Consultative Selling Key to Closing UC Deals

To sell unified communications (UC) solutions requires a careful blending of consultative sales talent, relationship building and technical expertise.

“It takes a focused team to make these deals happen,” Joe Schurman, founder and CEO of Evangelyze Communications, told a group of Breakaway attendees on Tuesday.

Selling UC solutions requires a different approach than traditional telecommunications because the audience is different, he said.

“You’re no longer focusing on the IT manager,” Schurman said. “Now your customers are basically the line of business reps. These people aren’t focusing on the vendors you’re using -- they just want to know how they’re going reach someone better than they have in the past.”

Consultative selling is important to both propose an effective solution and to build long-term client relationships, he said. By focusing on understanding a client’s business and helping to solve specific problems, resellers can fit into the “trusted adviser” role.

It’s a process that takes time and patience, he noted. But by focusing on conversations, collaboration, problem solving and creating real value, one-time customers will turn into long-term customers, he said. That’s because trusted advisers can see beyond the current project to suggest further projects that will streamline business processes.

These Communications Enabled Business Processes (CEBP) reduce or remove human latency in business processes, increasing ROI, he said. For example, a business could have automated alerts sent to managers triggered by certain situations that are business-critical.

“CEBP is a very attractive area to get into,” Schurman said. “It’s one of the leading revenue generators in the UC marketplace.”

But identifying CEBP solutions requires knowledge of a client’s business needs and processes, he noted.

“It’s so hard when you love technology not to focus on the technology,” Schurman said. “But the mindset needs to be not about the technology, but the problem.”