers who mentioned your name in terms of the Popmenu, you know, which manages the balance.

00:35:18.408 –> 00:35:24.528
Roddy: And he was like, well, we just do what we say, because if you don’t do that, you’re going to burn your channel.

00:35:24.528 –> 00:35:27.368
Roddy: He’s like, it’s really not that more complicated than that.

00:35:27.368 –> 00:35:30.048
Roddy: And so I guess what are some things that go behind that?

00:35:30.048 –> 00:35:31.668
Roddy: Because I see Crystal nodding on here.

00:35:31.668 –> 00:35:36.988
Roddy: Like, what are the things that go behind lining with we do what we say?

00:35:36.988 –> 00:35:40.708
Roddy: Like, is it contracts and documents and meetings and communications?

00:35:41.048 –> 00:35:46.848
Roddy: Can you paint a picture for maybe some of the vendors who have conflict between direct and their channel?

00:35:46.848 –> 00:35:50.528
Roddy: What are the things you do to line up that you do what you say?

00:35:50.528 –> 00:35:52.148
Roy: Well, I think there’s a couple of points there.

00:35:52.148 –> 00:35:53.888
Roy: I want to make sure I answer it.

00:35:54.188 –> 00:36:00.108
Roy: So one is we do what we say, okay, great, tell me, prove it to me.

00:36:00.108 –> 00:36:05.888
Roy: So we have a lot of data collection stats, whether that’s ordering volume or follower capture or increasing guest checks.

00:36:05.888 –> 00:36:11.028
Roy: So we have a lot of data that we can share back to both the restaurant owner as well as the reseller partner.

00:36:12.088 –> 00:36:24.448
Roy: So we do spend a lot of time, for example, like monthly recaps, we send to the partner so they know the activity that happened in the month, some success stories, why somebody chose us, and then what’s been the impact of recent launches.

00:36:24.448 –> 00:36:30.128
Roy: Because the idea is to keep it fresh, top of mind with the reseller partner and educate them along the way.

00:36:30.128 –> 00:36:34.408
Roy: Because when they see that good things are happening, they want to keep referring you and representing you.

00:36:35.048 –> 00:36:41.788
Roy: So we do a lot of reporting around dispassionate metrics that we can send to the customer.

00:36:41.828 –> 00:36:43.008
Roy: SEO is a big one.

00:36:43.008 –> 00:36:48.528
Roy: Most restaurants and resellers may not be as ingrained with SEO and what that means as we do.

00:36:48.528 –> 00:36:57.848
Roy: So we do a good job of helping them understand, hey, your client just increased their traffic by 22 percent, and here they are showing up the top of searches in their area.

00:36:58.588 –> 00:37:04.168
Roy: So I think a lot of reporting, sharing dispassionate data, doing it consistently, I think those things are important.

00:37:04.168 –> 00:37:12.568
Roy: As far as our direct team, because I think there’s another aspect of the question there, I think our direct team doesn’t see those as competitors.

00:37:12.568 –> 00:37:15.168
Roy: They see them as an extension of the GTM.

00:37:15.168 –> 00:37:24.128
Roy: If a reseller can go add 10 customers in a market, well, that just means we have 10 more references that we can call out in our organic pursuits.

00:37:24.128 –> 00:37:28.148
Roy: So I think they see it as really like an extension of the GTM and like a marketing avenue.

00:37:28.148 –> 00:37:32.428
Roy: And so, look, we could be huge, but we still have a small percentage of the market.

00:37:32.428 –> 00:37:35.968
Roy: There’s like almost a million independent restaurants in the United States.

00:37:35.968 –> 00:37:39.888
Roy: So it’s like, there’s a lot, there’s plenty for a lot of us to go eat, you know?

00:37:39.888 –> 00:37:44.228
Roy: But hopefully that answers a little bit, but there’s a couple of perspectives.

00:37:44.228 –> 00:37:45.448
Roddy: Yeah, plenty of pie out there.

00:37:45.448 –> 00:37:53.688
Roddy: So before I’m gonna take a quick commercial break, but before that, Crystal, I’m just curious your reaction to some of the things that John just said there.

