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Newsletter Home > March, 2009
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Cisco and Marketing: Tools and Skills for the Channel
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You might think that a frigid economy should force channel partners to count marketing among the functions ripe for wholesale slicing-and-dicing until things turn around. Not so, according to Cisco Systems.
The San Jose-based networking vendors recently hosted a few hundred key channel partners for a three day conference in Miami Beach, Florida aimed at helping partners not only build successful campaigns, but also get the most bang for their buck when doing so.
No strangers to marketing themselves, the Cisco team enlisted a group of speakers that explored new media, such as social networking and middle-aged media, such as the web. Similar to the first annual event staged last year, the agenda focused almost exclusively on the partners and was nearly devoid of Cisco-focused content.
“We got so much out of last year’s experience that it was an easy decision to come back again,” said Bob Olwig, marketing vice president of Worldwide Technology, Inc., a St. Louis-based channel partner. “We put a number of things we learned into practice, and are looking for ways to take it to the next level.”
“Channel partner organizations are often so focused on day-to-day engagements that the development of solid marketing campaigns often has a tendency to slip through the cracks,” said Luanne Tierney, vice president of marketing in Cisco’s channel organization. “Our intention was to help give them new ways to look at this important function. And judging by the positive feedback, it looks like we were successful.”
Some of the advice ran counter to the things that many of the attendees expected to hear. For example, if your web site looks good and has a number of attractive visuals, don’t assume it’s getting the job done. Web development consultant Gerry McGovern cited research suggesting that many online visitors care less about page beauty and are far more concerned with understanding where the various links will take them, plus the overall ability to find what they need quickly and easily. Furthermore, links to get more information, or other calls to action, are often in the wrong location on the page, and often should be duplicated to accommodate the people who scroll-down.
Online video is also growing in importance, as is the ability to leverage social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Maintaining the right level of contact – not too much, but also not too little – is also a crucial component. It also eliminates the need to try to close the sale immediately. Expecting too much too soon is a common error. Best-selling author Seth Godin used the analogy of singles bars in order to drive home this point. “There are two ways to get married,” he said. “One way is to go to a nightclub and ask everyone there to marry you. The other way is to try going on a date.”
The newer strategies are often intended to establish rapport with the prospect and establish customer relationships leading to loyalty, as opposed to rushing straight for the purchase order.
Nonetheless, a number of open questions remain which are unlikely to be answered with conventional wisdom anytime soon? For example, should your company stick to safe messaging or become more daring in the things you publish, post, or announce. Going out on the proverbial limb can sometimes gain attention that might otherwise be missed through safe bets. Go too far, however, and you might alienate the very people you are trying to attract.
One thing is for sure: While marketing continues to be every bit as important as it ever was, the options for reaching out to your customers are growing by leaps and bounds, and will likely continue to do so.
Avaya Introduces New Services Delivery Specialization Program
Avaya has rolled out a new badge to acknowledge channel partners who have developed full capabilities to deliver lifecycle services for Unified Communications and Contact Center solutions. The new Avaya Services Delivery Specialization (SDS) program is designed to enable the vendor’s business partners and alliance partners to provide services in conjunction with Avaya and demonstrate their advanced capabilities in implementation, maintenance support, and application integration. The resulting badge also enables customers to identify those channel partners that have the appropriate skills and qualifications for the level of service delivery required.
The Services Delivery Specialization program has four areas of designation which cover implementation at two levels plus support and integration. Participating channel partners have access to Avaya Global Services methodologies and tools to help them deliver a quality service experience to customer.
Cisco Announces Executive Transition for Worldwide Operations
Cisco Systems announced that Robert Lloyd, 52, has been named Executive Vice President (EVP) of Worldwide Operations, effective April 26th. Lloyd succeeds Rick Justice, 59, who is stepping down from his day-to-day responsibilities due to an on-going battle with prostate cancer. Justice will remain at Cisco as a part-time executive advisor to Chairman and CEO John Chambers.
In his new role, Lloyd will report directly to CEO Chambers, and will be responsible for oversight of Cisco's Worldwide Sales, Worldwide Channels, Internet Business Solutions Group and Strategic Alliances organizations. Corporate Development, also previously within Justice's organization, will now report directly to Chambers under the continued leadership of Senior Vice President (SVP) Ned Hooper.
Juniper Networks Enhances J-Partner Program
Juniper Networks announced changes to its J-Partner Program designed to create enhanced profitability for the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based vendors channel partners worldwide. The revised program introduces several new partner segments programs along with new product and service specialization opportunities, enablement tools and resources. The new J-Partner Managed Services Provider, J-Partner Consultants and J-Partner Service Provider Infrastructure Programs now become part of the foundational J-Partner program, thereby enabling partners to choose the sub-program that best fits their business models. A series of new services specializations were also unveiled.
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On The Other Hand - Does Information Technology Necessarily Increase Efficiency?
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By: Ken Presti
We’ve been pretty sure that we’ve known the answer to this question for quite some time. And at the very least, the industry-at-large has been leaning heavily on talking points confirming technology as the avenue to increasing efficiency for many years now.
But I’m a lot less convinced than I used to be. Personally, I think technology is a lot more like a bulldozer for efficiency. Maybe it will reduce it in certain instances, and maybe it won’t. But it will do a dynamite job of moving that efficiency around, based on the desires of the owner of said technology.
Case in point: A few months ago, I attended a conference that I’ve been going to every year for the better part of ten years. The program includes a series of main stage events accompanied by the opportunity to have one-on-one meetings with executives from the sponsoring company. Back in the Middle Ages (about three years ago) I’d call up the public relations people from this company and give them a list of people that I hoped to see, They would then triangulate schedules and send me a list of appointments based on my requests.
But now there is an online tool for requesting meetings, in order to make it more efficient. When I heard the words “more efficient,” I naively thought they meant more efficient for me. Or at least more efficient for me, too. But not quite.
Here’s how it worked. There are maybe six people I want to see in the one-on-one meetings. So I go to the tool, put in my first name, then my last name, then my title, then my company, address, two phone numbers, etc. You get the idea. Then instead of asking for the executive I want to see, I get to select a generalized description of the type of executive I want to see. Not quite as specific, but, okay, I can roll with it. Click send.
Okay, five more people I want to request. Click here for the next one. Okay, my first name is K-e-n. My last name is P-r-e-s-t-i. I still work for the same company that I did two minutes ago. No, we haven’t moved or changed phone numbers since then. Let’s put those in. I click on the desired executive type or reasonable facsimile. Click send.
Four more. I’m sure they’re wondering if my name changed yet. No it hasn’t.
See how much more easy and efficient this is? Me neither. Their accomplishment, in effect, was converting a two minute phone call into about 15 minutes of mindless typing, clicking, and waiting for the server.
You’re probably thinking they could have designed this tool to auto-populate the common fields. I know I thought about that, too. But that would have required a bit more coding. I envision the developer being unable to add that functionality because they were struggling against the high-pressure deadline caused by an imminent episode of “American Idol.”
Too cynical? Perhaps. And there are certainly examples that are far more egregious than this. But if you want to pitch technology based on increased efficiency, it’s important to make sure that your public-facing tools are in-step with that message.
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