Learn How Porter Consulting uses Video to Help Resellers Copy

Speakers: James G. White, Porter Consulting

James G. White: Hi, I'm James White. I have 30 years in a variety of sales, sales management, and partner management roles, with extensive experience in strategic alliances, solutions selling, and business development. Most recently I managed HPE's Central Region Hybrid IT Channel sales partners. In that role, my job was to help those elite channel partners sell more cloud-based hybrid IT. It is with that experience that I'm very excited to talk you through how Porter Quick Video can give you the compelling content you need to reposition as a cloud expert IT services provider. Why is it necessary to reposition? Why do partners need to reposition themselves? Well, everything is changing. Things have been evolving over the years. Our customer demands are also changing, and the way that we sell must change We've typically done a very good job of selling infrastructure. Now we must become more cloud focused in our selling. And now is the time that we can leverage Porter's Quick Video to develop our content and to deliver our content to our new customer base, based on our new selling offerings

James G. White: Why make a change? Why not just continue run rate business? Well, a couple of points here. Number one is the direct vendor-to-customer relationship. We as partners have done a very good job of guiding our customers through the OEM portfolio of products. Unfortunately what's happening here is a lot of the OEMs are beginning to reach out to customers directly, and that causes competition, which means that partners must show more value, more expertise. Sometimes it's just a matter of showcasing the partner's Cloud Dream Team, and the partner's references. Point number two: Pricing Transparency. Gone are the days where a customer does not know the pricing prior to going into a project. Customers have access to many pricing platforms, comparison tables, so they know exactly what the pricing is. And what that does is it squeezes our margins. So what partners must do is increase their margins with consulting services.

James G. White: How do I position my sales and technical teams as cloud experts? Well number one, show off their understanding of customers. Customers really appreciate it when they know that you have walked in their shoes. And sometimes video makes it very easy for sales reps to describe how they help customers with vertical-specific challenges. Point number two: ensure customers know their breadth of experience. Have them discuss how they help customers maximize value across both cloud and on-prem investments. Point number three: Demonstrate that you truly have a cloud Dream Team. Video can easily showcase one of your experts discussing best practices in the context of a recent customer experience. Point four: discuss trends that customers should be aware of. For instance, lead with key concerns of anyone that are migrating to the cloud, both public, private, and hybrid. Security, time, cost. They're all fair game.

James G. White: How do I capture customer references who can testify on the capabilities of my company? Well, a couple points here. Point number one: guide them to frame their experiences in their own words. The Porter Quick video model is easy for customers to participate in, so that they can tell their stories. Point number two: rely on Porter's coaching and project management. Porter can engage with customers to make it easy to do the video recording.

James G. White: How can Porter Consulting and Quick Videos help me to grow my pipeline? Well, a few points here. Point number one: short videos are a proven way to deliver content that sticks. Point number two: Porter makes obtaining compelling videos simple, easy, fast, and economical. Point number three: The Porter Quick Video method showcases your team, your expertise, and satisfied customers to help you with pipelining and prospecting.