Cisco announced their Channel sales programme a few months back to increase the skills capability within their channel. 

The move is aimed at providing a funded sales programme for up to 10 people within an organisation to attend a Cisco approved sales course.  The main eligibility criteria is that you must hold at least one of the architectures or be a Master partner.  Sound good? Well it is.  Rarely does an opportunity to acquire a funded programme, but better than that, these courses are aimed to improve the sales capability.  They are not product led with the usual demo of latest products and their features and benefits. 

Cisco have realised they need to mature the Channel sales model.  If you want someone to sell Telepresence for example or VXI, then the end point and their capabilities are not what you should be leading with.  What are the benefits to the business of adopting video? What is their impact?  How does this affect the people who operate it and those who use it?  What are the financial benefits to IT and the rest of the business?  This is the type of questions being asked to make sure that value is being added to the end user market that is targeted.  Developing a partnership and adding value is key rather than transactional engagements.  Yes there are times when you must cater for the here and now but overall we must improve the level of engagement.

Using the funding, partners can choose Cisco Authorised Sales Training courses available from Global Knowledge, focused on how to best position and sell the value of Cisco’s Architectures. We have developed a broad portfolio to provide Channel Partners with a blended solution that incorporates not only the standalone offerings in Cisco’s EASE program but also training that is relevant to the specific needs of the Channel Partner’s business. As the leading Cisco Business Learning training partner, Global Knowledge is focused on providing Cisco Channel Partners with training that delivers real sales results, enabling your sales teams to identify and close business faster and more effectively.

For more information visit our website at www​.globalknowledge​.co​.uk/​ease