E92plus toasts 20 years of success

Gupta: we are in a position where people know us and our brand after 20 years in business

Specialist distributor e92plus has marked its 20th year in business by launching several initiatives to keep it engaged with its resellers.

The London-based firm is also feeling bullish after securing sole distribution status with nComputing. This brings the number of sole distribution partnerships to five to date.

It is also set to launch its Sales Academy, providing quarterly skills-based training sessions to resellers free of charge.

Mukesh Gupta, managing director of e92plus, said: “The Sales Academy will bring a tangible benefit for our resellers, covering subjects such as telephone selling, cross-selling, upselling and other skills-based sessions. We are trying to educate the channel rather than just fulfil orders.”

Another new offering this quarter is its reward incentive scheme through its online portal, which will enable resellers to redeem prizes such as iPods, toasters and even a luxury holiday as they pile up sales.

“We have not been affected by this recession but we are in a position where people know us and our brand after 20 years in business,” Gupta added. “Our emphasis is firmly on value-add and ensuring resellers can make margin on products.”

He said the firm is always looking to add vendor partners provided they are a good fit.

The final initiative is its Channel Premier League ­ where it hopes to run up to five regional football tournaments in October and November, made up of reseller-only five-a-side teams, culminating in a final at Wembley.

“It is all about networking,” said Gupta. “We ran a one-day football tournament
earlier this year and it was a massive success.”

Pat Dunne, senior sales director at Websense UK, praised e92plus’s business model.

“I have worked with e92plus for 18 years through four different companies, so that must say what I think of them,” he said. “It is probably the longest-surviving independent niche distributor around, ­most of the others have been bought by somebody bigger. It also gives a good balance to the larger distributors because it is independent and flexible.

“We can actually have a straightforward conversation with the owner, unlike in the bigger distributors where the decision makers are spread out across the company and it is more complex.”