00:37:53.688 –> 00:37:56.508
Harrison: Yeah, no, I agree with him.

00:37:56.508 –> 00:38:00.308
Harrison: We have to treat our channel like an extension of our teams.

00:38:00.308 –> 00:38:03.508
Harrison: They have reach and footprint that we don’t have.

00:38:03.988 –> 00:38:10.928
Harrison: They’re out working adjacent projects that are not necessarily competitive to what we’re doing.

00:38:10.928 –> 00:38:16.748
Harrison: They have relationships with customers that are very different than the types of relationships that we have.

00:38:16.748 –> 00:38:26.228
Harrison: And we as a company have to stop looking at them as competition, and we have to look at them as an extension of our teams.

00:38:26.528 –> 00:38:29.608
Harrison: And that’s, like I said, that’s when the magic happens.

00:38:29.608 –> 00:38:31.608
Harrison: So I agree with you, Tony, on that strategy.

00:38:34.088 –> 00:38:34.468
Harrison: Well, great.

00:38:34.468 –> 00:38:41.308
Roddy: We are just going to take a quick pause here, let our listeners and viewers know about the Retail Solutions Providers Association.

00:38:41.308 –> 00:38:47.788
Roddy: The RSPA is North America’s largest community of retail technology VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors.

00:38:47.788 –> 00:38:53.528
Roddy: To accelerate your success for an RSPA membership, email membership at gorspa.org.

00:38:53.528 –> 00:38:59.328
Roddy: Also, thanks to these companies who support the RSPA community and make this podcast and video series possible.

00:38:59.368 –> 00:39:01.568
Roddy: Our platinum sponsor is Bluestar.

00:39:01.568 –> 00:39:05.828
Roddy: Our gold sponsors are Cocard, Epson, Heartland, and ScanSource.

00:39:05.828 –> 00:39:15.388
Roddy: Then finally, I want to remind everybody, registration is open for RetailNOW 2025, the Retail IT Channel’s number one trade show, education conference, and networking event.

00:39:15.388 –> 00:39:20.728
Roddy: This year’s event is set for July 27th through 29th, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

00:39:20.728 –> 00:39:23.808
Roddy: For more information, visit gorspa.org.

00:39:25.728 –> 00:39:29.208
Roddy: RetailNOW is where the industry meets.

00:39:29.208 –> 00:39:38.288
Roddy: All right, so a lot of the tactics that came out of that, kind of weaved in communication and how important that is.

00:39:38.288 –> 00:39:48.608
Roddy: And Tony, if you could take this one first, how do you communicate the guidelines, the rules, the best practices to your direct sales team and to your channel partners?

00:39:48.608 –> 00:39:52.868
Roddy: What are some methods that maybe some vendors listening to this can take away from?

00:39:53.688 –> 00:39:53.788
Roddy: Yeah.

00:39:54.388 –> 00:40:06.188
Roy: We invest a lot in like sales enablement internally, basically training the staff, not just to be able to talk about Popmenu solutions, but to understand the industry, business acumen.

00:40:06.188 –> 00:40:15.748
Roy: We use a tool, we invest in a software called HighSpot, which allows us to create a lot of different training material that can be used both by our internal teams, as well as like a reseller or channel partner.

00:40:15.748 –> 00:40:25.288
Roy: So if somebody says, hey, I want to be able to articulate why someone should use an AI phone system and what are the advantages of it, what are the cons of that, all those kinds of things.

00:40:25.288 –> 00:40:27.928
Roy: So we do a lot in sales enablement.

00:40:27.928 –> 00:40:31.708
Roy: HighSpot is one of the things we really developed there.

00:40:31.708 –> 00:40:34.648
Roy: And then we have various training schools for internal people.

00:40:34.648 –> 00:40:39.388
Roy: And then we have a certification process that we put our partners through.

00:40:39.588 –> 00:40:43.268
Roy: Not so much to test them, but to make sure that they’re prepared to go out and have success.

