Article written by:
Tony Gilbert, Sales Director NZ
Tony Gilbert is an accomplished Sales Director and former Deputy Principal with over 20 years of experience in education and technology. He is a respected leader known for his strategic thinking, business acumen, and customer satisfaction. With postgraduate qualifications in leadership, Tony excelled in senior leadership roles, managing large teams and implementing innovative teaching methods. He joined New Era Technology in 2012, driving revenue growth and expanding the customer base with strong relationship-building skills. Tony is a renowned speaker and consultant, a volunteer in his community, and enjoys travelling and reading in his free time. He also won a world title in improv many years ago.
Ever heard of ‘shoe leather’? While there’s a lot of focus on digital sales and marketing these days, what with your Facebooks and Instagrams and TikToks and all that, there’s one secret weapon successful everywhere and being put to good use by savvy operators. Yes, it’s that shoe leather.
In the good old days, people realised that the early bird gets the worm. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. And those who use their shoes the most seal the deal, deliver the best customer service, and build lasting relationships.
Sure, we have all these digital avenues (LinkedIn included) for doing business - we have email, video calling and the good old telephone for getting in touch, finding the opportunities and helping your business get the right gear.
At New Era, we sell the technology that makes all that digital stuff happen.
What’s even more certain, is the fact that people do business with people. Real people. And when you’re working nationwide like we do at New Era, having people everywhere is a real and meaningful advantage for you.
I’ve already covered this in one way in my previous blog, where I discussed the value of scale in procurement. As one of HP’s biggest partners in New Zealand, and a firm advocate for the quality, value and performance of HP’s world class portfolio (which has delivered a good 22% of global PC and laptop market share), we order a lot of hardware from HP.
This works for every one of our clients because when we’re ordering lots of technology, we get the best pricing thanks to volume; that advantage passes on to our customers, making the solutions we design not only right-sized and suitably specced for your requirements but also cost-effective. Good news, of course, in an inflationary environment where the cost of living is pinching us all.
But coming back to those leather clogs. It’s a long-acknowledged fact of life in New Zealand that the tech companies focus disproportionately on the big cities. The pavement-pounding by most salespeople is done on the streets of Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Tauranga, and our newest-fastest-growing city Hamilton.
That’s cold comfort to the regions; it is also (perhaps not coincidentally) the regions where arguably the biggest impact can be made through the deployment of modern technology - the sort of thing the city slickers have been calling ‘digital transformation’ for some time.
Blessed as we are with an extraordinary fibre network reaching almost everywhere, and a bit of 4 and 5G, and even Starlink plugging any remaining gaps, the regions including your business are ripe for the full advantages of Windows 11 loaded on HP’s latest laptops, tablets and other devices.
Now, whether you’re upgrading old equipment that’s reached the end of life, or starting out, or expanding your organisation, you want a couple of things from your solution provider. Cost is a big one, and we’ve got that covered with our scale and procurement arrangements.
The other bits which are arguably even more important constituents of value relate right back to the shoe leather. Presence in the regions. And we have that. Probably uniquely, because we look after schools everywhere from Kaitaia right down to Invercargill, and almost everywhere in between. I, myself, am not in the big cities, but work out of Dunedin!
What does that presence mean?
Well, for our schools and commercial clients, it means an engaged sales process, so we come and see you and understand your needs directly. It also means service and warranty attention ‘next day’. And if it’s a man in a van you need – which sometimes is still the very best problem-solver, well, that’s what you get. A real person in your office.
So, if you’re looking at upgrading, buying new, expanding, and need HP solutions for a better way of doing business, get in touch and give New Era a go. You won’t be disappointed.