In my first blog “Co-Selling Made Simple,” I shared the major market shift surrounding Information Technology (IT) spend, the role new customer buyers play in influencing that spend and how Cisco has solved for this new buying trend through Co-Selling with our partner ecosystem.
Co-Selling Made Simple: Setting the Stage
Ecosystem Co-selling is a collaborative sales engagement between Cisco and non-transacting Advisor and Developer partners (ISV, Consultants, etc.) to deliver a differentiated joint customer business outcome with our mutual Channel partners.
Co-Selling Made Simple: Accelerate
Accelerate is the second of three steps in Cisco’s Ecosystem Co-Sell Go-to-Market (GTM) sales execution, between Activate and Scale. In this step, visibility and awareness of our Advisor and Developer partner capabilities and solutions are increased to accelerate Co-Sell opportunities with Cisco Sales and Channel Partners, develop joint demand generation campaigns/events and expand pipeline building activities to benefit all parties.
Accelerating Co-Sell with 4 key Steps:
- Cisco Sales Acceleration – Dedicated Cisco Co-Sell Business Development Managers (BDM) will engage our Advisor and Developer partners in workshops with key Cisco stakeholders to identify and prioritize target accounts and plan any sales and technical enablement. Once completed, a Cisco Sales internal awareness and communication plan is developed that will include a partner At-A-Glance value card providing an overview of the partner’s capabilities and solutions. In some cases, a Co-Sell Workshop will be held directly between the partner and Cisco Account Managers and in other cases, Cisco’s Co-Sell Sales Desk will coordinate joint opportunity planning sessions for target accounts to accelerate the sales engagement and pipeline development.
- Channel Sales Acceleration – Channel (reseller) partners are identified through match-making events with the Advisor and Developer partners. When there is an agreed upon “match,” a joint sales plan is built between the partners to identify target accounts and plan any sales and technical enablement. Next, the dedicated Cisco Co-Sell BDM may initiate a Co-Sell Workshop between the partners and Cisco Account Managers, or the Co-Sell Sales Desk will coordinate joint opportunity planning sessions for each target account with Cisco, the Advisor/Developer partners and the channel partner accelerating the sale engagement and pipeline development.
- Demand Generation – Now that the Advisor/Developer partner, channel partner and Cisco are aligned, it’s time to grow the pipeline through external demand generation campaigns and events. A joint plan is developed and managed in Cisco’s Co-Sell with its Co-Marketing capability, allowing all parties to collaboratively view, comment and agree on collateral, upload and track targets/leads, assign tasks, and convert leads to Co-Sell opportunities.
- Expand Sales Opportunities – In this step, we review the go-to-market Co-Sell plan to look at sales growth opportunities such as expanding the geographic reach or engaging additional channel partners. This is also a suitable time for partners to analyze their sales successes to identify additional sales activities or campaigns to expand sales opportunities while leveraging Cisco Programs to increase market presence. Finally, we grow the pipeline by executing activities like conducting additional Partner-to-Partner Events and Co-Sell workshops.
In conclusion, the Accelerate step is a crucial path to Co-Selling and is the prerequisite to the next step—Scale—to replicate winning solutions and strategies. The collaboration in the Accelerate step ensures Cisco, its Advisor, Developer and Channel partners are bringing the most valuable solutions to our joint customers to deliver business outcomes, while driving a joint win for all parties. It captures and recognizes the value of each partner across the ecosystem Co-Selling together. It speeds time to market, sharpens the Greater Together story for our joint customers and sets up Co-Sell partnerships to expand to new markets.
Ecosystem Co-Selling is a Big Deal!
There are billions of dollars in potentially untapped new buyer opportunities and Cisco Ecosystem Co-Sell is the key to accessing it!
Be on the lookout for the next Ecosystem Co-Sell blog in the series—Scale. And in the meantime, check out our Cisco Co-Sell SalesConnect Page for more information on becoming part of Ecosystem Co-Sell at Cisco!
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