Most telecom businesses view an effective partner portal as a tool to streamline the configure-price-quote (CPQ) process. But the connectivity of this portal also plays a significant role in determining how efficiently your sales teams can generate leads, deliver fast quotes, and close deals to grow your business.
Here’s a look at the benefits that come with adopting a connected telecom partner portal for your business.
Automating the Quote Process
The quoting process can be time-consuming and inaccurate when reliable cost data isn’t offered through a centralized solution. A connected telecom partner portal offers more comprehensive cost data so your business can generate quotes faster through algorithm-based CPQ tools.
Keep in mind that if you want to automate quoting for your partners, you need to control and automate all of your products—not just the easy ones. The right partner can help you build a partner portal that implements technology guardrails to eliminate costly subject matter expert (SME) or sales engineering labor, as well as lead time.
Connecting with Customers Through Diverse APIs
A strong telecom partner portal is able to extend its reach through application programming interfaces (APIs) that bring the front door of your portal closer to where your customers reside. This helps you achieve greater market coverage through a single, centralized business solution.
Meanwhile, API connectivity allows your partner portal to not only account for your own assets, but to also automate the availability of key suppliers. Automation allows you to offer comprehensive solutions across more of your business locations, which eliminates costly off-net or out-of-coverage international competitive bidding (ICB) processes.
Speeding Up Lead Response Times
The lag between a lead’s request for information and a telecom company’s response to that lead can affect the outcome of that lead. The longer you wait—or the longer it takes you to gather the necessary information and respond with a quote—the more likely it is that your lead will opt for a different provider.
Access to a partner portal gathers all of this information in one place, and it helps track your incoming leads so your sales team’s performance is always on point. Notifications can be delivered for key deals or scenarios that kick off important workflows—which can lead to greater sales success.
Similarly, a custom dashboard of quote activity gives your sales team full visibility into the partner funnel. Through this access, you can engage the appropriate deals to achieve higher close ratios.
Better Control over the Entire Sales Process
Sales is an increasingly data-driven operation. With a telecom partner portal at your disposal, you can use a wide range of data to improve the entire sales process, from your prospecting and lead gen efforts to the entire sales funnel, as well as post-conversion interactions.
The value of a centralized portal is the way it improves speed and efficiency for your business, allowing you to increase your production, improve selling rates, generate a greater volume of leads, and fine-tune your sales strategy to dominate in your market area.
Once you successfully automate quoting for all of your products and partners, your company will benefit from increased business intelligence data. As with any other industry, telecom businesses can use these data-driven insights to improve their operations and optimize both their spending and their sales strategy. Over time, this data will also be instrumental in transforming your product offerings, marketing strategy, and overall strategic decision-making.
It All Starts with the Right Software Suite
The right telecom partner portal comes down to the software platform supporting this portal. Look for a software platform that offers vast integrations with other business solutions, while also leveraging automation and data consolidation to remove the friction from your telecom sales process.
Find out how automation can improve your own telecom operations—contact us today.
