Channel Chat Podcast

Marc talks to Benjamin who proclaims to be the 'UK's most hated sales trainer'. They talk about the art of cold calling and why so many people are reluctant to do it in the first place. Benjamin also gives some of his best tips to be more successful in a sales role and why it is only our own limiting beliefs that prevent us from being successful in the first place.

Today Marc has been joined in the studio by the Sales and Marketing Director from Academia; Mark McCormack. Although 70% of their business comes from the education sector, Mark mentions that they are beginning to see the green shoots of recovery. They discuss the importance of trust when working from home and the likely way things will change in the future.

Marc has been joined in the virtual studio by the Global VP of Channel Sales for 8x8 John DeLozier. John was recently voted 2020 Channel Influencer of the Year and the coveted 2020 CRN Channel Chief.  It was great to get his views on the way the channel has adapted to life under lockdown and particularly how 8x8 has risen to the challenges.   It has been said that the current pandemic has lead to...

Today Marc speaks to Eamon Moore from Hiraki Data Solutions. Hikari Data Solutions is a group of dedicated business and technology professionals who provide organisations with solutions that allow them to analyse business data; giving actionable insights, adding value and empowering companies to make better business decisions. They discuss the importance of having a diverse client base and how hav...

Please find the full audio recording of the first of our LIVE EVENTS recorded earlier in May. Featuring Mark and Lewis from HPE and 'friend of the show' MD of Westcoast Alex Tatham. Check out our website www.robertson-sumner.com  for details of upcoming live events in the future.

Margaret leads 3 analyst teams in Europe: Services, Partnering Ecosystems and SMB/Start-Up. Based in London, she is responsible for driving IDC's research, innovation and thought leadership agenda on ecosystems within Europe. Marc discusses the impact of lockdown on the market place and what the research shows might happen for the rest of the year.  Margaret also looks at the 'hot-spots' in the in...

Today Marc's guest is Scott Murphy. Scott leads the Ingram Micro Cloud and Advanced Solutions businesses in the UK&I. His sole objective is to evolve the way Ingram brings value to channel around Enterprise Solutions, with the goal of becoming the #1 strategic technology enabler. They talk about the changing demand from the Ingram customer base as well as the way the internal team have adapted to...

Today Marc has been joined by the CEO of security solution provider Annabel Berry. With people working from home a wide variety of security considerations have come into play - Annabel and Marc discuss how to best protect your systems in the current climate. They also talk about recruitment during lockdown and what the employment market might look like post Covid.

Today's guest is the CEO of Daisy Communications Dave McGinn. Marc and Dave discuss the likelihood of further consolidation in the market place during and after the cover crisis is over as well as the strategies that Daisy have in place to operate as close to business as usual during this time.

Today Marc's guest is the MD of Future Generation Solutions. Peter founded FGSL in October 2010 and specialise in providing IT infrastructure services in the UK and overseas.   They discuss the approach you ought to take to onboarding people into your business during lockdown and beyond; learning the lessons on how not to do it!  

Today Marc has been joined by the MD of Infrastructure solution provider Creative Group, Keith Ali. Keith talks about their readiness for the Covid-19 crisis, and some of the current challenges they are facing as a business as well as what the future holds and why this is a very different situation to when the banking crisis based recession in 2008.

Today Marc is joined in the studio by Iain Tomkinson the Sales Director of ASM Technologies. ASM Technologies specialise in taking 'incubator' vendors to market in the EMEA territory. Iain discusses the challenges that they have faced with exchange rates during this crisis as well as a novel approach to attending customer events during lock-down!

Marc is joined by the owner of Natural Training Matt Drought. Matt helps channel companies plans and execute training programs for businesses and has a lot of experience of working with businesses in the IT channel. They discuss the importance of staying close to your customers, but also the way in which you do so being an important factor.  Many salespeople are expected to run webinars with limit...

Today Marc has been joined in the studio by the best selling author, LinkedIn and social selling trainer and key note speaker Daniel Disney. Daniel explains why now is a great time to start training and self development and also the ideal time to improve relationships with customers old and new.

Today Marc has been joined in the studio by the UKI MD of Channel from Cisco. They discuss Cisco's approach to lockdown and some of the key messages coming out of the senior leadership team, as well as the likely changes that the lockdown might have on working practices moving forward.

Today Marc has been joined by 4 colleagues from Canalys who provide channels and tech. analysis, data and events to help business achieve this goals. They discuss the international impact of the Covid crisis and the lessons / likely scenarios that might happen moving forward.   They also look at the longer term implications and what companies can / should plan for moving forward.

Marc is joined in the studio today by Graham Jones the MD of Exclusive Networks. They discuss the approach Exclusive have taken to make the most of remote working and the likely impact this will have in the future. Graham also looks at the cyber-security implications of remote working and why this is the time where you need to be ultra-vigilant to prevent cyber-criminals taking advantage.

Today Marc has been joined in the studio by Dell's VP of Channels for Central & Northern Europe, Sarah Shields. Sarah has been a 'home-worker' for 16 years and 60% of Dell's employees are classed as home workers, so Marc gets some good tips about how best to manage when home working. They also talk about Dells current approach to hiring, onboarding and training team members during the current cris...

Today Marc has been joined in the studio by the MD of UK&I from Tech Data, David Watts. David looks at the impact/challenges involved with mobilising their workforce and has some good tips about how companies can prepare their team mates from the point of view of home-working. They also look at the state of the supply chain in the UK currently and what the long term impact might be of the current...

James Murphy is the Global VP of Sales for Devtech. Although based in Arizona, James manages their global team and Marc discusses the impact that the current crisis is having on their business as well as some of the strategies James uses when managing a remote workforce. Devtech helps tech businesses accelerate growth. We have been solving technology challenges of some of the largest ISVs, Service...

Today Marc is joined by Neil Sawyer at HP. They discuss the challenges HP has faced as a business, the approach HP have taken to tackling the health and wellbeing of their workforce and the potential impact this crisis is going to have in the medium term for the IT channel.

Marc is joined by the CEO is the UK's largest IT technology solutions provider, ComputaCenter.   They discuss the state of the worldwide market today, how CC have adapted to the COVID crisis and what the outlook for the future is for the market across Europe.

Today Marc has been joined by the MD of Paragon Micro of the UK & Europe, Donavan Hutchinson. Donavan is very experienced in working and managing remote teams throughout his career and he offers his advice on how to be as productive as possible during the lockdown.  

Today Marc has been joined in the studio by the MD of Sandler Training, David Davies. They look at the importance of taking this opportunity to look at self development and how you risk missing out in the medium term if you pause your hiring activity during the lockdown. He also talks about the importance of sales people looking at the sales methodology they use.

Marc has been joined by the Commercial Director of XMA, Andy Wright. XMA do a lot of work in the public sector so it was good to understand the challenges that they have faced keeping up with the unprecedented levels of demand that they have faced, as well as the 'second-wave' of demand for IT equipment and services as the reality of what is needed to work from home hits.