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Sennheiser hails channel sales expansion

Audio specialist reaps rewards from new focus on channel partnership

Pro-audio brand Sennheiser has seen sales through resellers expand from 35 per cent of its business to 70 per cent in under a year in response to its new focus on its partnerships.

Jane Craven, director of sales for telecoms at Sennheiser, said that although the company works only through the channel, about 65 per cent of its income was still coming from self-generated leads last year.

"Seventy per cent of our sales are now coming through our channels. This demonstrates that end users are going out there and proactively asking for Sennheiser products, and also that the resellers are getting out there," she said.

Craven went on to add that the improvement follows a fresh channel focus from Sennheiser which includes being more choosy about its partners and then following through more closely to support and incentivise them.

"You now need to be authorised to sell Sennheiser," she said.

Craven (pictured, right) said the Wedemark, Germany-headquartered company had suffered a certain amount of blowback from allowing too many outlets to sell Sennheiser online with little or no direct oversight.

As a result, customers were buying unsuitable products for their needs as they were not receiving assistance from educated partners.

"Many customers were going to the Amazon Marketplace or something like that," she said. "They would purchase something like a headset, a USB headset, which just works, but not necessarily with a particular telephone system, which may require a specific cable."

Online sales would still be allowed, but restricted to authorised Sennheiser partners that are better placed to assist customers and thus better guarantee a good customer experience. Authorisation is straightforward and can be done online, she said.

Sennheiser has also been developing its portal and a programme of incentives in response to partner feedback which suggested that salespeople required more motivation to sell and promote its kit - which includes new Android and iPhone-compatible speakerphones and TeamConnect audio conferencing, headsets, microphones and integrated systems as well as its famous headphone ranges for consumers, professional musicians and broadcasters, and businesses.