What a year! 2017 was nothing short of amazing for AVANT and our partner community – both our providers and our Trusted Advisors. Our investments in Channel Sales Enablement are paying off even more than we could have predicted with our incredible growth. Here were our top 13 initiatives:
1. Launched Special Forces Training Events
We’re changing the way the industry is Sales Enabled. Here’s how!
• We held 3 of our unique and well received AVANT Special Forces Training Events in 2017, launching the 1st ever event in January and repeating with new attendees in May and October. Combined we received an amazing 88 NPS score from attendees across all 3 events.
• Our Special Forces event made the “top stories of 2017” for Channel Partners, coming in at #7!
• We are expanding the scope of these events in 2018 with our first ever repeat attendee event in May 2018 in Chicago. Contact us at [email protected] if you’d like to register and reserve your spot for this next event.
2. The BattleApp was Named a CRN 2017 Tech Innovator
We were honored to have our AVANT BattleApp recognized by CRN’s Tech Innovator competition alongside some of the largest names in the software industry!
3. We Continued to Make Major Upgrades to our AVANT BattleApp.
A major enhancement this year was the addition of a machine based learning search engine that gets smarter as our channel uses it to search over 1,000 pieces of collateral. It can even search video content and text within a PDF’s content. Learn more about the BattleApp here.
4. Launched 1st Channel Partner MDF Program
AVANT became the 1st master agent to directly invest in it’s channel’s marketing activities with a MDF program to accelerate channel sales. Learn how to get us to Double Down on you!
5. Launched a Comprehensive SD-WAN Portfolio
AVANT made a serious investment in a complete SD-WAN practice, including a robust portfolio, trained sales engineers, Matrices, and IQA forms. The investment paid off, with a tripling of SD-WAN sales by our partners.
6. Doubled our UCaaS revenue
AVANT has always had strong UCaaS sales with over 370,000 estimated seats sold! And this year, our investments in sales engineering, regularly updated matrices, multiple BattleBriefings, and a state of the art UCaaS demo center within our BattleLab paid off big time with a doubling of UCaaS sales.
7. Invested in Major New Hires to Support the Channel
2017 was a significant year for new hires at AVANT:
• In January, we hired Brendan Taylor as our CFO, as we prepared the company for astronomic growth – both domestically and abroad. Meet Brendan.
• In March, we hired industry veteran Shane McNamara as a channel leader for the East and EVP. Shane know the business like the back of his hand, having been a channel leader as a trusted advisor, VAR and Service Provider. You probably already know Shane.
• We doubled down on our West Coast investment by hiring cloud industry veteran Isaiah Hogberg! This hire demonstrates AVANT’s commitment to not only support for our West Coast partners, but how deeply we value the cloud and IaaS market by hiring an expert from this segment of the market. Meet Isaiah.
• We significantly enhanced our inside channel and back office investments with 12 new hires covering roles that span: inside channel manager, pricing analysts and cable/telecom order processing.
• We hired Joan Courtney, our AVANT Field Marketing Manager, to support our local channel partners with their local customer engagements and events in their regions.
8. Launched Cable Concierge Practice
We took sales and support for Cable and Telecom to a new level, launching a white glove service for cable so that agents can spend more of their time focusing on what they want to focus on: Sales!
9. We Changed How the Industry Connects
• We broke attendance records at Channel Partners, hosting the largest ever VIP session at the Channel Partners Evolution.
• The AVANT Party had over 800 attendees and many highlighted they got more business done networking at this event than on the show floor!
• We expanded our hugely popular AVANT Lounge to change the way the industry meets and networks at Channel Partners.
• We built the industry 1st 360 dome at Channel Partners to help expose partners to the channel possibilities at their disposal and “change their reality”!
10. We invested in a Channel Sales Enablement VP
We named Howard Huerta to the role of the channel’s first VP of Channel Sales Enablement: Howard Rocks. This investment demonstrates our commitment to Sales Enablement, naming an AVANT executive to lead this effort.
11. We opened our BattleBriefings to the public.
This hugely popular monthly Channel Sales Enablement webinar has continued to break attendance records nearly every month. It consistently get high marks with NPS scores in the 80’s and 90’s! Register today!
12. Expanded our Social Media Presence.
AVANT has become well known for its social media presence. Come join the fun and follow us at:
www.GoAVANT.net/Twitter
www.GoAVANT.net/Instagram
www.GoAVANT.net/YouTube
www.GoAVANT.net/LinkedIn
www.GoAVANT.net/Facebook
13. AVANT’s 1st Annual President’s Club!
AVANT held it’s 1st ever Presidents Club for our Trusted Advisors. No one throws an event like AVANT does. This year’s contest is well underway with many opportunities to win! Generate $100K in AVANT related new business or meet one of our sponsor funded trips. Learn more about this amazing trip!
This year is already off to a great start with Channel Partners naming AVANT as a top “Org You Need to Know” in 2018!
Happy Selling!