eXalt Develops Multivendor Sales Enablement Solution For VARs

For the first time, eXalt Solutions is making its Channel Sales Empowerment platform available to solution providers to enable multivendor sales and solutions.

Cambridge, Mass.-based eXalt has developed a cloud-based version of the same tool it provides to large direct marketers and distributors for use within their sales forces. The CSE-VAR Cloud tool will allow VARs to build, configure and quote a rather complex and complete solution, including services, utilizing whichever vendor's products that they sell, said Leslie Swanson, CEO of eXalt Solutions. The tool can allow a trained salesperson to sell a complete solution in 15 minutes without needing to bring in a technical engineer for support, Swanson said.

[Related: VAR Report: More Enterprises Looking To Outsource IT Functions ]

"This can suggest products, configure them, add maintenance and pricing and promotions. There [are] servers, services, software [and] storage. By the time you're done trying to do [this manually], you could be looking at 100 different vendor tools sitting on the sales desk of a sales rep. You can't expect a sales rep to learn 100 tools."

The CSE-VAR Cloud tool automates many processes in building a sales quote using a deep technical library of vendor product data, pricing and programs, Swanson said. [Editor's Note: UBM Channel, CRN's parent, has a minority investment in eXalt.]

With a previously hefty price tag, only big companies could afford the tool, but now the cloud-based version should make it an option for VARs of almost any size, she said.

"We've been told by the [large channel players that] if one more vendor walked in with another enablement tool, they're going to scream. All these vendor enablement programs can actually disable the channel," she said. "You might have a dozen different tools from one vendor for different divisions or products."

Traditionally, configuring a solution through multiple points could take anywhere from 18 business hours to multiple days using multiple vendors and wading through various promotions and channel programs, Swanson said.

"Every year we hear from VARs at XChange that they'd like to grow and take on more product lines, but they need more engineers. Or, they'd like to expand geographically, but they need more engineers. They can't scale because they're spending money on engineers who are quote jockeys to sales reps," she said.

In some cases VARs have to sell double the amount of products to make the same margin, she said. A solution is to lower the cost of each sale, which the eXalt tool can do, she said.

"We can increase velocity significantly. You can sell double without adding resources," she said.

NEXT: Cost And Upgrades

Affigent, a Herndon, Va.-based solution provider, is in the process of implementing eXalt now and said it's helped to consolidate the number of tools that salespeople use and provide an easier-to-use solution.

"Manufacturers want you to use their tools, but when you look at most of their tools, you still have to be technical to use them," said Ken Grimsley, Affigent president. "The reality is the reseller still had to know everything about the product offering to use the [vendor's] configuration tool. But, companies like Affigent don't have a large engineering force, and it's going to be a while before we can hire a significant engineering force. We can't do multivendor [sales enablement] without a tool like eXalt."

The cloud-based tool is available for as low as $1,500 a month for up to 100 users, according to eXalt. Typically, VARs can use qualifying MDF money from vendors to offset costs, she said.

Professional and Customer edition upgrades are available for about $5,000 a month that adds professional services and integration of "playbooks" of tested and configured solutions, she added. The Customer edition customizes a VAR's sales processes to the user interface and also supports the integration of customer-facing storefronts.

The tool has helped the sales forces of direct marketers increase their attach rates and drive more sales for salespeople with call quotas, she said.

"What was happening before is they had to make 65 calls a day or you're fired. If you tried to sell up a solution, it took too much time and you'd risk the sale if you tried to add software or storage. It was a lean sale. Now, they're literally doubling and tripling the attach," Swanson said. "It really changes the [profit and loss] for the VAR in the most difficult economic environment you can think of."

PUBLISHED AUG. 22, 2012