Comstor's SMB Vision

Comstor, a Chantilly, Va.-based unit of Westcon Group, has teamed with Cisco Systems to launch SMBx, a program that provides channel partners with leads and sales support to reach more small businesses. Comstor kicked off the program last week in Broomfield, Colo., with an invitation-only event for a few dozen select partners.

"This will increase the level of capability for our resellers. We've been known to be focused more on the federal government and large enterprise. This says Comstor is clearly committed to the SMB marketplace," said Duncan Potter, vice president of worldwide marketing at Westcon Group, Tarrytown, N.Y. "This is not a short-term program. This is a core program focused on this particular market segment."

SMBx aims to recruit more Cisco solution providers for the SMB market, to increase the rate of technology penetration with SMB customers, to refresh existing Cisco products in the marketplace and to help solution providers capture new end-user business, Potter said.

"Instead of talking just security to a customer, apply security capabilities to specific vertical markets," he said.

As part of the program, Comstor has created LeadVision, a lead-generation effort, and SalesVision, a customizable multimedia sales tool that solution providers can present to prospects.

"[SalesVision] is appealing because as you are out trying to sell, if you have the specific marketing in place for that customer, it saves a lot of time," said Rick Dalechek, president of Lexiter Technologies, a $2 million solution provider in St. Louis.

Lexiter has been beta-testing LeadVision, which still has kinks that need to be worked out, Dalechek said.

"We've had two leads so far--one was a grocery store that never even heard of Cisco," he said. "But they are out doing the call-blitzing on people, making the leads. They're too busy to touch them all, so they are willing to get them and give them to us."

The development of SMBx was an education for Comstor because the distributor dissected the SMB selling process to learn how to better serve solution providers, Potter said.

"The real focus is to add significantly to what people traditionally expect from a distributor in terms of an SMB program," he said. "If you think about it as a six-step process--preparation, approach, discovery, design, presentation and implementation--distributors have only focused on implementation and prep. We are providing the tools, the information, the capabilities to take you through all the stages of that cycle, rather than just [saying], 'Here's a bunch of leads, knock yourselves out. We'll see you when you buy.' "