The Aruba Networks story

The challenge

Aruba Networks, Inc. is the leading provider of next-generation secure enterprise mobile networking solutions. The company has over 1000 employees and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. Their industry-leading Mobile Virtual Enterprise architecture unifies wired and wireless infrastructures into one seamless network access solution for traveling business professionals, remote workers, corporate headquarters employees and guests. When Aruba began working with Solutions for Sales they were already number 2 in market share after Cisco due to their technically superior solutions. With aggressive growth targets, they wanted to maximise the opportunity to use their growing EMEA channel partner organization to tap the market for wider and larger WLAN solutions.

Action

Duncan Fisken, the newly appointed Vice President, EMEA, wanted to increase Aruba's penetration of enterprise accounts where secure mobility was a growing issue. He could see an opportunity to drive sales growth by providing better tools and materials to the EMEA partner sales force. On the recommendation of Aruba’s UK & Eire General Manager, Bob Vickers, Duncan met with Solutions for Sales (SfS) and after discussing our approach, methods and experience decided the Strategic Sales Program was the best way to enable Aruba’s EMEA partners.

Convinced of the right solution, Duncan had to convince his US peers of the need for the investment. This was a real selling job as the US team had already created some excellent end customer collateral, technical product information and competitive comparisons. Duncan won their support by convincing them that partners need specific materials to sell effectively and that the SfS process would unlock the “sales secrets” of the best salespeople, making their partner network more effective.

Results

To kick off the project a SfS Marketing Workshop was held with a mix of sales, marketing and product experts in attendance, ensuring the right points were covered and key information captured. Just 10 weeks later, after comprehensive reviews by EMEA and US stakeholders, Aruba’s Enterprise Wireless LAN Solutions Sales Guide was launched; 1500 copies were distributed to Aruba’s channel partners so that all customer facing staff could gain the value. SfS also delivered a Sales Development Workshop. Held in Brussels, it attracted partners from across Europe and enabled them to get hands-on experience of using the tactics captured in the Sales Guide. The guide has been translated into German, Italian, French and Spanish, adapted for use in the North America market, and rebranded for use with a major OEM partner. Users of the guide were surveyed a few weeks after launch:

• 82% agreed that the Sales Guide made them more productive
• 91% said the Sales Guide had helped them to sell the VBN solution
• 89% said they would win more sales in future as a result of having the Sales Guide
• 100% of respondents rated the Sales Guide as Good or Very Good

A year from the launch, Aruba’s sales in Europe had increased significantly. Their portfolio continues to expand as they address demand driven by mobile devices such as the iPad so they are planning another sales enablement project with SfS in the near future.

Download a .pdf of the Aruba Networks testimonial