When offering cloud storage services to your customers, your job as a sales person will be to show them the value that you could add to cloud storage services, and how you will protect them from reliability and security threats posed by it.

Join me, Ramon Vela, CEO of StreetSmartSolutionProvider, and George Crump, President and Lead Analyst for Storage Switzerland, as we discuss client pain points and considerations that drive a potential cloud storage services opportunity. Here’s what we will cover:

• Is cloud storage reliable enough for customers to use for storage of critical data?
• What does a typical prospective cloud storage customer look like, in terms of company size and business needs?
• What are the key considerations for customers that are planning to use public/private cloud services?
• Are there integration services that a solution provider can offer around cloud storage? And how to identify them?

We’ll provide tangible answers to each one of these areas.

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About George Crump
George Crump is President and Founder of Storage Switzerland. With 25 years of experience designing storage solutions for data centers across the US, he has seen the birth of such technologies as RAID, NAS, and SAN. Prior to founding Storage Switzerland he was CTO at one the nations largest storage integrators where he was in charge of technology testing, integration, and product selection.

About Ramon Vela
Ramon Vela, an entrepreneur, author and speaker, is a foremost sales and direct-response marketing expert. He “cut his teeth” working for, building, and starting VAR and channel organizations, and uses straight talk to pinpoint the critical elements that make the difference between sales success and failure. He can be contacted by visiting www.StreetSmartSolutionProvider.com.

Every street smart solution provider should see themselves as an expert—and position themselves that way in the eyes of their clients. Not following this strategy is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

Instead of trying to become the expert, too many SPs rely on their vendor’s marketing and brand. This focuses the attention and the customer awareness on the product and the vendor, not on your expertise. Think about it—if your customers keep thinking of NetApp, IBM, HP, etc., they’re less likely to think of you as an important and indispensable resource.

A solution provider should describe themselves as a partner and trusted advisor. You need to communicate to your customers that “you understand their business and challenges and that you can help them.” Unfortunately, very few SPs position themselves in this way. Actually let me restate that. Many SPs say they are experts but they show little proof of this expertise. Which bring us to the next section.

TANGIBLE WAYS TO BE SEEN AS AN EXPERT
As I am fond of saying, a confused mind chooses what it knows— and for your clients that usually ends up being price. However, if you position yourself as an expert—by having a content such as a blog, newsletter, articles, ebook or book—you will gain a leg up on the competition. Creating this “expertise” is not as hard as you think.

For example, let’s say you wanted to create an audio series. Your tech department should be able to provide a few 3-4 minute responses to some pressing IT problem that may be common among you’re your customer and prospect base. This audio then becomes content and could be used and leveraged in tons of different ways.

When I first started a blog, I wasn’t sure whether it was worth the time involved. Was I wrong! I ended up getting a $40,000 project because of it. Someone read my blog and asked me to ghost write a blog for an Fortune 100 tech executive.

Other ways to position yourself as an expert include:

1. Speaking
2. Writing a report that you can provide to current and prospective customers
3. Webinars – I suggest you regularly hold webinars. The cost is reasonable (about $900 annually) for a service that will handle the logistical details. Sketch out a list of current and potential customers and invite them to a webinar. You should also have the webinar captured and recorded so you can make it available to people in the future. You can invite prospects to download it, and capture their contact info and send it via email or in snail mail with a note like “Here’s my recent webinar on X topic that I thought you’d find useful.”
   Because you’re writing and speaking, your customers will quickly change their perception of you. You’re no longer just a product reseller but you’re a valued expert with important knowledge that can help them with their problems.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Adopt the model used by consultants. Position yourself as an expert whom people will want to hire. You don’t want people choosing to hire you because of price. You want them to choose you because you have handled similar projects for other clients and you are knowledgeable in the field. An indispensable expert and trusted advisor.

Let me know what you think?

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