Partner sales: Best practices for selling Network as a Service

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Today, most partners have a wide selection of technology offerings, and they determine how to prioritize their portfolio based on the Return on Investment (ROI) and the level of support needed.

Network as a Service (NaaS) can be offered by partners to generate good ROI for the business, by providing the opportunity to build a predictable monthly revenue stream. Creating a predictable, cloud-like consumption model for enterprise infrastructure is something that customers are starting to get on board with. So, what are the best practices that every NaaS partner seller should have?

Get educated.

• Learn about the market and the various NaaS vendor solutions. Understand your buyer’s journey and obtain market knowledge. Become an expert, not just in the products but also in the solutions and services.
• Get certified on vendor solutions for NaaS and aaS as well as industry certifications as they become available. The more time and resources you invest in yourself, the better returns you will see from a sales perspective.
• Create your plan. How will you get your customer from beginning the journey to closure? How will you differentiate yourself from your competition? To be effective, you need to create a distinct purchase experience and demonstrate value for each of your buyers.

Understand your buyer.

• Know your target audience. For NaaS, it is someone that thinks about business and financial issues, so the CIO and CFO are good places to start as understanding ROI and TCO will be important.
• Identify their pain points. A successful NaaS business is about providing solutions to the problems your target market faces. Without asking the right questions to identify the problems, you will struggle to gain customers and generate revenue.

Become a trusted advisor.

• Provide guidance and recommendations based on the business and operational outcomes your customer requires.
• Go above and beyond. Be accountable. Be committed. Ensure you are responsive and easy to do business with.

Leverage your vendor’s channel program.

• The channel program is the backbone of any partnership. This is not about discounting hardware. It is a whole new model. Leverage it. Take advantage of it.
• Work with a vendor whose program meets your needs. The business model is changing, and channel programs need to be redesigned to keep accomplished partners and attract new ones.
• Use your Market Development Funds (MDF)! Understand which activities deliver the most value to your customers and leverage those repeatedly.

Secure reference customers.

• Look to have a use case or video created with your customer to highlight your success.
• Engage marketing and public relations from the beginning, so you know the right questions to ask and there are no surprises. Set yourself up for success.

Working through the transition from selling hardware to selling outcomes requires an investment of your time. People tend to be averse to change because it is difficult to modify an established mindset. Due to the complexity of the transformation, take the time to invest in yourself and rethink your selling strategy.

Related Resources

Why Partners Should Sell Network as a Service

What is NaaS?

Partner spotlight: Demystifying HPE GreelnLake and HPE GreenLake for Networking