Executive Sponsorship

A VAR sales rep, speaking on behalf of the software vendor, can use the provided messaging, hopefully the sales methodology taught by the vendor’s most successful sales reps, and an arsenal of potential discounts to win business. But what would truly solidify the VAR’s authority and credibility as a spokesperson for the software vendor? Executive sponsorship. This can be the extra push to close a deal. If you resell large software subscriptions costing thousands of dollars each year, you should expect your channel executives, as well as members of the vendor’s C-Suite, to talk directly with your sales prospects. Getting technical questions answered by the vendor’s CTO or having the CFO explain the vendor’s financial position can be incredibly powerful in getting a sales prospect to feel comfortable and sign.

The vendor and the VAR are on the same team, and this should be obvious to both prospect, reseller and customer. Any vendor can help you sell, but who is going to help you deal with challenging clients and issues? VARs should expect a collaborative approach and relentless focus on customer satisfaction. This means that when a customer has a problem, the vendor has a bigger one. From the executive team throughout the entire ecosystem, the vendor should be willing to do “whatever it takes” to close the deal, support the customer and earn its business every year.

Inter-Partner Cooperation

Channel partners shouldn’t only expect support and cooperation from the software vendor. They should also expect to find support and resources among the other partners. It should be the vendor’s responsibility to foster a collaborative environment and create idea-sharing forums. When VARs get together to learn best practices for sales, marketing and technical training, the teachers shouldn’t just come from the software vendor. Top partners have a lot to teach others about what has worked and what hasn’t. The software vendor should have high expectations of its top partners to share their experiences, successes and failures with other partners. Awards and incentives for top partners, therefore, should be for more than just sales success and customer satisfaction.  The willingness to share, teach and lead by example should be taken into consideration when vendors acknowledge and celebrate their top-tier partners.

CONCLUSION: FOCUS ON SUCCESS

So, as the technology and delivery methods for both vendors and VARs shift to a more success-focused model, so should the channel’s. Software vendors today should help their channel partners speak with one voice. They should provide real marketing support, integrated campaigns, and help co-fund strong initiatives by their partners. Partner sales reps should have messaging, methodology and even executive support when they’re in the trenches. And the top-tier VARs should lead by example by helping other newer partners succeed, because what’s good for the vendor brand should be good for the channel, and each partner’s success in sales, implementation and support will only benefit the whole ecosystem.