Security Sales & Integration July 2022 - 34

Management
2022 Integrator
Exec Roundtable
It comes down
to are you going to
be an order taker
or are you going to
be a solutions
provider. If you're
an order taker,
the supply
chain's going to
kill you.
- Trevor Stewart,
President, Security
Control Integrators
ation as our customers aren't as likely to shift
gears with type of equipment. DoD has explicit
instructions if you quote an Axis camera, you
sell an Axis camera. To get that changed is like
an act of God. Our customers are willing to
wait. We're treading water, and people aren't also
talking about the admin cost and resources, and
the impact on the schedule. Constant check-in
with where's this piece of equipment, constant
communication with the customer about where
equipment is, and then trying to put that on the
schedule. We've seen projects slip because the
equipment's not here. That's more of an impact
to us than anything else, at least from a revenue
perspective. The customer's willing to wait for
what they want, but that puts the strain on us
because we got a huge backlog of work we can't
do because we don't have the equipment.
It isn't all doom and gloom. A lot of people
understand because it's not just our industry
having supply chain issues. It's also where I see
opportunity. Interestingly, when there is an opportunity
for customers to go somewhere else,
they don't want to because they know you're
working hard to try to get them the equipment
they need. I think it's an opportunity to shine
as a systems integrator to say, " We're here for
you, we're communicating with you, we know
you have a problem. But we're going to work
with you to get through this. " It's really important
to maintain that relationship.
With the slowdown in products, how are
you broaching price increases?
Reece: Be honest with your customers, tell them
what's coming. It's crazy what's happening right
now. You're getting price increases out of the blue
from nowhere, you're giving them an order, they
have it for a week and then you get a notice of a
price increase on the product you've already given
them a purchase order for. Technically, your purchase
order's invalid, but you've already given them
this price and they're telling you it's actually going
to cost more. They're going to ship that product,
but they're going to bill you more than is on your
PO, so that creates so much craziness in the back
office. Just keeping up with it is a nightmare.
Lanning: Some advice I received is that when
you order equipment, get deposits for it or at the
very least take that equipment once you get it,
put in the customer's storage unit and bill them
for it so you can get the money upfront. I think
that is really smart. Also, a general contractor told
me that about 80% of the time if the price goes
up the customer will approve that increase. Even
though they've already contracted this amount,
they're willing to accept that prices are going to go
up. It goes back to if you don't ask, you don't get.
Stewart: It comes down to are you going
to be an order taker or are you going to be a
solutions provider. If you're an order taker, the
supply chain's going to kill you. You're not going
to be able to survive it because you're not
going to think outside of the box. You're not
going to communicate with your customers. If
you have trained yourself and created an environment
in your company to create solutions,
then the parts shouldn't matter. You sell yourself,
that's how a company our size competes with a
company that's $500 million in this industry.
DeStefano: That is a key point. Customers will
pay for it if they see the value. If they don't see a
value and you're just another company in a transaction,
just selling me stuff and putting in stuff,
then I can go to a bunch of other stuff providers.
We have to show what our value is worth, what
our value is before, during and after the sale.
The pandemic, supply chain,
inflation, talent, economics
and more were on the table
as integration leaders shared
challenges, experiences, strategies
and even good humor.
34
Security Sales & Integration JULY 2022
Stewart: You have to always show your value.
Don't give away a service, put together a quote,
what it would cost and say, " Hey, this is the
value to this. This is what I'm giving you. " If
you just do it and don't actually take the time
to quantify it, they don't see it. If you give your
kids something for free, they don't see a value.
If their bicycle has a flat tire and you buy them
a new bicycle, they're like OK, I got a flat tire
now I get a new bike. It's the same thing with
engineering time, all these things - there always
has to be a value. To me, people undersell.
Reece: There's no qualification on the customer
side. There's no license for them to take, no
classes to take in order to figure out how to
spend money with us. What happens is they go
securitysales.com
http://www.securitysales.com
Security Sales & Integration July 2022

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