Posts Tagged ‘sales’

Federal lawmakers are asking the State and Commerce departments to investigate NetApp and Blue Coat’s complicity in the sale of equipment to the Syrian government intended to support spying on dissidents. The bigger question: Who bears responsibility for reseller sales – the vendor, the reseller or both?

Spiceworks already operates a large, closed social community built around its 1.7 million users. The addition of Spice Buttons and Spiceworks Connects, a service similar to Facebook’s “Like” and Google’s “G+” buttons, is enabling users to share content with peers. It could be a first step in transforming Spiceworks and the IT marketplace.

Everyone is talking about cloud computing as the wave of the future. The reality, though, is few end users are buying cloud services. The channel needs these offerings to give customers the option; just like McDonald’s offers salads but still sells mostly fries.

A new study by Techaisle finds managed service providers are increasingly engaging end users with managed service offerings. The findings reinforce the need for more sales and marketing activity in the channel’s managed services segment.

Sales of Ethernet switches are increasing, as is competition between major vendors – most notably Cisco and Hewlett-Packard. The result is a decline in average sale prices, which could ultimately hurt solution providers caught between the buyer’s market and market-share hungry vendors.

Selling cloud computing comes with a certain safety net, as the average salary is above or in line with average sales professional salaries. What’s surprising is the number of solution providers who offer no base salary to their cloud salespeople.

Solution providers have a tendency to view their business development through the lens of technology. As a result, sales typically gets short shrift. Some solution providers are discovering the reason to invest in sales professionals – and it’s all about growth.

Solution providers often assume they have a special relationship with their customers. They’re often right, as many have been selling into accounts for years. But, according to Ingram Micro’s Kirk Robinson, many solution providers fail to see who else is selling into those accounts.

Channel veteran Patricia Hume is leaving security vendor GFI Software after just six months as head of sales to join a software company specializing in applications for nonprofits.

Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ are treasure-troves of intelligence on what businesses are saying about their technology suppliers and solution providers. Capgemini’s new service provides customers with real-time social insights for immediate adjustments to sales and marketing messaging. Is this the dawn of a new managed service?