| Cisco makes it hard to sell their products - contact info? I'd seen numerous articles, both from the financial and technical communities, regarding Cisco's drop in status; after spending a week trying to sell their products, I now see why.
I'm a reseller in Canada and I want to talk to someone knowledgeable at Cisco that knows their products, is in North America and can communicate effectively. I've called pre-sales support 6 times using various extension paths and I continually get a person on the line who mumbles or their headset is too low and I can't hear them through their accent. This isn't one of those 'I want to talk to someone that can speak in English rant', as this isn't a language barrier problem as it is a communications problem... seriously, they're not putting effort into communicating, they're literally mumbling. And they don't have the technical insight to relay confidence in their product suggestions.
(I'm currently on for my 7th attempt for 14 minutes now)
I was given a number on Monday for a knowledgeable Cisco rep in NY... but that goes straight to voicemail and her voicemail is full so you can't leave a message.
Any contact info would be much appreciated as I'm frustrated and speaking with people at Juniper to provide quotes to my clients was about 1/10 of this level of difficulty.
So, in summary, I have a lucrative market for Cisco products, I need more information - does anyone in here have a North American phone number for a Cisco representative with technical and product knowledge that can effectively communicate? |
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sk1939Premium
join:2010-10-23
Washington, DC
kudos:9 | I do, but I will only PM that information. |
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aryobaPremium,MVM
join:2002-08-22
kudos:3 | reply to CiscoWho
In your situation typically you want to partner up with established Cisco reseller or Cisco solution company, which I'm sure there are many such local companies. Did you try to contact these local companies instead of calling Cisco directly? |
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| said by aryoba:In your situation typically you want to partner up with established Cisco reseller or Cisco solution company, which I'm sure there are many such local companies. Did you try to contact these local companies instead of calling Cisco directly?
Your response is bang-on. I gave up on obtaining support directly from Cisco and was ready to buy from another manufacturer as my 7th call resulted in a mumbling youth; but I figured I'd call the partner hotline one last time...
... and I obtained an American gentleman who sent me a pile of new partner information and basically I learned about a 'missing link' that I hadn't been advised of before, when we originally signed up...
It's exactly as you say, that once you're signed on with the appropriate Cisco authorized distributers you now have access to the Cisco employee assigned to that distributer and they're at least in North America. If only someone had advised me of that earlier, they'd have saved me a great deal of stress. My distributer sales reps never informed to talk to the Cisco guy (or girl) and Cisco didn't say to communicate with them.
I felt it was rather odd that Cisco would be such a brand name yet they have zero representatives that know anything of their products. As it turns out, there's 7 people that work at Cisco with the appropriate level of knowledge to sell their products (for Canadians).
Case closed, step 1 complete, now moving on to step 2... |
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aryobaPremium,MVM
join:2002-08-22
kudos:3 | said by CiscoWho :I felt it was rather odd that Cisco would be such a brand name yet they have zero representatives that know anything of their products. As it turns out, there's 7 people that work at Cisco with the appropriate level of knowledge to sell their products (for Canadians).
For those who never dealt with Cisco, usually you want to approach local authorized Cisco solution companies. Even if you ever dealt with Cisco in the past, you still may want to discuss with such local companies since these companies are typically more focused of servicing small to medium sized businesses like your situation including mom-and-pop shops and non-profit organizations. You contact Cisco directly usually when you already have at least some familiarity with Cisco solution, know exactly the right question to ask, know exactly the right people to reach, and also know how to ask the right questions to the right people. |
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| said by aryoba: like your situation including mom-and-pop shops and non-profit organizations. Well, I realize selling a couple hundred units at a time is 'mom and pop' for some of you, but I can receive product support from sales representatives from every other product we sell for considerably less quantities. I can pick up the phone and talk to my partner rep at Intel, Adobe, Symantec, HP or Microsoft, get the info I need, resell their products all day long. This is the first time I've had deals where I can't pick up the phone and talk to knowledgeable sales rep.
said by aryoba: You contact Cisco directly usually when you already have at least some familiarity with Cisco solution, know exactly the right question to ask, know exactly the right people to reach, and also know how to ask the right questions to the right people.
Well, that's a series of annoyances that you normally don't have to deal with elsewhere. I shouldn't have to know the magical questions to speak to the secret people to sell their product. I should be able to pick up the phone, talk for 10 minutes and have all the info I need confirmed.
In any case, I now know the tricks so hopefully I can get the answers I need to sell their products and I think all is well. |
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