Having the Right “Touch” for Resellers

Allworx (http://www.allworx.com) and its feature-rich, fully integrated IP phone and data communication system have taken the SMB (Small and Medium Businesses) by storm. Each Allworx system includes a phone system that works in both IP and analog environments, and a network server. One reason this inexpensive yet highly advanced business communication system makes such an impact among SMBs lay in a remarkably innovative and successful reseller program: the Allworx Reseller Start Strong Program.

Sandra M. Gault, EVP of Marketing at Allworx, says, “Allworx prides itself on understanding the arduous process a reseller goes through to carry a manufacturer’s product. That’s why it’s important that Allworx is there to support the reseller throughout the entire process of capturing and closing early sales.”

“Many resellers are attracted to Allworx because of how well-designed our products are for the SMB market. The Allworx product line is ideal for replacing the millions of aging TDM systems and allowing the flexibility for the customer to easily integrate VoIP into their business. Once the reseller becomes a partner with Allworx, we have a specific Reseller “Start Strong Touch Point” program where the reseller gets ‘touched’ multiple times throughout their partnership with us. These “touch points” come from various parts of the company: from sales to system engineering, technical training, marketing, and even helping them with their business.”

Gault continues: “First the reseller is offered an excellent price on a demo kit — usually getting an additional 40 — 50% in savings. For investing in a demo kit, the reseller can send two people to our four-day, comprehensive technical certification training class for free. We hold a class every week in various cities across the country. The training certifies them to install and service all of our products, including advanced troubleshooting, and gives them specific knowledge on managing and servicing multi-site installations, remote users, complicated configurations, and connecting with VoIP service providers.”

“In parallel to our technical certification training classes, we immediately conduct sales training with the reseller”, says Gault. “Our sales training is designed to quickly get the reseller successfully selling Allworx. The training helps focus the reseller on key markets, shows them how to leverage their current base, and what is needed to attract new customers. As part of our sales and marketing support, each reseller is given access to a private portal on the Allworx website where they’ll find everything from extensive marketing and technical information, to sales tools. One of the more interesting components of the private portal is a live message board that allows the reseller to communicate directly with the Allworx team (e.g. tech support, product development, marketing, sales, and training) and to all other authorized Allworx resellers with portal access. Our partners share their stories, ask technical questions, discuss marketing concepts, and muse over ideas for future products. Allworx employees at our Rochester headquarters monitor these forums and respond in real time. The sales training and support, marketing programs and private reseller portal are just a few of the ways we focus on positively impacting the success of our resellers.”

“In addition to sales training, technical training, the private portal, and extensive reseller tools, each department within Allworx contacts the reseller and introduces him or herself and welcomes them into the Allworx family,” says Gault. “In fact, we provide a ‘Welcome Kit’ to every reseller that contains a number of items: brochures, marketing materials, Allworx premiums, and, more importantly, detailed information about what activities we will do with them to jump start their business in the next 90 days. For example, we offer free telemarketing if they provide us with a list of end users, and we have a process that makes it very easy for them to create and submit such a list. Our salespeople make calls on their behalf, acquire leads and make joint calls to help them close deals. As the reseller begins to close deals, our customer support team and in-field System Engineers ensure they are well prepared for a smooth cut-over. If needed, we’ll be on site, to help assist the reseller with their first few installs. We realize that a smooth and quick install directly translates into a satisfied end user and profitable account for the reseller. But our support continues after the install. We offer free case study development. We’ll do a full case study, which usually includes four pages with topology diagrams and examines such things as the expected ROI for a customer, the advantages of the system, and so forth. We also highlight the reseller that installed the particular unit within the case study. There are many fascinating stories out there as to how customers are using Allworx voice-over- IP systems and a reseller can effectively use these stories to sell more units.”

“Additional sales support comes in the form of assistance in customer proposals and quotes” says Gault. “If a reseller requires help with the topology diagrams, call-flows, or pricing, Allworx can help work on their quotes. In the near future, we’ll be providing an easy-to-use quoting tool. A reseller merely plugs in the numbers, customer information and the pricing for hardware, software, services and maintenance. The tool automatically will calculate a breakeven analysis and produce a proposal printed with their logo.”

“Probably of most interest to new resellers is our ‘Start Strong’ promotion,” says Gault. “The ‘Start Strong’ promotion is designed to help a reseller become successful in selling Allworx within the first 90 days after they have completed their Allworx technical certification class. The program allows a reseller to get a free Allworx 6x system (MSRP of $1800) after they have successfully sold and installed two Allworx systems (6x, 10x, or 24x) within their first 90 days. We know that if the reseller quickly closes sales and experiences smooth installation for the first three or four installs, they make Allworx their premier product line for the SMB market. The results from a recent poll we conducted with over 420 Allworx resellers revealed that 6-8 percent of those resellers decided to drop all other product lines and are now solely selling Allworx systems. The other 92-94 percent sell other systems for their enterprise customers, but Allworx is their main product line for the SMB marketplace.”

Although we feel we provide extraordinary support to our partners, each quarter we do a survey wherein we review sales and query all our resellers to rank us on how we’re doing and what we can do better,” says Gault. “Additionally, our annual reseller council brings a group of resellers together so that our senior management team can hear firsthand from our partners. This annual meeting is so popular we have a hard time accommodating everybody who wants to attend. As a result, we’re contemplating holding regional reseller councils so that more partners can participate in this important annual event.”

“Our philosophy is that our resellers are partners and that we are both going after the same customer — the one that buys,” says Gault. “We want them to get those customers and Allworx is dedicated to making our resellers successful in this endeavor.”

Although already a hit with resellers, Allworx continues to take reseller relations to new levels of innovation.