00:40:43.268 –> 00:40:47.448
Roy: Because the last thing you want to do is send a reseller out.

00:40:47.448 –> 00:40:50.208
Roy: They have a bad experience just simply because they weren’t prepared.

00:40:50.208 –> 00:40:51.288
Roy: And then they’re like, well, I don’t want to do it.

00:40:51.288 –> 00:40:52.008
Roy: It doesn’t work.

00:40:52.008 –> 00:40:52.768
Roy: And it’s like, no, no, no.

00:40:52.768 –> 00:40:54.308
Roy: It doesn’t work.

00:40:54.308 –> 00:40:57.888
Roy: So we invest a lot in enablement both internally and externally.

00:40:57.888 –> 00:41:01.648
Roy: And we use different tools like a HighSpot would be a good example.

00:41:02.688 –> 00:41:05.948
Roy: And then we have various webinars that we open up to the public.

00:41:05.948 –> 00:41:11.168
Roy: But we also really encourage any reseller or channel partner to join just like our internal staff.

00:41:11.168 –> 00:41:12.328
Roy: And that could be various topics.

00:41:12.408 –> 00:41:18.468
Roy: Like we did one recently on three ways to boost your revenues in a stressed economic environment.

00:41:18.468 –> 00:41:19.948
Roy: And like here’s some best practice.

00:41:19.948 –> 00:41:22.928
Roy: So combination of things, just keep iterating on it.

00:41:22.928 –> 00:41:25.108
Roy: But I think the big thing is just constantly sharing stuff.

00:41:25.108 –> 00:41:36.828
Roy: And we spend a lot of time like about really just being a business consultant, first and foremost, like if somebody is on our webinar and like, if you don’t use Popmenu, that’s OK.

00:41:36.828 –> 00:41:43.348
Roy: But take some of our information and go negotiate better rates or look for other providers who do similar things because your business will be better.

00:41:43.348 –> 00:41:47.128
Roy: Because ultimately, if the restaurant business is healthy, we’re always going to be a byproduct of that.

00:41:47.128 –> 00:41:48.528
Roy: So we’re always going to benefit from that.

00:41:48.528 –> 00:41:52.748
Roddy: So yeah, it seems like you’re using multiple communication avenues.

00:41:52.748 –> 00:41:57.248
Roddy: And Chris, you kind of referred to this earlier where you said, you have to say it over and over and over.

00:41:57.248 –> 00:42:02.548
Roddy: And I think about the late great Jack Welch, where he said, you have to say it so often.

00:42:02.548 –> 00:42:05.948
Roddy: You were just choking on the words coming out of your mouth again.

00:42:05.948 –> 00:42:10.288
Roddy: Like, I can’t believe I’m saying this again, but everybody needs to hear it over and over.

00:42:11.028 –> 00:42:12.928
Roy: I read that book, in Winning, he talks about that.

00:42:12.928 –> 00:42:17.048
Roy: He says, if I wake you up in the middle of the night, you should be able to recite exactly what I trained you.

00:42:17.048 –> 00:42:17.848
Roy: Right, yeah, I love that.

00:42:17.848 –> 00:42:18.508
Roy: I remember that book.

00:42:18.508 –> 00:42:19.728
Roy: We read it.

00:42:19.728 –> 00:42:24.348
Roddy: Yeah, I got introduced to Jack Welch on podcast before everybody had smartphones.

00:42:24.348 –> 00:42:30.728
Roddy: So I had a friend who would download them off your laptop onto a disk, and I’d play them in my car.

00:42:30.728 –> 00:42:32.048
Roddy: That’s how I used to listen.

00:42:32.048 –> 00:42:35.148
Roddy: Jack Welch was like my original podcast to listen to.

00:42:35.148 –> 00:42:43.948
Roddy: So yeah, the Welch way with Jack Welch and Susie Wettlaufer, Susie Welch is his last wife.

00:42:43.948 –> 00:42:46.088
Roddy: I’m not going to go down that path anymore.

00:42:46.088 –> 00:42:52.488
Roddy: Crystal, talk about your communication guidelines and rules with direct sales and channel.

