In my previous post I left Nortel alone as I said they were a soft target. Well, I changed my mind and decided to have a pop at them, to see if I can help you win some UC deals if you’re up against them. All is fair in love and , er, selling. So, just in case their financial position isn’t a good enough reason for your prospective customer to walk away, here’s another approach.

 

Nortel are one of the oldest telephone companies in the world. Their investment in voice technology, since they started, is probably the greatest in the industry today. So, if you want to outsell them, you need to talk about your company’s experience and investment in the technologies that not only deliver good quality IP voice, but how easily voice can now be leveraged together with other IT applications. Things like, how easy it is to integrate with their CRM applications, or link to their inventory systems, or speed up approval processes. Basically, shifting the spotlight away from Nortel’s strengths in voice to some of the other communications tools your customer uses to run their business.

 

I think Unified Communications is a great battleground for salespeople. It’s such a broad subject you can spin it any way you want. If your products are very specifically focused on delivering IP voice you can sell on your dedication, commitment and specialisation. You are a expert in voice, and this has an appeal to customers when you present it correctly. If your products are more IT and software based you can shift the customers focus to the big picture – how they will get huge benefits from integrating their voice communications with all their other applications. You see, there’s no right or wrong answer. Your success doesn’t depend on the products you sell, just how you sell them!

 

Mike Willshare

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