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Print.IT Reseller
www.printit
reseller
.co.uk
A perfect partnership
25
opinion
According to credit reference firm
Graydon, insolvencies in Britain’s
channel fell to 55 in the last quarter of
2012 – a drop of over 35% compared
to the previous year. While it’s good
to see improvement, that’s still a
significant number of failures and
many in the sector are doubtless still
hanging on by a thread.
Resellers have always been resilient
and I know I’m preaching to the converted
when I say that the priorities have to be
remaining competitive, future-proofing and
adding the most value to customers. One
key way of ensuring you deliver on these
priorities is through a robust supplier-reseller
relationship.
Vendors’ expanded role
In the past, suppliers could almost drop
product off with their channel and leave
it to them to go and sell. However, in an
increasingly competitive market, with huge
choice for VARs, vendors need to work
harder to make sure their products are front
of mind for the reseller community.
As part of this, vendors must deliver
support to the channel partner throughout the
sales process – for example through training.
Before a salesperson arrives on the shop
floor, they should have been trained on the
product they are looking to sell. A vendor
could play a key role in this process, getting
under the skin of the reseller’s business and
its customer base and helping match product
or service capability with end-user needs.
For example, with business inkjet now
being a highly viable alternative to laser,
resellers can evolve a more consultative sales
approach to focus on total cost of ownership
and help their customers achieve big savings.
It’s this insight that can enable partners to
win customers and differentiate themselves
from other resellers.
Vendors should support co-marketing and
joint sales efforts. Our market is competitive
and all vendors and resellers are battling to
be heard. Vendors need to help resellers get
the message out there because, if they’re not,
they can be sure their competition will be.
Epson offers resellers a range of incentive
programs, customisable collateral and
support at exhibitions. The best channel-
focussed vendors will also provide sales
support to resellers; in effect a reseller can
think of a vendor end-user salesforce as an
extension of its own.
And there’s an intrinsic need to provide
good incentives. This could include financial
incentives, rebates, promotions or product
giveaways. If a supplier offers a salesperson
£100 to sell X product, they will tend to
make sure they have good product/solution
knowledge and look for the opportunity to
sell it over competing product.
These incentives shouldn’t be offered at
random but should form part of a coherent
strategy mapped out by both the supplier
and the reseller.
A vendor
should be
brought
into a
big sales
opportunity
at the
earliest
stage...
Vendors and resellers
need to work together
to drive revenue growth
in a challenging market.
Here, Steve Torbe, Head
of Reseller Sales at Epson
explores the key elements
of this partnership.
Share information
Suppliers and resellers shouldn’t work in
silos. Rather, they should share information
on forward planning and sales opportunities
where appropriate.
Resellers wanting to make the most of a
vendor partnership should involve the vendor
in planning growth strategies.
Where appropriate a partner should share
its business plan with the vendor, because
it is difficult for a supplier to offer tailored
support if they don’t know what the partner’s
goals are. For example, if the reseller is
looking to expand its print offering, the
vendor can help tailor the reseller education
and customer marketing material offered to
help the partner achieve this objective.
Why not bring the vendor in to secure
big sales opportunities? A vendor should be
brought into a big sales opportunity at the
earliest stage to help add weight to the deal.
If, during a negotiation, the reseller has the
supplier on hand to offer the customer a joint
value proposition with support setting up and
maintaining the technology, they’re going
to have a more convincing case than if the
partner goes it alone.
Also explore customer requirements to
expose upsell opportunities. The best results
are often hard earned. A customer may
contact a reseller and buy 30 printers for
example. That may seem an ideal scenario
but wouldn’t it be better if the salesperson
had a conversation with the customer and
found out that they had cost issues around
sourcing printing supplies such as paper and
ink cartridges?
You could then upsell other services,
potentially cutting the customer’s printing
costs. That would not only net you, as a
reseller, more than just the value of selling
30 printers: it would also mean that the
customer would see you as a trusted advisor
for purchases moving forward making them
more inclined to consider you in future.
Both parties want to secure more
business and in order to do this, the vendor
and reseller need to work together to drive
revenues in a challenging market. These
collaborations are often pain-free once
initiated and drive immediate and lasting
return, both in the relationship and in
revenue growth.
www.epson.co.uk