00:42:52.488 –> 00:42:55.748
Roddy: You alluded to it, but if you can give a little bit more color on that.

00:42:55.748 –> 00:42:56.328
Harrison: Yeah.

00:42:56.328 –> 00:43:01.388
Harrison: So first, we put the rules of engagement and the deal registration terms and conditions.

00:43:01.428 –> 00:43:03.348
Harrison: We put all that into writing.

00:43:03.348 –> 00:43:08.908
Harrison: And so when you come into our deal registration tool, you have to acknowledge those terms and conditions.

00:43:08.908 –> 00:43:10.888
Harrison: So the rules are out there.

00:43:10.888 –> 00:43:12.528
Harrison: The guidelines are out there.

00:43:13.108 –> 00:43:15.688
Harrison: We also did a webinar.

00:43:15.688 –> 00:43:21.448
Harrison: We did an official announcement where we walked through all of that within…

00:43:21.448 –> 00:43:25.208
Harrison: Well, actually, the announcement is coming out here in a couple of weeks.

00:43:26.368 –> 00:43:33.088
Harrison: We did the webinar, but now we’re going to do an announcement where we walk through kind of all of those terms and conditions.

00:43:33.088 –> 00:43:35.068
Harrison: We have had…

00:43:35.068 –> 00:43:36.988
Harrison: We’ve done it with the conferences.

00:43:36.988 –> 00:43:38.068
Harrison: We brought it up again.

00:43:38.068 –> 00:43:39.248
Harrison: I talked about the strategy.

00:43:39.248 –> 00:43:41.108
Harrison: I talked about the tools.

00:43:41.108 –> 00:43:45.108
Harrison: We are building some new tools from an enablement perspective.

00:43:45.108 –> 00:43:55.188
Harrison: We have our traditional tools that we’ve used to do product enablement, but this new tool I’m rolling out this summer will give us certification capabilities and learning path capabilities.

00:43:56.628 –> 00:44:11.568
Harrison: Now, not only will I have product learning path that they can go take if they want to get knowledgeable on one of our products, but I’ll also have doing business with Toshiba learning paths, where in there, they will get to see all of those things.

00:44:11.568 –> 00:44:24.608
Harrison: To your point, Tony, about putting sales tools into our channel partners’ hands, we’re rolling out an AI sales coach and an AI sales role play tool.

00:44:25.128 –> 00:44:41.388
Harrison: As part of our new product launches, where, let’s say, yeah, yeah, so if a channel partner is going to go talk to a CIO and they’re a little nervous and they can go and role play with an avatar on, and it’ll grade them on, you know, their accuracy, their performance, and their speed and those kinds of things.

00:44:41.388 –> 00:44:42.508
Roy: Well, look, you’re going to send me that tool.

00:44:42.508 –> 00:44:43.768
Roy: That sounds cool.

00:44:43.768 –> 00:44:44.288
Harrison: Yeah, yeah.

00:44:44.288 –> 00:44:45.728
Roy: I love a good role play.

00:44:45.728 –> 00:44:46.748
Harrison: It’s really, really cool.

00:44:46.748 –> 00:44:50.808
Harrison: You know, people are afraid to do it, but now you can do it on your own time with an avatar, so.

00:44:52.048 –> 00:44:59.588
Harrison: And we’ve previewed that with the channel already, the new, we’re launching it this month, and they are just really excited about it.

00:44:59.588 –> 00:45:07.388
Harrison: So yeah, at the end of the day, though, it’s really about being a broken record, both to our internal sales teams and our channel teams.

00:45:07.388 –> 00:45:14.128
Harrison: And the other thing that I think I did with our top partners is I’ve been doing in-person visits.

00:45:14.128 –> 00:45:17.468
Harrison: I’ve been doing the tour around North America.

00:45:17.468 –> 00:45:24.868
Harrison: I’m still not done with that yet, making sure and sitting down with them, answering their questions, getting on calls with them, one-on-ones.

00:45:25.128 –> 00:45:30.028
Harrison: And quite frankly, since I’m still in build mode, I’m still taking in feedback.

