What channel partners and resellers are saying about HPE, Juniper, and competitors.
Sourced from CRN and channel trade press — refreshed hourly.
Loading channel feed…
This Week's Focus — Week 28
The Partner Play: When to Bring in a Channel Partner
Channel partners accelerate deals when they already have trust in the account — and they create friction when they don't. The decision rule: bring a partner in if they have an existing relationship at a higher level than you do, or if they reduce a procurement barrier (approved vendor list, public sector contract vehicles, specific certifications). Don't involve a partner just to add headcount to a meeting. For Mist deals, the right partner play is often a VAR who already manages the customer's infrastructure budget.
Do This Week
For your top 3 pursuits, list the partner currently in the account and their relationship strength. Involve them or not based on that, not habit.
Sales Intelligence Feed
Loading feed…
Leadership Lab — Week 28
Career Narrative: How to Talk About Your Trajectory to a Skip-Level
Most people describe their career as a list of jobs. Leaders describe it as a narrative with intentionality. The formula for a strong career narrative: (1) The thread — what is the consistent theme across your roles? For you, it might be 'building trust with enterprise buyers and winning in competitive markets.' (2) The pivot — why did each major move make sense? (3) The destination — where is this heading, and why now? When talking to a skip-level, lead with the thread, not the resume. 'I've spent my career in situations where the product isn't the cheapest but is the best — and I know how to make that case to enterprise buyers' is a narrative. 'I've been in networking sales for X years' is a fact.
Reflect This Week
What is the single thread that runs through every role I've had? How would I say it in one sentence?
Coaching Playbook
How to Identify a Mentor
›
The best mentors aren't the most famous people in your industry — they're people who are 5-10 years ahead of where you want to go and who have navigated a path similar to yours. Look for: someone who has made the transition from individual contributor to leader in a sales or field role, who is accessible, and who seems energized by developing people. Don't cold-ask for a mentor relationship. Instead: engage with their content, attend an event they're at, and ask one specific question. Let the relationship develop naturally before you give it a label.
How to Structure a First Mentoring Conversation
›
Come prepared with 3 specific questions — not general ones like 'what advice do you have?' but precise ones like 'I'm trying to move from field seller to first-line manager at HPE — what's the one thing I should be doing in my current role that most sellers at my stage aren't doing?' Listen more than you talk. Take notes visibly — it signals that you're serious. After the meeting, send a follow-up within 24 hours with one specific thing you're going to act on based on what they said. That follow-through is what earns a second conversation.
Setting a Cadence With a Mentor
›
Monthly is the right default for a mentoring relationship — frequent enough to maintain context, infrequent enough that you have something meaningful to report. Structure each session: (1) What happened since last time — wins, losses, decisions made. (2) The specific question or challenge for this session. (3) What you're committing to before the next meeting. After 3-4 sessions, ask if they're finding the conversations valuable — this keeps the relationship honest and signals that you respect their time.
Engaging With Senior Leaders and Executives
›
Senior leaders give time to people who make them think, not people who impress them. Three things that get a second meeting: (1) You came prepared with a specific and intelligent question — not something they've answered in every public interview. (2) You referred to something specific they've said or published — shows you did the work. (3) You disagreed thoughtfully — 'I see it a bit differently because...' signals intellectual confidence. They're surrounded by people who agree with them. Stand out by being respectfully distinct.
How to Ask for a Promotion (Before the Review Cycle)
›
The worst time to ask for a promotion is during a performance review — that decision was made months earlier. The right approach: 6 months before you want to be promoted, have a conversation with your manager that sounds like: 'I'm targeting a move to [next role] in the next 2-3 quarters. What would you need to see from me to support that?' Then do exactly what they say, document it, and remind them of it quarterly. You're making the promotion a joint goal, not a surprise demand.
Personal Brand for a Field Seller Developing Toward Leadership
›
Your personal brand in a company is what people say about you when you're not in the room. At the field seller level, it's built on deal wins, customer relationships, and being easy to work with cross-functionally. At the leadership track, it expands to: do you develop others, do you see around corners, do you raise the floor for your whole team? Start doing those things before you have a team. Mentor a junior rep. Contribute to team calls with insight, not just updates. Solve problems that aren't technically your responsibility.
Leadership Feed
Loading feed…
What enterprise buyers — CROs, CIOs, CFOs — are actually spending on and why.
Technology adoption signals sourced from trade press and research. Refreshed hourly.
Loading feed…
Chat with Meridian
Ask anything about your portfolio
Hey William 👋 Ask me anything about your portfolio, a specific stock, Bitcoin, or the market. I have context on your current positions and theses.
