Vendors failing to equip resellers

Study from Demuto finds less than one in 10 VARs feel they have a "relevant account plan" with their vendor partners

Young: a lot of time is wasted doing ineffective things

The vast majority of resellers crave more relevant account plans and marketing material from vendor partners, research has found.

Consultancy Demuto recently quizzed executives from a number of leading vendors and VARs. Less than 30 per cent of respondents felt that channel programmes always add value.

Less than one in 10 claimed vendor marketing material was always suitable for use with clients. A similar amount believed they have “a relevant and structured account plan” with their partners. Two-thirds of VARs claim they have no input into channel strategy.

Antony Young, director of Demuto, said: “A lot of time is wasted doing ineffective things. It comes down to a willingness to work with partners and have a one-to-one dialogue.”

Richard Bligh, marketing director at carrier Gamma Telecom, was unsurprised by the survey’s findings.

“Vendor marketing material tends to be full of technical gobbledegook with no thought given to end users,” he said.