Identifying the value you bring to customers, and how to communicate it to your clients is a great way to prepare for selling across the stack. You have resources, from Sandler team to the Sandler Portal/Marketing Center, that can help you guide the conversation and cement your position as your customer’s trusted technology expert. Knowing when to bring in your Sandler Team – Sales Engineer, Channel Manager, etc. – can also be a winning strategy to help you gain success, increase your expertise, and work to be a top Partner in our Community.
The discussion was led by Denise Navarro, Portal Experience Manager, and Ben Edwards, Director, Sales Engineer – West, joined by Sandler Partners’ own Shannon Clements, Director, Channel – Midwest; Corson Harrer, Digital Marketing Manager; and Ben Magday, Director of Channel – Mid-Atlantic.
“You might only be selling (your client) their internet services or that voice,” points out Denise. “But every single customer is going to have, or should have, some plan for their security, Cloud usage, and backup. We’re consuming so much data nowadays that if they were to lose any of that it could be either a hassle or detrimental to their business. Your being able to ask them those questions, not only shows that you have them top of mind, and you want to give them the best for their operations. Internet is amongst the lowest (commissions adding services/expanding the sale, is expanding ) your revenue.”
An Example of What You May Be Leaving on the Table?
- UCaaS (100 Users) – $1,500 MRR
- Primary Internet (Total 3 Sites) $1,500 MRR
- Failover Internet (Total 3 Sites) $300 MRR
- SDWAN (Total 3 Sites) $1,000 MRR
- MSP Services $1,250 MRR
- Cybersecurity $1,500 MRR
- Backup/DRaaS $1,000 MRR
- Cloud Compute $1,500 MRR
“New Partners starting out (may ask) how do I get started?” states Shannon. “What we see from some of our successful Partners, is they prepare (before) meeting their customers – find out who your customer is, what their focus is, check out their LinkedIn and website before you actually meet. Share your value prop, why should people come to you rather than going direct. Ask open-ended questions (in discovery) to really dig into what your customers are looking for. Use your (Sandler) tools and Channel Manager. (Solutions Finder guides you to) quickly and easily narrow down carriers, and make a nice-looking presentation with comparisons. Once you’ve started narrowing it down, you have additional Sales Engineer resources at each of those carriers, so utilize those tools.”
“Marketing is really important, even if you may not spend much time on it, it’s critical to be effective with the time you do spend on marketing,” says Corson. “The first thing to talk about is the building blocks, like your website and social presence. You should have a presence (with at least) a good modern feel, conveying your brand/value proposition, and your voice clearly and concisely – and most importantly, some way they can reach out to you, a form or email for example. As a Sandler Partner, you have resources available that will help you with your web presence. The Marketing Center, is your free marketing platform available to you 24/7 via the Sandler Portal. It contains numerous microsites (and social posts/emails ) that are fully built out with content (that) you can customize, add your voice, (and) your value prop. These are ways customers can find you and have a clear understanding of the value that you bring.”
Consumers Engagement
70%
More likely to make a purchase after engaging with a company*
*Industry Experts
98%
Open rate for SMS marketing messages vs. 18% for email*
*The New York Times
73%
of American consumers prefer personalized offers via email*
*Gartner
“Going into an opportunity, you never want to go in there asking one question,” adds Ben Magday. “(You) want to understand and ask broad questions. Be curious. Ask why. What we really want to know is what is their IT strategy over the next 3 to 6 months, that will unfold the why. There’s a lot of opportunity for disruption, and whenever there’s disruption in the marketplace, that gives us as technologists a great opportunity to take advantage of that because it’s going to create some sort of change where you can fill in the gaps.”
Example: A car company reduced call volume by 80%, with a simple CPaaS deployment
“You may not know how to sell everything. If you just ask open-ended business questions,” concludes Ben Edwards, “(you) don’t need to know the answer, before asking the question. Just ask. The trusted advisor doesn’t need to know the answer to every question they’re asked, they need to be able to find it.”
Get ready to grow your business, while selling across the stack. You are ready to begin today, with the resources to create, start, progress, guide, and complete the conversation with your customers. Take an immediate self-help approach with your Sandler Portal/Marketing Center or leverage your support team (Channel Manager/Sales Engineer). Everything you need is available to you as a Sandler Partner for free. For the full discussion, with detailed guidance and ideas, watch the session recording today!