Vendors Get Kudos, Too
By Jeff O'Heir, CRN
3:56 PM EST Fri., Feb. 09, 2001
With direct-sales strategies proliferating, many solution
providers have been edgy about their vendor
partnerships.
But for every solution provider with a complaint about a
particular vendor, twice as many have a compliment.
Gia McNutt, CEO of Special Order Systems, Sacramento,
Calif., sells about $2 million in Compaq products per
year--not a huge number, she says. Yet McNutt says she
still maintains a close relationship with her Compaq sales
rep, and the two frequently meet to work on goals and
quotas and to discuss business strategy.
"I've had the same rep for the last three years. It's a great
relationship," McNutt says. "If I want to make something
happen, I can make it happen."
Compaq recently put together teams of business
development managers, as well as client and partner
specialists, to help solution providers succeed in the
small- and midsize- business space, says Dan Vertrees,
vice president of North America partner sales at Compaq.
Each team is assigned to one of five U.S. regions.
Compaq also has allocated $1 million apiece to two integrator alliances--Ingram Micro's
VentureTech Network and Tech Data's TechSelect--to help create incentive, marketing,
training and infrastructure support programs, Vertrees says.
In dealing with vendors, solution providers prize responsiveness and open communication.
And Toshiba gets high marks in those areas, several of its channel partners say.
Grady Crunk, executive vice president at Central Data, Titusville, Fla., remembers one
instance when he placed an order with Toshiba for 2,500 computer systems. However, the
customer was apprehensive about making the purchase because the serial numbers were on
the bottom of the machines, making them difficult to access. Crunk made a phone call to
Toshiba and the company began putting all serial numbers on the sides of the units.
John Riddle, president of The Information Networking Co., a Laguna Hills, Calif., network
integrator, also gives kudos to Toshiba. One time, Riddle says, his firm couldn't close
several Toshiba systems and server sales because the customers thought the vendor
wouldn't be able to handle their service needs. Word reached Mark Simons, Toshiba's vice
president and general manager of sales, who then established an authorized service partner
program for solution providers. The program includes training on all of Toshiba's hardware
platforms, along with sales training and access to warranty plans.
Product input also is important to many solution providers. Dan Posner, CEO of Tech
Management Solutions, a full-service solution provider in Boca Raton, Fla., named Novell as
one vendor that involves its channel partners on the product end.
"Our company has a great relationship with Novell," Posner says. "We are always asked to
join the beta programs, and our staff learns a lot about the product long before it is released.
"
Vendors that offer solid training and support programs, too, are likely to win the allegiance
of solution providers. Many point to Cisco as a role model for other vendors. The
networking giant has some of the industry's most innovative training and e-learning
programs, channel partners say.
"We put our full confidence in the channel," says Tom Mitchell, Cisco's vice president of
worldwide channels. "You can't love your partners one quarter and not the other. I've seen
too many manufacturers do that and lose." |
