The VAR Guy

According to a recent research done by the Society of Information Management (SIM), IT budgets, salaries and staff turnover rates have returned to pre-recessionary levels, indicating optimism among CIOs and IT executives. Even at the beginning of the economic collapse, IT budgets were expected to rise, albeit only slightly. With IT budgets continuing to tighten, what does this mean for technology partners?

So you bought a list of leads in your target market. You may be tempted to simply begin calling those leads and trying to sell your products. Not so fast; there are many ways VARs can nurture those leads, improving your chance of obtaining a successful closure. To get started, I’ve got five tactics to help you weed out the uninterested leads while allocating resources to the good ones — thus preventing your sales force from wasting time.

Proper communication is the answer to most issues that arise between vendors and VARs, yet many people from both sides of the aisle forget this simple fact. What’s more, vendor-VAR communication is important, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. Here are some ways communication can help improve a partner relationship.

It is estimated that there are more than 122,000 public libraries in the United States. Libraries face many of the same issues educational institutions do when it comes to network security. For example, they must block inappropriate content while balancing the needs of staff versus the community.  The number of libraries as well as their need for IT security presents a great opportunity for VARs. But how can VARs break into the library vertical if they’ve never targeted this market before?

Webinars are a great way to demonstrate a VAR’s expertise to a targeted audience: Existing customers and prospective customers. However, in our conversations with VARs we have found that many are reluctant to host their own webinars.  They are either unfamiliar with the procedures involved, or simply lack the necessary technical resources and expertise. Here are some quick tips to help VARs host webinars.

At Astaro we meet with many customers to create specific marketing campaigns. Though our partners sometimes have a strong grasp on marketing plans, more often than not our VARs don’t know where to begin, and need help setting goals and creating a marketing strategy. Here are a few tips to help you get started.

The only constant in life is change. We all deal with change differently, but when change comes in business your strategy and methods for adapting to change can easily hurt or improve your ability continue successfully running your business. This is especially true with the change is out of your control, as it so often times is.  So what should VARs do as their technology partners and vendors change?

Trade shows can be an excellent way for VARs to find new prospects for their sales teams, but if done incorrectly or without a well thought out strategy they can also become money pits that are not worth the time or effort.  These activities can be a lot of work and take a lot of your team’s time. Here are some tips for sponsoring a trade show that will help VARs improve their bottom line and justify the cost of a trade show.

In my previous blog I shared some social media marketing tips to help VARs more closely engage customers. This time, my focus is on sales growth. Finding and gaining new clients certainly will grow your business. But don’t overlook cross-selling opportunities, working closely with your top vendor partners. It’s important for VARs to carry a diverse line of products and partner with vendors that release fresh, innovative solutions on at least a semi-regular basis. But how do you go about introducing those new products to your established customer base? Here are five steps worth following…

The advent of email and electronic communication changed the way both B2B and B2C businesses marketed.  Overtime, direct mail postcards and cold calling became a practice of the past while sending out mass emails and invitations to webinars was the new “it” way to reach your target audience.  Today these methods seem passé and are often ignored. While email marketing still has its place and can be effective if done properly, marketing methods have evolved along with technology.  Today, marketers can reach a more targeted audience through social media  But how can VARs who often have limited marketing resources make the most out of these new platforms?

As a reseller, VAR or managed service provider (MSP), you hear from plenty of vendors that want you to promote their products. You may think that deciding which products to offer is the most important part of developing your business. In reality, the  most important point in the process of developing a successful business comes after you’ve evaluated your options and decided which partner program to join. This is when you develop and strengthen your vendor relationship and partnerships truly grow. Below are four quick tips for getting the most out of your vendor relationships.