Cisco mentoring

A range of coaching and support tools designed to sustain the momentum of the initial ERS workshop and help further develop the new skills in the field, have been created by Cluster to ensure that Cisco Partners have the opportunity to exploit the new competencies of their sales teams to the fullest extent.

Both Team and One-to-One coaching is being made available. Experienced coaches will work on developing live sales opportunities, with a view to making the team or individual self-sufficient as quickly as possible. The mentoring and coaching can be delivered on-site or virtually, using TelePresence or WebEx. The coaching can be tailored to suit the needs of the Partner, focusing in on Data Center Discovery, Executive Presentation, Pipeline Optimization, or Toolkit Navigation and Support.

The mentoring builds on the learning delivered in Cluster’s Executive Relevance Selling (ERS) and Effective Executive Conversation (EEC) for the Data Centre courses, which are designed to provide Cisco Partner sales executives with the skills and competencies they need to sell at the highest levels. Following up with hands-on coaching will ensure that resellers maximise the value of these courses, says CEO of Cluster, Matthew Hathorn.

“The whole process we have set out with the Executive Selling Workshops is designed to elevate the engagement level with the customer and create a solid foundation for partners that enables then to build trusted advisor relationships with customers. The courses can give them the skills and competencies, the mentoring will ensure that their behaviours also change. This is important, as it is all too easy for sales professionals to revert back to old ways of selling if they are not encouraged to adapt their approach, elevate conversations and move outside their traditional comfort zones. It is all about giving them the confidence to approach executive-level contacts and put what they have learned into practice.”

Cluster’s Executive Selling Workshops aim to help reseller sales personnel improve their effectiveness when selling and presenting to customers at board level and increasing their chances of winning new Cisco Data Centre and Infrastructure business.

The Executive Relevance Selling (ERS) for the Data Centre programme is an enablement course that drives qualified Cisco Data Centre proposals that are based upon a financial business case and achievement of ROI. The Effective Executive Conversation (EEC) for the Data Centre course takes sales professionals to next level, focusing on the approach that is most effective in the boardroom.

The courses are available in multiple languages and can be delivered by Cluster on global basis, including both the east and west coasts of the US, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region, and in major European countries.

Earlier this year, Cluster delivered ERS for the Data Centre training and coaching on behalf of Cisco and Comstor as part of a high-level global partner enablement roadshow. This unique sales enablement programme that drives proposals at the executive level, based upon a financial business case. The course has been available to Cisco Partners in the US for the past two years through Comstor on an exclusive basis, where it has succeeded in driving over $50m of incremental Cisco business for partners.