Adding a New Vendor to your Arsenal - A Partners Perspective

Last week I wrote a post on recruitment from a vendor's perspective, today I'll look at it from a Partner's perspective. While the vendors are looking to recruit new partners, the partners are analyzing the cost/benefit of taking on a new vendor's product. There are more considerations than one would think.

1. Is the vendor's product a good fit for your arsenal? If you focus on virtualization and cloud computing with products like Hyper-V, VMware, Salesforce.com, and StarWind then EMC approaches you about selling one of their Back-up and Recovery products you certainly aren't going to change your entire business model to add on additional product.
2. What is the ROI of introducing a new vendor? To sell a new technology and do it right there are costs incurred by you and your team. You must figure out the value this partnership could bring you (i.e. REVENUE) then subtract out the costs and decide if it is worthwhile. Costs include administrative, certification requirements (both time out of the field and the payment for training), changes to your website and other marketing materials, and marketing programs around the new products and services.
   
3. What are the benefits the vendor is offering? If the vendor product sells itself, great, but we know of few that do that (except for maybe Microsoft). Otherwise, you need to look closely at the level of MDF, technical support, training, incentives, and marketing programs this vendor is going to provide. Walking into a relationship saying "Where are my leads" isn't going to work; a) the vendor will see you as not valuable and b) what good are leads they give you if you haven't been trained to sell the product yet anyway?
4. Are you weakening any of the brands you already sell? I would never suggest that a partner should only have one vendor product per solution, however, you need to take into account that any claims may be weakened by bringing on a competing product. If you have based your company around selling NetApp because their iSCSI SAN technology is the best product for your trusting customers, you can't then take on Dell EqualLogic's iSCSI SAN touting the same thing. You would weaken your own brand as a trusted adviser. You could play on different uses for each (performance versus price), but you'd have to get pretty creative.
5. Does the vendor value you? This may be part of "the benefits they offer you" but I felt it was important enough to get it's own bullet. Does the vendor truly value you and their other partners? Do they have a reputation for dealing poorly with channel conflict between their direct reps and partners? Are their requirements in-line with the benefits they offer or are they asking too much? If you only do one transaction a quarter will they provide you with the support you need to improve that or treat you like a second class citizen?
   

Overall, taking on a new vendor is not a decision one should take lightly. It's like hiring a new executive or board member: are they going to add value, do they fit with the culture, and are they willing to learn from you as much as you are from them?

My opinion on channel relationships in general is that it must be one of reciprocation. I do not appreciate when channel partners expect to get leads or other benefits without putting any skin in the game and I do not feel vendors have the right to expect more out of their partners then they are willing to give. I think partners and vendors both have the right to decide if the other is a good addition to the team, and once they have, to treat each with the respect that the mutual relationship deserves. I'd love to hear others feedback, comments, or stories of a channel relationship gone bad!

Happy Earth Day...are we as green as we think we are?

In honor of Earth Day this year I'm looking for vendors and channel partners who do it right. The "Green" thing that is. About 18 months ago (before the entire economy imploded) all we heard about was going green. Some companies did it right like IBM lowering the energy expenditure of their products and finding lower emission options for transport. While other companies such as Dell were using green as a marketing tactic talking about skipping their old piecemeal ways and shipping entire infrastructure solutions to end users in one big box. This sounds like a worthy green initiative, but don't the pieces come to Dell as a bunch of little boxes first? Partners were also up in arms as putting it all together is part of the value they add. In Dell's defense that was over a year ago and they've done some great things since then. The important thing is that Green initiatives are actually doing some good!

There are other positive signs that green is still top of mind. The Interop conference in May is dedicating an entire track to Green IT with speakers from Deloite, Forrester, Alcatel Lucent, and Juniper.

So that's what some of our market leaders are doing. Now what are the rest of us doing in our daily lives to make a difference? Think about using public transportation whenever possible, reusing grocery bags, getting a BPA free water bottle instead of buying water bottles every day, or buying locally grown produce whenever possible. There are many more things you can do, find out more here.

Wherever you are get out and enjoy Earth Day!

Dell using Twitter to boost sales

Working with B2B companies on their social media strategy, the first request I always get is "give me an example of another B2B company that has used social media." The one vendor that comes to mind is Dell. While they are a B2B and B2C company their social media practices have paid off in both arenas.

Dell's Channel Blog is a place for channel partners to hear up-to-date program and product news, comment on posts, and join the conversation.

Dell actually made $1 million from Twitter in 2008. By setting up a following and tweeting discounts and promotions Dell created a community of loyal Dell followers that are willing and able to buy. Not only that, they are most likely talking about their experience to other prospects. These aren't simply B2C products either. Channel partners are following the tweets as well. Let's not kid ourselves, this is only $1M to a company like Dell but how else could they use this exposure to boost sales? How could you?

Stay tuned for more social media success stories, who knows the next one could be you. Are you looking to figure out your social media strategy? Have you tried things that have been successful? Have you tried things that have failed miserably?

Has dell made the grade in the channel?

While working at EqualLogic, about 2 months before the Dell deal was finalized (and I was to become a Dell'er) I was at a conference where solution providers were giving vendors feedback. There stood a very articulate solution provider who had just given the audience some great feedback on what works and what doesn't when it comes to communications, rebates, margins, and incentives. "And one more thing", he added enthusiastically. "I don't care what they do, I'm NEVER doing business with the four-letter word in channel!"

A gave a little chuckle with the rest of the vendors in the room, then it hit me. Wait! He was talking about me! I was going to be Dell, I was going to be the FOUR-LETTER WORD IN CHANNEL! Over the next 8 months I watched Dell flounder and put forth a very strong channel program. But had the damage already been done? Could Dell dig themselves out of the hole?

Well what do you think? Has Dell made progress? Would love to hear from solution providers.