PlanetOne CEO Schuman On The Value Of Recurring Revenue And Solution-Selling Versus Product-Pitching

  by Gina Narcisi 

Drop The Pitch, Sell The Solution

Ted Schuman, CEO
PlanetOne Communications

PlanetOne Communications believes that its “boutique” approach to the master agent space is paying off. Today, cloud accounts for 50 percent of PlanetOne’s revenue, and the company – which is doubling in size every three years — attributes its success to its partners who are making the pivot to solution-selling, instead of product-pitching.

But agent partners aren’t the only ones who should be getting in on the cloud action. At the company’s Tech Tour in Mashantucket, Conn., this month, Ted Schuman, CEO of the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based master agent, discussed how consolidation among distribution companies is helping VARs get into recurring revenue, how partners should be approaching their end customers differently, and the payoff for partners. Here are excerpts from Schuman’s conversation with CRN.