You know how occasionally you hear of something that runs counter to the norm, but once you step back and consider it for a moment you have an ‘aha’ realization that maybe the ‘norm’ isn’t the only, or necessarily the best, way to do something?

So, recently I had the good fortune to have the opportunity to speak with Ashby Lincoln. As well as being a helpful and decent fellow, Ashby is the CEO of Veristor, and I don’t think he’ll take offense at being called an industry veteran. He certainly ‘gets’ the business. Veristor is a specialist reseller, based out of Atlanta. Now, I’m sure we’re all aware that most resellers and systems intgrators like to parade their credentials by pointing out that they are ‘certified by Vendor A’ or that they have a gold star, super-duper training achievement award from Vendor B. That’s the norm, yes?

Well, at Veristor, they’ve turned this on its head – figuring that their job is to get the best results for their customers rather than just be the field sales force for a chosen subset of vendors, THEY certify those vendors with which they deal, rather than the traditional way around! To use a colloquialism, neat huh!?

I’m not saying this would work in all cases – you (the reseller) have to be in the postion to have customers with whom you have great relationships and that genuinely look to you for best advice and not just best price comparison. But, once you have that, isn’t this an interesting ‘aha?’

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