Investing in your success scaling SMB sales like never before

Co-authored by Stephen Lawrence, Head of Global SMB, Distribution & E-commerce Marketing 

Cisco Partners, have we got news for you! When it comes to SMB, we have a $19B net-new logo (NNL) opportunity in front of us. And another $6B to capture working with your existing SMB customers.  Got your attention? Read on to learn how Cisco is investing in your success to scale SMB sales like never before.

Your expertise is increasingly in demand

As SMBs stampede to the cloud, they are increasingly relying on technology to ensure their business is growing and their applications are accessible, resilient, and secure.  All of this entails an IT complexity conundrum that, quite frankly, SMBs do not have the time or resources to manage.  This is where Cisco partners come in. You and your expertise play an increasingly important role for SMBs as they rely on you more and more to deliver the solutions and services they need to run their business.

Provide the experience outcomes SMBs want

At Cisco, as much as we love talking about Zero Trust, Secure Access, and SD-WAN. SMBs really don’t want to talk about technology. SMBs want to talk to our partners about how they can solve their business challenges and deliver the experience outcomes they need.  SMBs want their employees to be able to work from anywhere.  They want to ensure that their business is secure. They want to be smart about running their business efficiently.  Cisco has simplified its SMB portfolio to speak to those experience outcomes: The Hybrid SMB, Secure SMB, Remote SMB, and Smart SMB.  You can start having those outcome conversations today. Leverage our tools and SMB Portfolio training here to get started.

Extending our reach and driving SMB demand

With more than 90% of Cisco’s SMB revenue flowing through Cisco partners, it is critical to deliver the right enablement, support, and resources to you to engage new and existing SMB customers. We are invested and committed to driving impact for you by developing the Cisco SMB experience outcomes that are affordable, simple, and flexible so that it’s easier for you to engage SMB customers—and deliver on what SMB decision makers care about.

Acquiring new customers is key and Cisco has already invested in our brand and has evolved our digital front door cisco.com/smb, giving customers more choice in how they engage with us. With just a few clicks, the SMB Experience Explorer tool can help new SMB customers find the right Cisco solutions through a simple and personalized transaction. And good news! We have also made this available to all Cisco partners. You can now embed this tool on your websites directly and start having those conversations with your SMB customers.

Within our Marketing Velocity Central platform, we are investing in SMB-specific marketing resources for our Cisco partners. This includes simplified messaging copy blocks, portfolio overviews, social media copy, email templates, as well as assets like solutions guides, infographics and paid media kits. These SMB toolkits empower you to take this SMB messaging to your own markets faster.

We’ve got you covered

Cisco has evolved our sales coverage model too.

We have dedicated SMB Territory Managers in region to help you to plan, drive demand, cross-sell and get the support you need.  We also invested in SMB Architecture Specialists available to you when speaking to SMBs.  For example, a partner salesperson can receive help from a Cisco SMB Security Sales Specialist if he or she needs to get into a deep discussion about Secure Access or Zero Trust with their customer.

We have also invested in SMB Sales Acceleration Managers (SAMs) in the field, doubling our coverage across the globe.  The SAMs’ sole REMIT is to make sure you have access to everything available to you to expand your SMB business practice. They can also help with demand generation and sales execution.

Meeting SMB customers where they want to buy

Whether you are a Managed Service Provider (MSP), an integrator VAR, an e-commerce partner, or distributor, we want to ensure you are as successful and profitable as possible on the routes to market (RTMS) where SMBs are buying. For our VARs, we have doubled down on investments in our new SMB profitability programs Perform Plus and Perform Plus Activate. We are also supporting our MSP and SP Partners with service creation and their demand generation efforts to attract new customers.

Currently, 47% of our SMB business is delivered through a provider partner.  And Managed Service providers will represent an even larger part of the business moving forward.  In fact, SMB IT security spending through MSPs is expected to grow by 11% to USD311 billion this year!

We are excited to share the latest programs available to drive MSP profitability across the board:

• For MSPs and Services Providers, we have a new partner journey to help new MSPs navigate Cisco SMB programs, pricing, and offers.
• The new Cisco Partner Program Provider role is designed to empower and reward our MSPs who grow and differentiate themselves by providing new managed services offerings.
• Cisco Partners can start today by enrolling in theCisco Meraki for MSPs Partner Journey where you will receive the information, tools, and free Black Belt Academy training necessary to build your managed service with Meraki.

So, what are you waiting for?

Jump on board today to take advantage of all the SMB resources, training, programs, and incentives available to you to scale your SMB business like never before!

Learn how to build differentiated practices with the new SMB Black Belt training curriculum, which includes highly informative topics, such as SMB, MSP, Security, Meraki, Hybrid Work and Sustainability.

And stay tuned for further exciting SMB program announcements at Cisco Partner Summit 2023 this November!

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with #CiscoPartners on social!

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