00:45:30.028 –> 00:45:41.088
Harrison: I just had a call this morning with one of our partners, gave me some feedback on some of the way we’re doing pricing, and I’m taking that back and I’m going to make some adjustments before I launch my new price book.

00:45:41.088 –> 00:45:52.108
Harrison: So being very collaborative with our partners on this whole journey, like, what do you want to see so I can go make it a reality?

00:45:52.108 –> 00:45:57.228
Harrison: And in the other place, we have our Partner Advisory Council that we have.

00:45:57.228 –> 00:46:05.888
Harrison: So obviously, we always get feedback from them on what we’re doing and building, and we just finished our partner NPS survey.

00:46:05.888 –> 00:46:07.848
Harrison: So the results are just coming in from that.

00:46:07.848 –> 00:46:18.268
Harrison: So we’re going to take feedback from all of those different places and build that into my plan as we start to really roll this program out.

00:46:18.268 –> 00:46:18.508
Roddy: Great.

00:46:18.508 –> 00:46:30.668
Roddy: And I’m so glad you brought that up about the importance of listening and doing the Net Promoter Score Survey and things of that nature, because I don’t want anybody to take away the Jack Welch quote and go, well, I just need to keep talking and talking and talking and talking.

00:46:30.668 –> 00:46:38.568
Roddy: First, you have to listen, and that’s going to help shape, and then you can go and talk, and then you can get feedback from the things that you talked about.

00:46:38.568 –> 00:46:40.368
Roddy: So we’ve only got five minutes left.

00:46:40.508 –> 00:46:43.088
Roddy: I have a whole bunch more questions, but I really want to get to this one.

00:46:43.088 –> 00:46:46.288
Roddy: So Crystal, if you could take it, and then Tony, you can bring us home with it.

00:46:46.288 –> 00:46:57.748
Roddy: So what would you do if a VAR owner, Crystal, would call you and say, say it’s not Toshiba, it’s somebody else, hey, I’m not being treated fairly by my vendor and their direct sales team.

00:46:57.748 –> 00:47:00.708
Roddy: What do you recommend I do as a VAR?

00:47:00.708 –> 00:47:02.408
Roddy: So what advice would you have for them?

00:47:02.408 –> 00:47:05.128
Roddy: Tony, you can ponder, I’m going to ask you the same question.

00:47:05.128 –> 00:47:07.608
Roddy: If you were a consultant for that VAR, what would you ask them?

00:47:07.608 –> 00:47:08.268
Roddy: What would you recommend?

00:47:08.988 –> 00:47:12.048
Harrison: Yeah, and I can tell you, I’ve been on both sides of the table.

00:47:12.048 –> 00:47:15.168
Harrison: So I have been in the partner’s shoes.

00:47:15.168 –> 00:47:24.908
Harrison: I worked for 10 years for a partner before moving over to a manufacturer, and I’ve been on big manufacturer sides, HP at one point, Toshiba now.

00:47:24.908 –> 00:47:27.728
Harrison: So I understand both sides of it.

00:47:27.728 –> 00:47:34.388
Harrison: I will tell you the most important thing you can do is have open honest communication with that vendor.

00:47:34.388 –> 00:47:40.908
Harrison: You have to sit down because I guarantee you, there are misconceptions on both sides.

00:47:41.748 –> 00:47:56.868
Harrison: On the vendor side, they’re thinking through, well, the partner’s not doing this or they’re not helping you with that, or they did this wrong, or that, and then on the channel side that the partner is thinking, well, you’re not treating me fairly because you’re not giving me the margin I want or you’re not doing this and you’re not doing that.

00:47:57.288 –> 00:48:06.868
Harrison: You put all of that on the table and be frank and open communication, you will come to a place of a win-win for both companies.

00:48:06.868 –> 00:48:17.448
Harrison: Both sides are probably going to have to compromise a little bit to get what you need, but at the end of the day, you are airing it out because we’re not mind readers, right?

