Class description
- Do you need to establish a solid foundation for selling and supporting IBM’s System Storage, including hardware, software, solutions, financing and services offerings?
- Do you want to understand how IBM’s Efficient, Optimized and Agile storage solutions can deliver value to your clients?
- Do you desire to know how IBM’s storage products can help your clients manage the information explosion through solutions that help your clients get the most from their storage resources?
- Do you yearn for insights on how to beat key disk, tape, SAN, NAS, archiving and storage management competitors?
- Do you require a refresher course, so that you can stay current in the fast changing storage marketplace?
- Do you wish you had some help preparing for the IBM System Storage sales certification exams?
Then IBM System Storage Portfolio TOP GUN is the class for you!!!
The IBM System Storage Portfolio Top Gun is a face-to-face (classroom) class..
Duration
IBM System Storage Portfolio Top Gun is a 4.5 day class.
Audience
The audience for this class is:
- All IBM and Business Partner sellers new to IBM System Storage products and solutions
- Experienced IBM and Business Partner sellers needing an IBM System Storage knowledge refresh
- New hire Storage Sales Specialists in their first 3 - 18 months
- Anyone else selling or supporting the sales of IBM System Storage products and solutions
Objectives
The objective for this class is to build the seller's core product selling and value selling skills with regard to IBM's System Storage portfolio by providing an understanding of:
- IBM's System Storage strategy, products and solutions
- The Storage Marketplace
- IBM's chief competitors in each market segment
Upon completion of the course, the seller should be able to identify, validate, qualify, propose, and win IBM System Storage opportunities.
In addition, the course will help sellers prepare for IBM System Storage sales certification.
Prerequisites
There are several prerequisite activities for this class, as follows:
- You should have a fundamental working knowledge of storage concepts and technologies. For example, you should be able to readily answer questions such as these:
- What is a device driver?
- What is latency?
- What is zoning?
- What is LUN masking?
This prerequisite knowledge may be acquired through experience or through the IBM Top Gun Virtual Learning: Storage Fundamentals virtual class, available via the IBM TGVL website
- You should have a basic understanding of the IBM System Storage Product Portfolio. Please review the IBM System Storage Product Guide (TSO00364USEN.pdf), which will be sent to you prior to class.
- There will be prerequisite reading (whitepapers, solution briefs, web lectures, etc.) prior to class.
- You will be asked to select a real, live customer - one that you have identified as a prospect. If you don't have a territory, ask your colleagues, mentor, or manager to share an opportunity with you. We will use this opportunity in our Value Workshop throughout the week
Agenda (subject to change)
The following is a SAMPLE AGENDA intended for informational purposes only. Actual agendas will vary by class.
| Day | Topic |
|---|---|
| Day 1 |
Storage for a Smarter Planet Today's Disk Marketplace Intro to Disk Replication Panel Discussion -- General Disk Intro to SmartCloud Storage Access Intro to Value Workshop |
| Day 2 |
Selling Disk Virtualization Solutions Selling Storwize V7000 (U) Solutions Storage Concepts Review Selling V3700 Solutions Selling DS8000 Solutions Competitive Positioning: Enterprise Disk |
| Day 3 |
Competitive Positioning: Mid-range Disk Competitive Positioning: Mid-range Disk Competitive Positioning: Disk Virtualization Panel Discussion -- Disk Positioning Objection Handling Selling XIV Solutions Selling IBM Flash Systems Financial Selling: Understanding TCO and ROI |
| Day 4 |
Selling Infrastructure Management Solutions IBM Systems Software Overview Tape Marketplace Tape Technology: Drives and Libraries IBM PureSystems Overview Selling the Value of Smarter Storage Resources to Help YOU Sell |
| Day 5 |
Value Workshop Presentations Tape Technology: Virtualization and Deduplication Intro to Systems Networking Executive Speaker |
Schedule/enrollments
Click on the date below to enroll in a future class:
- Feb 4-8, 2013: Casablanca, Morocco **Class will be in FRENCH language**
- Feburary 4-8, 2013 - Raleigh, North Carolina
- March 4-8, 2013: Bangkok, Thailand - Tom Roder
- Machr 4-8, 2013: Prague, Czech Republic - Michael Maurus
- March 11-15, 2013: Bogota, Colombia - Joe Ebidia
- April 8-12, 2013: Segrate, Italy - Michael Maurus
- April 9-12, 2013: Auckland, New Zealand - Joe Ebidia
- April 15-18, 2013: Sydney, Australia - Joe Ebidia
- April 22-26, 2013: Moscow, Russia - Gerd Franke
- April 23-25, 2013: Tokyo, Japan - Tom Roder
- May 6-10, 2013: Mexico City, Mexico - Tom Roder
- May 13-17, 2013: Zurich, Switzerland - Michael Maurus
- June 3-7, 2013: Santiago, Chile - Tom Roder
- July 1-5, 2013: Spa, Belgium - Gerd Franke
- July 15-19, 2013: Hursley, UK - Gerd Franke
- July 15-19, 2013: Bangalore, India - Tom Roder
- August 12-16, 2013: Lima, Peru - Tom Roder
- August 19-23, 2013: Chicago, IL - Tom Roder
- August 26-30, 2013: Oslo, Norway - Michael Maurus
- October 7-11, 2013: Markham, Ontario - Tom Roder
- October 21-25, 2013: Dublin, Ireland - Gerd Franke
- November 4-8, 2013: Madrid, Spain - Michael Maurus
Student quotes
What people are saying about IBM System Storage Portfolio Top Gun:
“Top Gun is simply the best sale training. Period!” IBM Technical Specialist, Colombia
"I have attended other vendor's storage training and this on has been far superior." BP Sales Specialist, Australia
“It was a fantastic and very informative session which enabled me to do business in smarter way.” BP Technical Specialist, India
“Best class I ever attended. Especially the workshop which helped me combine all the learning into real life scenarios.” IBM Storage Sales Specialist, Thailand
“Good competitive information.” IBM Sales Specialist, China
"For me this Top Gun was very VALUABLE. It was a lot of useful information to drive business in the future." - IBM Business Partner, Germany
“This has been an excellent course. I am a new employee coming from HDS and Dell and this was the best course ever in my career” IBM Technical Specialist, United States
"The panel discussions were a useful forum to discuss real life issues around storage and customers." IBM Sales Specialist, New Zealand
"This is the best course I have had in my career. Great teach team and a well managed course." IBM Technical Specialist, Brazil
“As a new BDM into the IT industry this class has given me a huge amount of confidence to engage with customer to understand opportunities and talk with authority on storage.” IBM Business Partner Sales Specialist, Australia
