 Sony
has long been a major force in consumer electronics
sales. In April 2001, in an effort to duplicate
that success in the corporate world, Sony
Electronics created the Corporate and Professional
Sales Company (formerly the Business Solutions
Company) to provide a one-stop sales resource
for corporate customers. And it selected a
veteran leader of Sony's consumer sales force
to take charge of the new effort.
Since joining Sony in 1978, Anthony Piazza
has ascended the corporate ladder with breakneck
speed. Piazza started out in consumer electronics
sales and, within two years, was promoted
to the position of a sales manager. Four
years later, he was named a Vice President.
Five years after that, Piazza became a Senior
Vice President and, two years later, in
1991 was made President of Sony Electronic's
Retail Channel Sales Company, where he was
responsible for sales of all consumer products
as well as customer and financial services.
After nearly tripling Sony's in-store market
share from an average of seven-and-a-half
percent to a remarkable average of 22 percent,
Piazza was chosen to be President of the
Corporate and Professional Sales Company.
In an interview at his office in Woodcliff
Lake, NJ,
Piazza spoke with NETWORK about the challenges
and goals of his latest promotion.
Tell us about the formation of the Corporate
and Professional Sales Company.
A few years ago, Sony Electronics decided
to go after corporate markets as a unit.
A large part of our future growth in hardware-items
like computers and storage systems and display
units-depends on corporate markets. At the
time, each of the different sales and marketing
companies were targeting corporate markets,
so we developed one group.
Are there specific objectives you are
expected to hit?
Not so much specific objectives as figuring
out the best procedures and strategies for
accomplishing our goals. It's complicated,
because most corporations don't buy direct.
They buy from resellers, and a lot of the
resellers buy from distributors. So in order
to be effective you have to call on corporate
markets directly and develop relationships,
prospect, and create the demand.
Does that create the scenario in which
the resellers and distributors are your
partners, but they are also your competition?
We're fulfillment neutral. If a corporation
wants to buy directly from us, we can handle
it. But if they buy from a reseller, it's
still a profit for us. I don't care how
it gets fulfilled as long as we're focused
on the customer's needs.
How does the Corporate and Professional
Sales Company differ from similar companies
run by other corporations?
Sony Electronics has lots of products to
sell to corporate America. Whereas one company
has computers, another company has storage
solutions, and so on, we sell computers,
storage systems, display units, tape recorders-there's
all kinds of products we can sell.
So the vast nature of Sony gives you
a much greater challenge than a lot of other
companies in the industry?
That's exactly right. We have to have a
sales force that knows all those product
lines and not just in the product itself,
but in the application of those products
and how they integrate with other products.
So we have to have more people who specialize
in certain areas.
What were the first challenges you faced
in getting the company up and running?
 We
had a reorganization that took effect on
July 1. We changed the sales force to specialize
along product lines. We also split into
four main divisions: distributors, resellers,
corporate direct, and professional audiovisual
dealers.
The other thing we did was to create teams.
The biggest problem with selling to corporate
America is that it's too big. You can't
hire enough people to call on corporations
for all these product categories. It's impossible.
Plus, since we're fulfillment neutral, it's
hard to recognize a salesperson's abilities
to call directly on corporate accounts,
because you might sell something and then
never see if it got shipped through that
salesperson, the distributor, or someone
else. That's always been the challenge of
corporate sales. So I look at the corporate
salespeople as almost a branding group-create
the relationships, get our brand established
in corporations, and if the corporations
buy direct, great, but our job is to make
sure they buy Sony products.
What is the advantage of the reorganization
for Sony customers?
It creates one face to the customer for
all Sony products. Even if you bought the
product through a distributor or reseller,
you will have a direct Sony Electronics
contact.
Walk me through a case study that illustrates
the value that the company offers to Sony
customers.
We have a Memory Stick® transportable
media platform. I want our customers to
buy our professional broadcast projectors
and our CLIE(tm) handheld units, both of
which have Memory Stick slots. I want to
sell them the advantage of having transportable
memory, to make the applications easier,
quicker, and cheaper. By putting a group
together, we can do that. Most corporate
customers don't know what's out there, or
what they can buy to become more productive
or to save money in the long run. The technology
changes too fast. Also, purchasing agents
have expertise in certain areas, but most
of them can't be experts in all areas.
The challenge for us is, how do we effectively
market our products and explain the need
for them? Everyday there's new software,
new hardware-there's too much information.
So these are some of the huge challenges
we have to attack.
After heading up retail for so long,
how does corporate sales differ?
I had figured out the formula in retail.
I haven't figured out the formula here yet.
When you identify or establish a need that
was not recognized before, you can sell
a product. There are certain buttons that
make people want to buy. Now I'm identifying
those buttons.
If we want to sell videoconferencing systems
to corporations, the easiest sale is cost
savings. Have your team take three less
trips to Asia and you've already paid for
yourself ten times over. Easy sale. Another
way to sell to corporations is productivity.
There are buttons. You just have to identify
them.
Another example is our TV screens are more
expensive than tube models, but there's
a cost savings because they use so much
less power that they pay for themselves
in the form of lower electric bills. You
give the salespeople a software program
where they can punch in different factors
for a corporation and show them what the
return on investment is. You have to find
that for every product category.
Regarding the Memory Stick platform, our
Business Solutions & Systems Company just
came out with a projector for presentations
that contains a Memory Stick slot. You don't
even need to hook your computer up to it.
You can walk into the conference room with
your Memory Stick media, pop it in the projector
and do your presentation, pop it out and
leave. There's increased productivity and
ease of operation. It's a saleable point.
What innovative methods are you exploring
to increase sales?
of our ideas is contacting the "touch
points" within corporations. Not only
do I have my salespeople calling corporations,
I have customers calling on corporations.
For example, my professional audiovisual
dealers don't sell computers. They sell
projectors, cameras, and VCRs, but they
don't sell computers, CLIE(tm) handhelds,
or any of that equipment. However, they
have established relationships with corporations.
So how do I leverage that? I've talked to
some of the dealers and said, "Bring
me an opportunity on the equipment that
you don't sell."
So you make them part of the sale?
Exactly. We work something out. Maybe we
pay them a finder's fee, or maybe we'll
sell a product through them. Once you've
established the relationship, you're got
a touch point. Then my challenge is, how
do I take the different touch points and
leverage them to sell our product lines?
We're working on that.
How'd you achieve the phenomenal growth
in Sony's retail sales force?
I created what we call Strategic Growth
Account teams-teams of people on an account.
There's one person in charge of each account
and several salespersons underneath him
or her specializing in a particular category.
I think teams are always the way to go.
Also, we looked at advertising and logistics,
and made ourselves integral to the big dealers.
We really managed those accounts. Sometimes
we knew more about them than they knew about
themselves.
Plus, there's a lot of entrepreneurial attitude
at Sony Electronics. Sony will give you
the room to try new and innovative tactics
in terms of distribution or sales.
It sounds like you've had the interesting
opportunity of coming into an established
company that has the excitement of a startup.
I feel it. We calculated that in terms
of the corporate and professional products
we sell, it's roughly a $250 billion industry.
Consumer markets were an $80 billion industry.
So I just want my ten percent. (Laughs)
That's a nice number.
Contact Info
For more information, contact Julienne
Oliva, Corporate and Professional Sales
Company,
Sony Electronics Inc., 155 Tice Boulevard
(MD TA2-10), Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677.
Phone: 201-930-7006.
E-mail:
Julienne.Oliva@am.sony.com
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