00:48:17.448 –> 00:48:22.548
Harrison: And having hard conversations lead to a place of trust.

00:48:23.308 –> 00:48:30.928
Harrison: When you know that, when you know, and I just had one this morning, I had a partner yelling at me on something, and I said, I want to hear it.

00:48:30.928 –> 00:48:32.508
Harrison: And I said, that’s okay, get it out.

00:48:32.508 –> 00:48:38.088
Harrison: I said, now, let me tell you what I’m going to go do about that and what I’m going to go work on, right?

00:48:38.788 –> 00:48:48.528
Harrison: And they’re going to trust me and my word to go and come back to them with something that is probably somewhere of a compromise, right?

00:48:48.528 –> 00:48:54.888
Harrison: And so, a wise person told me one time, the business begins when trust happens.

00:48:54.888 –> 00:48:58.308
Harrison: And that is something that I firmly believe in.

00:48:58.308 –> 00:49:03.848
Harrison: And so, you only can get that level of trust when you can have those frank conversations.

00:49:03.848 –> 00:49:08.648
Harrison: And when you do something about it, now, my word is my bond, right?

00:49:09.968 –> 00:49:12.148
Harrison: And sometimes that’s not enough for partners.

00:49:12.148 –> 00:49:14.488
Harrison: I had a partner the other day say, okay, that’s great.

00:49:14.488 –> 00:49:18.148
Harrison: I’m glad you’re telling me you’re going to do all this, but I want you to put in writing.

00:49:18.148 –> 00:49:23.568
Harrison: And so, as a vendor, while my legal is pushing back, going, why are we doing all these teaming agreements?

00:49:23.568 –> 00:49:38.728
Harrison: I said, because we have lost the trust of our channel and for a various number of reasons, because we had this direct sales team and doing all those things the way we did it in the past, and they don’t trust us, and I want to give them that level of trust.

00:49:38.728 –> 00:49:40.048
Harrison: So we’re going to put it in an agreement.

00:49:40.048 –> 00:49:41.308
Harrison: And the legal said, okay, that’s fine.

00:49:41.308 –> 00:49:43.428
Harrison: Let’s write up a teaming agreement.

00:49:43.728 –> 00:49:50.148
Harrison: And so, whatever I’ve got to do to be able to make them comfortable, those are the things that I am doing.

00:49:50.148 –> 00:49:54.268
Harrison: So once we agree on something, here’s the plan, this is what we’re going to do.

00:49:54.268 –> 00:50:03.388
Harrison: I put it in writing, whether it’s an email, so they have it from me, so they can reference back to that, or it’s going all the way to legal and getting a teaming agreement of some kind.

00:50:03.388 –> 00:50:11.388
Harrison: So doing those things helps you with that rules of engagement that you both agreed on in that open, honest communication.

00:50:11.388 –> 00:50:12.828
Harrison: That’s really what it boils down to.

00:50:12.828 –> 00:50:17.168
Roddy: They can’t just let the VAR keep talking and talking, go, okay, thanks for airing it out.

00:50:17.408 –> 00:50:18.488
Roddy: You said you have to get to them.

00:50:18.488 –> 00:50:20.948
Roddy: What are we going to do differently going forward?

00:50:20.948 –> 00:50:22.328
Roddy: So thank you, Crystal.

00:50:22.328 –> 00:50:30.128
Roddy: Tony, again, you’re getting a call from a VAR, not a Popmenu VAR, but they’re like, I am getting jerked around by my vendor and their direct sales team.

00:50:30.128 –> 00:50:32.388
Roddy: Like, what would you tell them to do?

00:50:32.388 –> 00:50:36.128
Roy: Well, I’d probably regurgitate a lot of what Crystal just shared.

00:50:37.708 –> 00:50:41.988
Roy: I think one is, look, in our space, we’re dealing with technology and there’s moving parts.

00:50:41.988 –> 00:50:52.308
Roy: And so any time that happens, there’s always going to be little things here and there that, you know, there’s a bug or something happens and it’s about responding quickly.

00:50:52.308 –> 00:50:53.328
Roy: We have a big philosophy.

