A lot of companies sell a lot of different products. But very few companies advocate any of the products that they sell. There is a small, but very noticeable difference between the act of selling and the act of advocating a product. The question then stands, what makes you an advocate of a product versus a sales partner?

Do you use the Product?
If you aren’t using the product yourself in your own network, you absolutely cannot be considered an advocate of the product. Personally, I hold the belief that you shouldn’t even sell anything that you don’t use in your own network (or at least would use if you needed to solve that solution), but advocacy moves even one step farther and absolutely requires that you are a dedicated user of a product. At the same time it should preferably be the only solution of its kind that you offer, but this is not a complete requirement as exceptions to the rule are always out there.

Are you a true believer?
In order to be an advocate you must be a true believer in the product that you are advocating. Ask yourself if you’ve drank the Kool-aid. You should believe in the product as much as anyone who is employed by the company that manufactures the product. Are you willing to defend the company’s honor on forums and blogs should you see an attack on their product? Will you blog about your experiences with the product and why you think it is the solution for the problem it is designed to solve?

Are you willing to be used as a reference?
Are you prepared to receive e-mails and phone calls from people asking you about your experiences with the product? Depending on the person and the questions they have you could very well end up spending over an hour of your time on the phone simply talking about how and why you use the product you are advocating. You have to be prepared to answer any questions that come up, while still having the other person be skeptical, as you were referred to them by the company that they are looking to get more information on. Personally, I very much enjoy this part of being an advocate as it gives you a wonderful opportunity to network with other people, and I’ve established more than one good contact through being used as a reference. Besides, helping the vendor sell more of their product (even if it isn’t through you) is a good thing, as it helps keep them around for when you need to sell their product to someone.

Are you considered an expert on the product?
Are you in the beta-testing program for the product? Are you included in some form of partner committee or focus group? Can you setup and troubleshoot the product in your sleep? Do other partners that use or sell the product come to you for advice and tips? Do you know the pricing structure for the product better than your account rep? Do you engage in regular discussions with the product manager regarding the future development of the product? Have you found yourself simply going through the product and the manual to see if anything noticeable has changed with a new release, before reading the Change Log? If you can answer yes to the majority of the items listed above, I think you can classify yourself in the “expert” category.

Do you have a solid relationship with the vendor?
When you are making weekly or bi-weekly phone calls with your vendor to just chat, update each other on current prospects and just generally checking up on how things are going with the other person, you have a good relationship with your vendor. Have you and your vendor met up at a conference or when the other was in town and gone out to grab some drinks? That’s where a great relationship starts. Both sides have to realize that the relationship is symbiotic, and that you are both working towards the same goal. When you call them on the phone do they recognize the number on Caller ID and say “Hi, Scott” when you call in? These last few aren’t requirements, but they sure don’t hurt either.

Is the product an integral part of what you offer?
Let’s face it, unless it is a staple offering that you heavily suggest or require your customers to use, you can’t be an advocate. It can’t be a product that you simply go and offer it here and there. It should be something you think every customer needs or can benefit from. This in part stems back to the idea of truly believing in the product and truly believing everyone needs to have it. That’s actually how I built the core offering that my company requires our customers to have, what were the three things that I truly felt all our clients should be using to make their networks function better?

The product in question does not always have to be a product you sell either. It can be a service or product that you use to get your job done that you truly thing is a best of breed product, and something other people in your industry should be using as well. The services and products you use internally are important, because as the stronger companies become stronger through better offerings and being more efficient it only serves to highlight the deficiencies of the weaker companies, and therefore improves the overall quality of your industry.

The next logical question would be: Am I an advocate of any products? Personally, I feel that I can comfortably say that I can be considered an advocate of three products at this time. Hopefully as I continue to grow and spend more time with other products I can expand that list to some other products I currently use as well. The companies and products I feel I can advocate are:

• Autotask – Professional Service Automation dedicated to the IT Community
• Calyptix Security – Providing their AccessEnforcer Unified Threat Management Firewall to the SMB Market
• Hostmysite.com – Hosting, Dedicated Servers and Co-location Company in Newark, DE.

I am personally making it known that if you ever want to ask questions or look for more information regarding any of these three companies and their products to please contact me. I am proud to say that I am an advocate of all three and will have a great time talking with you about why I think you should use their products as well.

Now ask yourself, am I an advocate?