Customer Case Study

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Cisco Premier Partner SMS Finds New Business Through ARM Service Incentive Program

Cisco® Premier Certified Partner The SMS Group was founded in 1988 by a group of IT

professionals who were working for local manufacturing companies. Today, SMS has nearly 50 full-

time employees working out of is Sidney, Ohio, headquarters. Having earned Cisco Advanced

Certification in IP and wireless LAN, the company has customers in the SMB and the enterprise

space, and in markets that include manufacturing, healthcare, finance, government, and

professional services.

“Because our location is somewhat remote, rather than headquartered in a big city, our customers

really rely on us to take care of all of their IT needs,” says Kathy Vogler of SMS. “We see ourselves

as a primary team member to our customers, and we are with them from consultation through

implementation and continue to stay on top of their needs. We base our success on their success.”

In order to continue providing excellent service to its customers, SMS often participates in

programs that will help it further strengthen its alliance with Cisco. The latest opportunity has been

the Cisco ARM Service Incentive Program. The ARM Service Incentive Program helps eligible

channel partners target customers, create demand, and sell Cisco Services effectively.

Participating partners benefit from the ongoing training as well as marketing funds provided by

Cisco to create turnkey demand generation opportunities.

Customer Case Study

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“Cisco has always been a primary focus on the networking side of our business,” says Vogler. “We

have always sold services and we are a firm believer in maintenance and service contracts. The

ARM program presented a great opportunity for us make sure our current customers are protected

with their maintenance contracts, and also to reach out to new prospects in our area.”

Tailored Outreach Delivers Qualified Prospects

After SMS met the criteria of five employees successfully completing a series of tests, it worked

with the Cisco ARM team to develop and plan a call list for outreach. Recognizing that partners are

often too busy to get much cold-calling done to prospective customers, Cisco reaches out and

identifies strong new prospects for ARM program participants.

“We have an employee on staff dedicated to contracts and we’re used to handling all of our own

lead generation, so it was tough at first to hand over all of this information to a vendor and to a third

party,” says Vogler. “However, our Cisco representatives were great. They were very good at

drilling down into opportunities. Our first experience with the ARM program resulted in eight strong

opportunities off of the first call list, and we have just closed our first SmartNet® renewal.” She

noted that the marketing efforts made through the ARM program provided a valuable opportunity to

get feedback from the SMS customer base, and also in reaching out to new prospects. The

telemarketing calls were tailored specifically for SMS and included, for instance, an invitation to an

SMS-hosted event that included wireless and IP telephony presentations and the Cisco NOW

(Network on Wheels) Van.

“The Cisco Team was very thorough and asked all the right questions,” says Vogler. “The

prospects we received were very qualified. We have nearly $500,000 in the pipeline right now

through the accumulation of our ARM Service Incentive Program activities.”

Company Commitment Yields Results from Cisco ARM Service Incentive Program

To be successful with the Cisco ARM Service Incentive Program required SMS to make a

commitment on its part. This included having five of its employees take up to eight tests.

“Having been through the tests, I can tell you they are not easy!” says Vogler. “We attended

training and the tests were not simple. In order to successfully complete the tests, you must

understand the applications and the SmartNet Services.” Other commitments included working with

eCoast Sales Solutions to develop and plan a call list. This included Vogler providing a list of

prospect companies. For instance, for one specific call effort, she provided eCoast Sales Solutions

with 300 prospect companies in a specific geographic location with a company size of 150–250

employees in the manufacturing, healthcare, or finance markets. Due to its level of commitment,

SMS also earned Cisco joint marketing funds (JMF), which enabled it to generate a postcard

mailing touting SmartNet service and renewal.

The Cisco ARM Service Incentive Program really opened Vogler’s eyes to new information and

new ways of marketing SMS’s capabilities.

“It really made me aware of how we thought we knew a certain product very well, or that we knew

all about SmartNet since we’ve always sold it,” she says. “The tests and the process of the ARM

program really forced us to think about things we may not have considered in the past. It also

helped us more fully understand the Cisco lifecycle services approach and helped us better align

what we offer with the Cisco philosophy.”

Customer Case Study

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Having completed two rounds of the Cisco ARM Service Incentive Program, and having just

qualified for the company’s third, Vogler identifies several valuable benefits of participating in the

program.

“It helps us do right by our customers and make sure they are sufficiently protected through their

maintenance contracts,” she says. “It has also generated additional selling opportunities for us. The

maintenance of these contracts is important to us because not only does it keep rejuvenating

revenue, it keeps us in front of our current customers annually.”

SMS considers just about every system integrator in Ohio as its competitor, and works hard to stay

ahead of the technology curve. In addition to the training and testing for the ARM program, it

underwent 38 Cisco certification tests this year. Vogler says that since Cisco is a primary focus for

SMS, they must keep up on training and on new products and show customers that it is constantly

improving its expertise in Cisco technology and Cisco products.

Participation in the Cisco ARM Service Incentive Program has enabled SMS to reach out to people

it wouldn’t have spoken with before. “Our experience with ARM has provided us with a staff of

knowledgeable people making intelligent calls on our behalf and who are delivering very qualified

prospects. It literally gives us another sales arm.”

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