00:50:53.768 –> 00:51:03.988
Roy: If somebody resource calling me and they’re talking about, let’s say, a competitor to Popmenu, when you’re younger, the natural inclination is that, yeah, they’re bad, they’re not good.

00:51:03.988 –> 00:51:05.288
Roy: We don’t do that philosophy.

00:51:05.288 –> 00:51:09.108
Roy: We try to be more mature and we focus on the things that we do.

00:51:09.928 –> 00:51:12.188
Roy: That’s a bummer that you’ve had that experience with that competitor.

00:51:12.188 –> 00:51:15.628
Roy: We’ve heard some similar things, but look, there’s always going to be challenges.

00:51:15.728 –> 00:51:21.388
Roy: I can tell you how we would handle that situation, and then we try and give them a couple of examples.

00:51:21.788 –> 00:51:29.628
Roy: I’m going to date myself, but there’s an old sales methodology, like listen, acknowledge, evaluate, and respond.

00:51:29.628 –> 00:51:32.128
Roy: But for us, we really try and take the high road.

00:51:32.128 –> 00:51:43.028
Roy: We don’t talk about our competition, whether, if we know they’re doing something wrong, unethical, we try to steer the conversation more to how we handle those situations and then give them more context and perspective.

00:51:43.548 –> 00:51:46.008
Roy: And I think more often than not, that puts you in a better spot.

00:51:46.008 –> 00:51:54.008
Roy: I know for a fact, if somebody is calling me and they spend more time trying to bash their competitors, I’m thinking there’s a reason why they’re doing that.

00:51:54.008 –> 00:51:56.428
Roy: They don’t have enough good stuff to talk about their business.

00:51:56.428 –> 00:51:59.008
Roy: You know, whether that’s right or wrong, that’s how I think about it.

00:51:59.008 –> 00:52:01.928
Roy: So that we try and, you know, I get the lead from the top down.

00:52:01.928 –> 00:52:07.868
Roy: So I try and instill an approach of saying, well, hey, that’s unfortunate that you’ve had an experience in this industry.

00:52:07.868 –> 00:52:10.328
Roy: We work really hard to overcome those challenges.

00:52:10.328 –> 00:52:11.848
Roy: Let me tell you how we would address that.

00:52:11.988 –> 00:52:13.928
Roy: So I think that’s the best you can do.

00:52:13.928 –> 00:52:15.448
Roy: Communication at the end of the day.

00:52:15.448 –> 00:52:16.828
Roy: And we will have some time to…

00:52:16.828 –> 00:52:17.768
Roy: Look, we’re on that end.

00:52:17.768 –> 00:52:19.668
Roy: We’re a reseller that we work with.

00:52:19.668 –> 00:52:21.848
Roy: They get mad at us for whatever reason.

00:52:21.848 –> 00:52:23.968
Roy: Sometimes it’s because they’re wanting a lot of service.

00:52:23.968 –> 00:52:26.408
Roy: Well, maybe the business has changed and evolved.

00:52:26.788 –> 00:52:32.768
Roy: Maybe five resellers are giving us 12, you know, 15 times the activity than this one person.

00:52:32.768 –> 00:52:39.008
Roy: Well, I can’t spend the same amount of time with this person who’s given me far less but wanting 10 times more attention.

00:52:39.008 –> 00:52:41.188
Roy: And so we have to go back and reset the expectations.

00:52:41.188 –> 00:52:43.608
Roy: And so it just goes back to the communication.

00:52:43.608 –> 00:52:44.888
Roy: So, yeah.

00:52:44.888 –> 00:52:55.008
Roddy: Yeah, and I guess it also seems like, Tony, if somebody is not a good fit for working with you or working with another vendor, it’s a fine thing to say as well, right?

00:52:55.008 –> 00:52:56.748
Roddy: It’s got to be a mutual partnership.

00:52:57.168 –> 00:53:01.508
Roy: I think, like, again, when I was younger, I wanted to sell everybody everything.

00:53:01.508 –> 00:53:05.428
Roy: And if I had to be in some gray area occasionally, I would do it.

