Getting competing sales teams selling as one

A new partnership between Cisco and a sometimes-competitor brought two sales teams together to sell a new product jointly. The two companies came to STRAND to get the sales tools and sales training to bring these two previously competing sales teams together—and make it happen within 3 months.

Solution:
Our team stepped in and immediately began working as the marcom arm for this collaborative allied sales team, that spanned two, sometimes competing, companies. We collaborated with internal people at both companies to define the marketing strategy and sales goals. We went to work, pulling in and managing outside vendors to create sales materials for the new product, including sales sheets, white papers, and sales engagement models. Finally, we produced a series of webinars to bring the sales teams from both companies together and provide them with the in-depth information they needed to sell this new product.

Results:
• Created and ran 2 webcasts with 75% of the possible audience attending
• Both sales teams raved about the training and asked for more
• Cisco’s sales quota for this group was 170% of the initial goal