Meet Scott Shekels
Arvig’s new metro-area technical resource for channel partners
Scott Shekels has always had a knack for understanding complex technical subjects.
From his early days building and coding Apple II and IBM computers, to technology consulting, to working in advanced network security, Shekels has never been far from electronics, hardware, software and connected devices.
Now, his expertise is coming in handy in his new role as Arvig’s Metro Sales and Support Engineer. Shekels is serving as a technical liaison in support of Arvig’s channel partners in the Twin Cities.
In sales meetings between agents and potential customers, Shekels’ seat at the table has a dual purpose: To help clients understand the technical aspects of Arvig services and support the agent by making suggestions that might result in selling related or complementary services.
“Throughout my entire career, it’s been very beneficial for me to talk with management-level people and explain concepts like PCI requirements, firewalls—things like that—but put it in a way they can understand it,” Shekels said. “That really works in a sales engineer job, because I can talk to one of Arvig’s clients as well as the client’s engineering staff and they can have confidence they’re working with somebody who knows what they’re talking about.”
In any discussion about technology, questions are bound to arise—even for the most prepared or well-versed sales agent. That’s where Shekels comes in. He aims to be Arvig’s go-to contact in the metro for a thorough understanding of Arvig services, whether it’s wide area and local area networks, customer premise equipment, network diversity options, managed services, SIP, PRI, Ethernet, point-to-point networking, hosted services, cloud-based integrations and all-things IT.
While the agent can focus on selling services, Shekels can help identify deeper sales opportunities and suggest additional services that support or enhance the service being sold to the customer.
“When I go into a client meeting, I am thinking, ‘Is there another way we can do this? Can we re-engineer it or can we offer them other options that will enhance their service?” Shekels said. “What do we need to do to get this done?”
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Ultimately, Shekels’ role comes down to asking the right questions, offering a better understanding and helping the customer get the best experience from Arvig’s services.
“I can use my technical knowledge to offer solutions, to come up with creative ideas to make something work and meet the client’s needs,” he said. “We can now go in there and say, ‘Is your network protected (from cyber threats)? Do you have a firewall? Would you like us to manage your firewall? Are you close to Arvig’s fiber?”’
Do you have an upcoming meeting with a client in the metro area? Contact Scott at scott.shekels@arvig.com.
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