00:53:05.428 –> 00:53:09.828
Roy: And what you realize is it’s much better to be upfront from the very beginning.

00:53:09.908 –> 00:53:12.488
Roy: So neither party wastes their time.

00:53:12.488 –> 00:53:13.408
Roy: And we have had that.

00:53:13.408 –> 00:53:33.488
Roy: You know, we have had channel partners where, especially when we were a smaller startup, we just wanted to sell anything because we kind of had to, you know, but as we matured, as we advanced, you know, for example, if Cisco brings us a client that we know is like showing major signs of distress, as great as we are, there’s a reason why they’re in such distress.

00:53:33.488 –> 00:53:33.868
Roy: Right.

00:53:33.868 –> 00:53:36.828
Roy: And so we are not some magic button here.

00:53:37.968 –> 00:53:44.108
Roy: And so we will tell the partner in those examples, hey, we’re better off not working with this client.

00:53:44.108 –> 00:53:46.668
Roy: Here’s some recommendations that I think you can take to them.

00:53:46.668 –> 00:53:51.408
Roy: And here’s some other providers they may want to try, who’s maybe a little bit less expensive.

00:53:51.408 –> 00:53:56.188
Roy: I think you win more because if what happens is by signing somebody, it’s not a good fit and it doesn’t work.

00:53:56.188 –> 00:54:00.188
Roy: Well, that’s that sales consultants view of us, you know, and it’s like, no, no, no.

00:54:00.188 –> 00:54:04.488
Roy: Well, we took a chance because we thought you wanted us to, you know, so we’ve learned over time.

00:54:04.568 –> 00:54:09.528
Roy: It’s much better to say, hey, this person does not really look like a great fit for us.

00:54:09.528 –> 00:54:16.488
Roy: But here’s what we will do is we’ll send you some information that you can provide that customer so that it looks like you are being attentive to their needs.

00:54:16.488 –> 00:54:20.088
Roy: So we try and do that so they’re not empty handed.

00:54:20.088 –> 00:54:20.348
Roddy: Yeah.

00:54:20.348 –> 00:54:21.968
Roddy: No, thank you both for this discussion.

00:54:21.968 –> 00:54:25.428
Roddy: It’s funny as we’ve been going through and I’m looking at my notes, a lot of things I’ve written down.

00:54:25.428 –> 00:54:30.488
Roddy: I used to work down the hallway from a psychotherapist who sometimes would counsel couples on their relationships.

00:54:30.508 –> 00:54:33.848
Roddy: I think a lot of the advice you’ve given today applies to that, right?

00:54:34.228 –> 00:54:47.848
Roddy: Value your partner, communicate with them openly, make sure it’s very clear who should be doing what by when, and if the end, it doesn’t work out, maybe you guys aren’t meant to be partners with each other.

00:54:47.848 –> 00:54:51.948
Roddy: It goes business to business, but it’s all people to people as well.

00:54:51.948 –> 00:54:53.728
Roddy: So, excellent.

00:54:53.728 –> 00:54:56.028
Roddy: Well, that does it for this episode of The Trusted Advisor.

00:54:56.028 –> 00:55:05.028
Roddy: If you enjoyed our discussion and marriage counseling advice, be sure to subscribe to the RSPA YouTube channel and the Trusted Advisor podcast so you never miss an episode.

00:55:05.028 –> 00:55:10.768
Roddy: Before we go, big thanks again to Crystal Harrison and Tony Roy for sharing their wisdom with us today.

00:55:10.768 –> 00:55:18.888
Roddy: Thanks also to RSPA Marketing Director Chris Arnold for his production work, Joseph McDade for our music, and last but not least, thanks so much to you for listening.

00:55:18.888 –> 00:55:26.028
Roddy: Our goal at the RSPA is to accelerate the success of our members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections.

00:55:26.028 –> 00:55:29.688
Roddy: For more information, please visit our website at gorspa.org.

00:55:30.048 –> 00:55:33.428
Roddy: Thanks for listening and goodbye everybody.