Last week we examined key qualities solution providers should consider when evaluating potential software partners. The source of this information came straight from three top system integrators who focus on developing and implementing open source solutions for their customers. Now, if you’re a software vendor that is going to market through partners but derives some revenue from services , make sure you…
…do the following:
- Limit the type of services that you provide so that you are not competing with your partners on development and implementation services and confusing the customer.
- Make sure that the services you provide are differentiated, compliment the services offered by your partners, and are priced at a premium.
- Help your partners develop technical competency that enable them to deploy your solution successfully and increase their services revenues
So what else are partners looking for from software vendors to help them become successful? Here are some possibilities:
Go To Market & Sales Engagement: After services, what partners look for most from a partnership is a solid go to market opportunity that helps them engage with existing customers and find new opportunities. Yair Spitzer, CEO for Ibuildings, wants partnerships to open up new markets for him. He says that while their long standing relationships and solid reputation with customers provides a foundation on which to grow, they continually need to identify good solutions, innovative ideas, and strong partnerships that will help them bring value to their current customers and help them find new ones.
Sometimes market awareness and simply being associated with a hot technology or brand is enough. Most of the time, though, partners want sales leads and market exposure which allows Yair and his team to drive upsell and cross sell opportunities by providing a reason to engage with existing clients or a way to get a foot in the door with brand new clients.
Paul Anthony, CEO for CIGNEX, believes that most software vendors could do a much better job leveraging the leads that result from their brand and community involvement. Software vendors have a huge opportunity to create a lead generation engine and improve the way they distribute those leads to partners who will likely be able to follow up more effectively.
Technical Competency: Help and support in enabling technical competency is something that most partners hope to get from their partnerships with software vendors. However the larger the organization, the less they depend on vendors and the more they rely on in house expertise to develop their technical skills – in addition, how mature the technology is will determine how well they can figure it out on their own rather than through formal training.
Here again, CIGNEX’s Anthony says that his team usually learns on their own because they have strong internal technical resources and a rigorous internal training and certification program. He emphasized though that customers shouldn’t necessarily measure competency from certifications but rather based on the number of successful implementations completed because that is really how competency is developed.
Still, certification programs and formal training from software vendors are important and something that most partners feel are valuable because it accelerates their learning curve and ensures that they are implementing the technology correctly. In addition, certifications can be an industry recognized “stamp of approval” that differentiates and provides value to those who pass and helps customers determine who is really competent to do the work.
Value Add Products and Services: Commercial grade products and services that are tested and supported by the software vendor are important for partners to effectively sell to larger accounts where the real money is. The more strategic a solution is or the larger the account, the more likely the customer will expect a production grade solution and require the backing and assurance that only the software vendor can provide.
Mike Vertal, president and CEO for Rivet Logic, only focuses on the “enterprise” version of Alfresco (an open source alternative to Microsoft SharePoint) and always includes formal support which allows him to deliver a more comprehensive and complete solution that ensures that he is successful and his customer is happy. It is important that customers know that the software vendor will be there if there is a problem.
Knowing what is important to your partners and putting together a business relationship that helps them achieve their objectives will separate you from the others and make you considerably more strategic to your partners.
Contributing blogger Scott Dahlgren is an independent consultant helping small and mid-size technology companies extract greater value from their partner and channel relationships. And he also runs marathons through the woods of Connecticut. Here are all of Scott’s blog entries. The VAR Guy is updated multiple times daily. Don’t miss a single post. Subscribe to his newsletter, RSS feed, Twitter feed and Resource Center.
Read More About This Topic
Share This Post
Interact: Add a Comment | Trackback Link | Permalink
Subscribe: RSS Feed
Nice focus across the two articles. Building the value proposition for the partner is as important as helping them do so for customers. Customer services is key.
Scott deserves yet another month in the Employee of the Month parking space:
‘Limit the type of services that you provide so that you are not competing with your partners on development and implementation services and confusing the customer.
Make sure that the services you provide are differentiated, compliment the services offered by your partners, and are priced at a premium.
Help your partners develop technical competency that enable them to deploy your solution successfully and increase their services revenues.’
You also want to remember or be sensitive to whose VAR’s account you are calling, as if the manufacturer or another one of their favored partners begins soliciting the enduser for products and/or services, and represent themselves like: “I am your new contact for your ABC software, and I would like to quote you on your next upgrade.”
You just shot yourself in the foot. Why? Because the VAR just got a call from the IT director, with the IT director asking the VAR: ‘Is ABC software going out of business as they just contacted me directly or one of their large partners called me claiming to be my new contact for ABC software.’
I always reply: ‘Well, I know it looks like they’re going out of business, but I don’t think they are. Oh, and by the way, I was at a show last week where company XYZ released a new product that competes with ABC product and it is a better solution and one we should consider.’
This is a realworld example, only the names were changed to protect the innocent. Just because they are big, doen’t mean they can take your business. Also as another precaution, I then advise the customer: ‘Should I put company ABC in the email block list for your email server? This will stop them from bugging you?’ The customer says: ‘Yeh, why don’t we do that if you are not recommending their product anymore.’