Why Partners Need to Go the (Literal) Extra Mile

We’re a small team, with a dedicated group focused on Nutanix infrastructure. And yet, I recently had the honor of being selected to join Nutanix’s Partner Elite community, a group of Nutanix experts recognized not only for technical skill, but also a willingness to share knowledge and drive customer success.

In my view, what sets our company apart isn’t the size of our deals, but rather our attention to detail, and our willingness to do whatever it takes to make sure our customers have a positive experience. This is, perhaps, even more important in a small smaller market like Belgium, where word travels fast and one subpar engagement can significantly dent a partner’s reputation.

Essentially, a partner’s success is tied to the success of our customers. That means the only way we can hit our goals over the long term is to do everything in our power to help them meet theirs.

Customer Problems are Our Problems

One of our large enterprise clients recently had a shipment of 36 Nutanix nodes ready to go. The deal was done, and the equipment was sitting in boxes at the customer’s site, waiting to be installed. This was a refresh project, meaning the customer had the internal expertise needed to handle the build themselves. And yet, it just wasn’t happening.

It would have been easy to decide that this wasn’t our problem. After all, we had already made the sale, and it wasn’t our fault that the customer was experiencing internal delays that were slowing down the project—the same way it isn’t a car dealership’s fault if buyers don’t drive their new cars.

But we weren’t worried about whose fault it was. We wanted the customer to get the value they were paying for. Instead of letting the project stall, my Managing director and I went onsite and physically installed and cabled every node ourselves.

Setting Customers Up for Success

One of the great selling points of Nutanix infrastructure is its simplicity. But, as with any technology, users sometimes experience confusion or minor glitches when they are first getting acquainted with it.

This was the case with one of our newer customers, a small organization that had never used Nutanix before. The company was implementing Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), and IT leaders wanted to handle the installation themselves. However, they got stuck on a minor technical issue, and they called us for help.

Here again, it would have been easy enough to wash our hands of the problem. The sale was done, the customer had previously said they could handle the installation, and we were busy with other work. But instead, we dropped everything and started troubleshooting on their behalf. I actually posted the customer’s problem in a Slack channel for Nutanix partners, and we were able to get the customer up and running in a matter of hours.

How Small Details Lead to Big Wins

These are just a couple of examples of what Nubera and other top Nutanix partners do every day. The stories may seem small, but that’s really the point. It isn’t the huge deals or one-time events that build an IT partner’s reputation, but rather our ongoing, repeated actions.

Anyone can simply sell a software license or a piece of hardware and walk away, but it takes a real partner to roll up their sleeves, get in their car, and drive to a customer’s site the instant something goes wrong. In the moment, these actions usually don’t have a huge payoff. The partner might bill a few extra hours, but often this means working late hours, and even setting aside promising deals-in-progress to take care of your current customers.

The real wins come later. I can think of large deals we won specifically because buyers had seen us spring into action when problems arose, and they knew they would be able to count on us if something went wrong.

For good partners, the big wins will come. But you have to get the small stuff right first.