Channel Partners: Beyond Solutions, You Have the Team to Succeed

With today’s educated consumer market, a multitude of sales methodologies from solution selling, to challenging the customer, to being a strategic partner are required. The method and strategy you apply are dependent on the relationship you have with the customer.

In a previous blog, I shared that Windstream Enterprise is here to help you succeed by enhancing and transforming the conversations you have with customers. This got me thinking about what that next step really looks like and how we can help to increase the value you bring to both customers and prospects.

Dedicated channel expertise

Enter your team of industry and solution experts led by your Channel Manager. These experts specialize in knowing exactly what is keeping your customers up at night and how you can help solve their specific challenges.

• Access. Have customers looking at alternate access solutions? Do you need an expert to support the discussion and speak to how adaptive modulation reduces the effects of precipitation of the reliability of a fixed wireless solution? Tap in Belinda Leonardi, a 9-year veteran of Windstream Enterprise (the last 5 years spent in transport engineering) aka your network ninja and expert on all things on-net.
• Healthcare.  Meeting with a potential healthcare client who requires low-latency, high-bandwidth connectivity between their core hospitals and the ability to share software systems across their operations? Enter Kristen Mcinerney (who is a 30-year registered nurse) and her peers on our healthcare team. This team is a highly strategic sales support group purposely built to meet healthcare’s complex requirements. They are the perfect complement to our portfolio of solutions which speak directly to the patient experience and clinical network operations. Read here how we helped Virtual Telecom secure a $1.45M SD-WAN opportunity for a large dental practice.

• Retail. Meeting with a large, distributed enterprise customer that’s struggling to compete with mass brands in personalization? Call upon your retail experts who are uniquely qualified to assist in your sales efforts through their experience with hundreds of strategy, selection, and implementation engagements in the retail sector.
• Hospitality. Thousands of hoteliers depend on Windstream Enterprise for solutions to increase guest satisfaction, generate revenue, lower costs and differentiate their staying experience. Our hospitality team will ensure you are prepared to pursue and close any opportunity.
• Financial.  Did you know 81% of banking CEOs are concerned about the speed of technological change, more than any other industry sector? Our financial team, along with financial industry marketing strategist, Anne Guenther will work with you to create a solution that addresses those concerns.

I haven’t even touched on our SD-WAN, UCaaS, Security, CCaaS and Professional Services experts—all here with the same purpose—to help you succeed and enhance the value you provide to your customers and prospects.

Capitalizing on opportunities

Knowing your resources is the prerequisite to capitalizing on the potential of each opportunity.  All it takes to engage any of these resources is a quick call or email to your Channel Manager, who will bring these teams into the conversation at any point (at no additional cost to you).

Be sure to check out our Wednesdays With Windstream Webinar series, typically hosted by one of these experts. Their knowledge will help increase yours.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn), “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.”