TMC’s Reseller Solutions Day Workshop, to be held on Sept. 2 at the ITEXPO West in Los Angeles, is a free, day-long seminar with leading industry speakers who will lend pertinent advice on the most successful ways to sell communications equipment and services.

 

The first session, “Making Money in IP Communications,” examines strategies in selling unified communications, open source, FMC, WiFi (News - Alert) telephony, mashups and CEBP solutions.

 

With guest speakers from Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert), Ipitomy, Broadvox, Iwatsu and ABP Technology, companies interested in selling to SMB or enterprise customers, classic interconnects, data VARs, VADs, or security resellers should attend the morning session.

 

Ways to negotiate seller agreements like Interactive Intelligence’s August 2009 “Elite Partner” agreement with Spanlink Communications will be a focal discussion point during the workshop. Spanlink is now authorized to sell, deploy and support Interactive’s unified IP business communications solutions.

 

“Reseller Live,” another session of the workshop, will hone in on the best reselling practices during a troubled economy.

 

FaxCore Senior VP Max Schroeder will moderate the Reseller Live session, which feature AXIOM Sales Force Development Vice President of Instructor Development & Delivery Phil Forrester, who will cover the AXIOM selling method.

 

Everyone is feeling the effects of the economic recession, including many in the IP communications world, which is why Rich Tehrani, TMC’s CEO and the ITEXPO’s (News - Alert) conference chairman, believes Reseller Day is one of the most popular workshops at ITEXPO.

 

“It helps resellers learn from other successful resellers about the best ways to address today’s unique challenges,” said Tehrani, “and because it’s heavily attended by service providers and equipment manufacturers, it also provides an important networking opportunity for cultivating partnerships and possible business deals at ITEXPO.”

 

In an interview with TMC, Schroeder went on to say that multiple avenues of the industry will benefit from the workshop.

 

“Resellers, vendors, distributors, service providers and any company that sells a product or service will learn how to improve their personal or company’s sales performance for a successful 2009 and beyond,” Schroeder said.

 

Read the full exchange below.

 

 

Max Schroeder: Sales professionals must stay focused and understand that customers may have reduced budgets. That doesn’t mean they will not make purchases but they will only select the products that provide the best ROI and truly meet their requirements. Customers also want solutions that are future-proof. In other words, the products must have scalability and evolve with the rapidly changing IP communication market.

 

 

MS: FaxCore (News - Alert) has actually experienced an increase for 2009. However, many companies in our market segment are reporting a slow-down. Of course, our product is a true 21st Century product built on the latest Microsoft (News - Alert) and Dialogic fax technologies. It includes a multitude of standard features that our competitors offer as extra-cost options including unlimited user licenses. Customers do not have to agonize over which features will fit in their budget or which employees to empower. Keep it simple and affordable.

 

 

MS: Any organization has to have a well defined “selling method” for their sales force. The selling method must address all economic conditions so companies can easily adjust to the ebb and flow of the marketplace. Repeatedly Implementing major changes or new selling methods can result in a “whiplash effect” that contuses the sales team and results in mediocre, not improved, performance. Lastly, you need to increase your advertising and promotion budgets - not cut back. During this year we are doing more with TMC with regard to events, TMC Channels and other TMC programs and it shows.

 

 

MS: Scale back on any legacy products remaining in their portfolio and add products that increase productivity and provide cost savings. SIP Trunking, Dialogic’s SR140 FoIP solution and virtualization are all excellent examples. 4G Wireless and GREEN technologies are also hot.. Products should scale easily and be as future-proof as possible.