It can be a challenge for Partners to be well-versed in the 200+ diverse Provider options in the Sandler Partners portfolio. In this session of the 2023 Sandler Partners National Summit, Andy Rustad, Director, Sales Engineer – East and Dave Povlick, Senior Sales Engineer – Midwest took attendees for a fresh look at different technology areas that you may not be focusing on today. Working with a variety of Providers, and offering a strategic set of solutions can help you land and expand, growing your base exponentially, gaining new customers and increasing your engagement level with existing ones. Let’s start the conversation, highlighting potential technology and benefits you can bring to customers.
The Panel taking the stage consisted of technology experts eager to inform Partners on their company’s story, and how they can help Partners find opportunities while solving their customer’s challenges – John Young, AireSpring SVP Channel Sales; Joe Elder, Comcast Business | Masergy Channel Sales Manager; Jeff DeVerter, Rackspace Chief Technology Evangelist; and Dave Pruse, Sinch VP of Channel Sales.
“If you haven’t leveraged your (Sandler Partners) Sales Engineer I highly recommend you reach out and get to know them,” said Andy. “Three different areas (are) where we spend the majority of our time: (1) Traditional Sales Engineering Support, 50-75% of our day is spent customer facing, selling alongside our Partners, on your opportunities, to help you go wider, or if it falls outside of your core area of expertise. (2) Sales – we are sales, ready to help you throughout the process. (3) Training – (to help Partners) expand their knowledge and create additional revenue streams.”
“I want to reinforce, use the Sales Engineers, it’s why they’re here, they’re super smart,” agrees Jeff. “I’m going to surmise all the fancy AI technical talk, into one thing, and that’s opportunity. I have never seen anything in my 20 years in the industry that opens doors better, than AI. We’re trying to create meaningful business outcomes, that’s why we start every conversation when you contact us with the why – what is the customer trying to do? Are they trying to save money? Are they trying to make more money with a new offering? Are they trying to increase customer satisfaction?”
Key Cloud Pillars
Applications
Data
Platforms
Security
“One of the things Masergy has brought to Comcast, is a global backbone,” says Joe. “There no longer is an off-net for Comcast, (or) out of footprint. With the acquisition we now cover everything globally. We can build out a network in the same (way you’d) build out your data center. We can take a look at that network and say what do you have on-prem that is going to be latency sensitive, that you need a 100% SLA, (and) that you need guaranteed uptime for video and voice. Talking about ways to grow that existing book of business, we’re going to hear a ton about security and AI. They’re a great opportunity (to) go out and grow. What I love about Sandler, and their (Sales) Engineers, is they take the conversation out (focusing each call on a technology – Voice, Security, Data Center for example). It works!”
“We’re very unique in this business,” states John, “we’re 100% channel, 100% of our sales comes from Partners, we have 0% direct salespeople, 0% direct marketing, so we really rely on that relationship. Know your deal is always protected. We’re debt-free and profitable, you don’t find a lot of that (in the technology/IT space). We’re proud to say we’re very stable and that’s a place you can be confident to bring your business. We’ve evolved (and grown), but our core business is still Connectivity, US-Globally. Every single business needs connectivity, nothing else works if they don’t have that core. But (as an aggregator) we fit in every category (SD-WAN, Cloud, Voice, Mobility, Security, IoT, MSP) and that’s good for you.”
“Almost nobody’s heard of Sinch,” says Dave, “(let’s) cover the new and exciting part of the panel. We are a $2.7 billion company, with over 4000 employees, that’s been around for a while, but a new name to a lot of you. We’re a CPaaS company (messaging solutions – voice, messaging, email, and fax. Letting) companies buy services via API (Application Programming Interface). (Our customers are) the biggest companies out there, who have their own software or apps, and they want to embed services into those software applications. Messaging is one of the most effective ways to communicate with customers. You don’t have a (client) who doesn’t have an interest in this, whether it’s Joe’s Garage saying your car is ready, all the way up to the largest (companies) there are.”
“The lowest hanging fruit, the best opportunities to go after, are the ones you’ve already sold to,” concludes Andy. “Go back to those accounts you sold to and try to set up a call. It’s easy to do. Get your resources (Sandler Partners Sales Engineering) on that call with you, and go to town closing some business.”
Learning more about your Provider options is always a great way to grow your business, a recurring theme in the discussion. Watch the session recording today to find examples, details, and shared experiences.