Partner Development Specialist

Partner Development Specialist role at Connection.

We calm the confusion of IT by guiding the connection between people and technology. If a customer is looking for a better way to manage their warehouse inventory, equip their workforce, or secure their data, we make it happen. All it takes is finding the right combination of tech hardware, software, cloud solutions, and support services. That’s what we do. We’re the IT Department’s IT Department.

We’re the IT Department’s IT Department – offering a blend of hardware, software, cloud solutions and support services to streamline IT operations for businesses of all sizes.

Our team is made stronger by a multitude of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. It’s what makes Connection unique—what drives us to innovate and create technology solutions that stand apart from the crowd. We’d love for you to be a part of that fabric, to share your ideas and experiences with a team that thrives on fresh thinking, creativity, and helping others.

You’ll find supportive teammates and a rewarding career at Connection—plus great benefits. We take pride in supporting employees with a total rewards package that provides financial, emotional, and physical resources for you and your family. Our compensation, 401k plans, medical insurance, and other benefits are progressive and competitive. We value the importance of our employees’ emotional wellbeing, providing free therapy visits, mental health coaching, and meditation resources.

You’ll also enjoy a generous paid time off package that includes vacation, sick time, Wellness and Volunteer Time Off days.

Working under direct supervision of the Sr. Product Manager, the Partner Development Specialist selects from a variety of established procedures to accomplish assigned duties and responsibilities. The Partner Development Specialist acts as the subject matter expert resource for Account Managers on pre‑sales questions related to the vendor and/or product line and provides guidance and/or suggestions to the Account Managers on vendor resources, pricing programs, cross‑sell and up‑sell opportunities, advanced services, assessment opportunities, and any other pre‑sales inquiries for that Partner’s portfolio of advanced technology, aligning to the company’s overall Tech Track category goals.

Job responsibilities include delivering training, battle‑cards, and playbooks to our sales force on related topic(s). This also includes facilitating training for our technical sales group (SSS/SA/SE). All pre‑sales activities are directly tied to accelerating Partner sales  Partner Development Specialist drives program initiatives for the vendor as determined by the Product Manager and balances this taking into consideration the needs of the Partner.

As the subject matter expert, the PDS provides feedback to both the Partner and Product Management group on their programs and resources and at times partakes in conference calls with external customers and their assigned AMs to provide basic information on their advanced technology solution set.

• Acts as the subject matter expert to Account Managers for pre‑sales questions relating to their assigned product(s).
  • Utilizes Partner tools and teaches Account Managers on how to use said tools; includes service‑plan lookups, companion parts, technical spec lookups.
  • Explains technical specifications in laymen’s terms to internal and external customers.
  • Reviews quotes to identify potentially better options, such as different, more impactful solutions through assessment of other SKU availability that may better meet the needs of the customer.
  • Identifies upsell/cross‑sell opportunities when working with Account Managers’ customer quotes.
  • Assists in the development of sales tools as well as identifying gaps in existing tools and resources, in an effort to make it easier for sales to quote solutions to their customers.
  • Coordinates Partner resources for the AM both internally and externally.
  • Works with Purchasing group to continually improve the sales process around speed‑to‑price.
  • Coaches Sales on how to apply for Partner…