A survey of 250 reseller executives hints at a widening disconnect between vendors and their partners. Doug Woodburn looks at what is going wrong
What resellers want from their vendors, and what they get, may be two entirely separate things, if a recent poll of 250 VAR execs is anything to go by.
According to the findings of research released last month, vendors are failing to cater for rising demand among resellers for better market intelligence, and wrongly focusing on the features and pricing of their products.
The poll, commissioned by channel consultancy The Channel Partnership, quizzed 250 sales executives and managers of IT or telecoms resellers on what makes them tick. About 80 per cent of the participants worked for firms employing more than 50 staff, with 81 per cent selling their own company’s products and services.
The research also revealed dissatisfaction with the standard of the support resellers receive from their vendors and suggested that - surprisingly - most are not keen on vendors communicating with them via social media.
However, Channel Partnership director Phil Brown (below) picked out resellers’ appetite for more market insight as the survey’s most striking finding.
Some 17.5 per cent of respondents said better insight into market trends, competitor activity and customer needs would have a “very high” impact on their sales performance, with a further 40 per cent saying it would have a “good impact”.
Only increased investment in brand awareness, rated as “very high” by 25 per cent and “good” by a further 42 per cent, outranked it in terms of perceived impact on sales performance.
The research also asked resellers which factors, in instances where they are weighing up two comparable vendors, are most important in determining which they worked with. They could choose up to three options.
Strength of brand was deemed the most important (58.3 per cent), followed by the quality of customer support (50 per cent). Contrary to received wisdom, the commercial terms offered were fairly low down the pecking order (38.1 per cent), and just 11.9 per cent selected generosity of MDF programmes as a key factor.
In terms of the support features resellers find most valuable, training on products and technology (51.2 per cent), sales leads (51.2 per cent) and training on skills and competencies (46.4 per cent) came out on top. MDF (0.6 per cent) and sales tools such as ROI calculators (8.3 per cent) received the fewest nods.
Talking to CRN, Brown said the findings reflect the fact that end users are now engaging with reseller sales staff for different reasons and at different points in the sales cycle.
“End users can get information on products very easily now as there are so many sources available,” he said. “They want to talk to resellers that can bring them some insight and thought leadership and help them make sense of the mass of options out there.
“They need to know how the technology can be applied to help them achieve their business goals. To provide them with this, resellers need information on more than just what the products do, the features and what it costs, [they also need to know] the drivers behind it. It goes beyond the traditional product training vendors offer.”
Brown added that most vendors are sitting on a “wealth of knowledge” that could be incredibly valuable to the channel, but are not passing it on to resellers.
“My perception is that in a lot of cases, vendors are not getting it completely right. They are too product-centric and based on an internal view of the world, rather than which tools channel partners need to be successful. There is still a tendency to say ‘here’s our product, here’s why it is great and here are the commercial terms to sell it’.”
Help with go-to-market planning was also highly prized by resellers (37 per cent) and Cliff Fox, managing director of VAR SICL, was among those to argue that resellers are often let down by the inflexibility of their vendor partners.
“My biggest gripe is how they tailor the partnership in terms of things such as marketing and assisted selling,” he said. “You tend to find that the larger the vendor, the more formulaic and structured it is.”
Yuri Pasea, managing director of distributor Prianto, agreed: “These days, messaging is tightly controlled by most vendors. A one-size-fits-all message many a time misses the point with resellers and as a consequence they find it difficult to communicate the correct information to an end user.”
Jody Pawson, group sales director of Orange IS, added: “You can talk about campaigns and marketing all you like, but honesty and integrity and vendors doing what they say they are going to do is vital.”
John Gilbertson, sales director of Security Partnerships, agreed there is sometimes a disconnect between vendor and reseller needs.
“One of the biggest ones for us is lead generation - they never do enough for our liking.
“The other one is simpler deal registration. That seems to be the bane of my life and simpler rules are needed around incumbency protection.”
