Sophos offers Cashback to new resellers

Discount scheme is designed to drive up new business sales for anti-virus vendor

The Cashback scheme helped Sophos drive up new business orders by 80 per cent in its last quarter

Anti-virus vendor Sophos is offering new partners an extra 15-points discount on deals once they have beaten "realistic and achievable" targets.

Sophos’ 1,500 existing UK Silver partners have been able to earn the same discount for four months under its Cashback programme. This is on top of the normal margin structure available through Sophos’ partner programme.

The vendor claims Cashback helped to drive up new business orders by 80 per cent in its last quarter and has consequently extended the scheme to new partners.

Targets for existing partners are based on renewals – they begin earning the 15 per cent bonus on all deals once they have renewed 80 per cent of the accounts that come up for renewal during the quarter. It is not available to higher-level Platinum and Gold partners.

For new partners, the additional margin will kick in if and when they exceed the average quarterly spend of new partners in Sophos’ last financial year.

Chris Doggett, director of global channels at Sophos, claimed 90 per cent of Silver partners have already enrolled in the programme.

“We have seen how this resonated with existing partners and now we are opening it up to everyone else,” he explained.

Even without Cashback, Sophos claims its deal registration system enables lower-level partners to earn higher net margins than with rivals Symantec or McAfee.

Doggett said: "Partners tell us that their net margin for Symantec and
McAfee is between five and 10 per cent when they have finished competing on
a typical deal. For us it is definitely in the double digits and can be in
the 15-20 range (or two to three times as much as those competitors)."

Cashback is one of several initiatives introduced by Sophos’ new UK country manager, Ciaran Rafferty, since he joined from SAP reseller Seidor in June.

At the top end, Rafferty has also drawn up a list of 50 target accounts in verticals where Sophos has historically had success, including retail, professional services and finance. Key partners are being brought on board to prospect for new business with these accounts.