WL Assists Data Center Vendor Find Target Market & Build Direct Sales Channel

Problem: Hardware vendor needed to move beyond Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) sales to develop a direct sales channel

An emerging and promising hardware vendor successfully sold its data center switches through its hardware partners.  When it came time to develop a direct sales channel, they came to WaveLength to help generate demand, develop a go-to-market plan and high-value content.

WaveLength integrated marketing program in three phases:

• Identify organizations with a higher probability of having the need for high performance data center switches that easily scale for fast-growing data centers
• Fill pipeline by using outside sales call center to identify purchase influencers and decision-makers names and contact information and to obtain hot leads to result in a list to own and nurture through the marketing and sales process.
• Build a total cost of ownership (TCO) calculator model to demonstrate value against the leading competitor and an electronic direct mail containing calculator to maximize opt-in for continued marketing.

Results: Ninety-nine sales-accepted leads at much lower cost, majority opt-in for nuturing, continuing use of TCO model and eventual acquisition by larger IT vendor

In phase 1, WaveLength used its proprietary Ideal Prospect algorithm to draw a list to target. Although the algorithm usually yields between 300 and 800 firms, WaveLength chose to go deeper into certain verticals and identified 1800.

For phase 2, WaveLength wrote sales script, sales training presentation trained call center personnel, and managed calling tactics.  In the end, our program yielded more sales-accepted leads at about 15% of the costs of standard lead generation approaches.

In Phase 3, the campaign’s intent was to maximize opt-in of the 1800 contacts collected in phase 2.  To reach this aim, WaveLength developed a Flash-based total cost of ownership (TCO) calculator that compares multiple switch configurations to a leading competitor.  Since this data center switch is particularly suited to rapidly scaling environments, the model included an annual server growth rate.  WaveLength then developed an electronic direct mail that contained the embedded tool.  Ninety-two percent opted into the emerging vendor’s nurturing program, the vendor happily reported that the program “worked beyond expectations and gave them a foothold into their direct sales channel.

With WaveLength’s in-depth knowledge of the data center switch market together with its analytical expertise, WaveLength was the right partner to assist them in a successful bid to build a direct sales channel.