Partnering With the CIO: The Future of IT Sales Seen Through the Eyes of Key Decision Makers

Seeking Multiple Relationships

When vendors are supplying business-critical products or services, David King, the CIO at Regal Entertainment Group, establishes relationships at multiple levels within the vendor’s organization. “I want our day-to-day operations people to have relationships with the vendor’s day-to-day operations people, and I want our VPs to have relationships with the vendor’s VPs. As the CIO, I need to have relationships with the vendor’s CEO and top executives.”

Even a vendor with a transaction-driven sales force can become a good strategic partner—as long as there are designated relationship managers within the vendor’s organization. Still, King says he would have “second thoughts” about a supplier of business-critical solutions who would not support a network of multiple relationships.

“There are two good reasons for creating multiple relationships between the customer and the vendor. Number one is that when an issue is identified, it can be escalated smoothly and resolved. Number two is that many large vendors are just not very nimble. It takes a lot of steady pressure from a lot of different people to nudge them in a new direction that might benefit both of our organizations. Multiple relationships make that process of gentle nudging more doable.”

It’s not ego-tripping when King attempts to exert a measure of influence over his vendors. It’s good business practice. Sometimes a CIO can see the future more clearly than a vendor. When King subtly nudges a vendor, ...