The importance of relationship

In order to be successful in the channel, it is vital for any distributor or vendor to act quickly and effectively when called upon for assistance. Tardis Services' Phil Jones had a simple message. "We have a saying at our place that there are three things we want from distributors - responsiveness, responsiveness and responsiveness," he said. "And that is what our customers want. They don't want to wait five days for an answer so if we have to go up the chain to find an answer, whether that is to a vendor or a distributor, we just want responsiveness."

Staff stability is a vital part of understanding the needs of resellers. Correct Solutions' Wayne Small said few things could impact on responsiveness as much as staff changes. "We just got a new account manager with one of our vendors and that person knows nothing about us," he said. "His predecessor knew how we worked and was able to say one sector of the market would be of interest to us while another might not. This new person is telling us we need to move in a certain direction when that is only 5 per cent of our business."

Axxis Technology's Mathew Dickerson identified relationships as the most important aspect of working with vendors and distributors. While these organisations were usually motivated by volume, he said they needed to listen to the relationship needs of resellers if they were to drive increased volumes. Calvert Technologies' Dean Calvert expressed a similar thought.

"When you talk to an account manager at a distributor, you know that person is thinking about how much volume you are going to buy, how much margin they can make and what commission they will get," he said. "That is what happens at the end of the day and I accept that. They have to make money too, and we are not going to screw them for price every time, but when I need help with something I expect to get it. "When distributors get bigger it is all about getting enough volume to beat the other guys. You see it with the vendors as well because HP, IBM and Dell are only concerned with who has more market share. As resellers, that is not the game we're in.

"I had one vendor tell me from their call centre that I wasn't meeting their budget and I asked 'When did I ever get a budget from you?' I am interested in selling to my clients and looking after them; I am not interested in a vendor's budget. They can go take a long walk off a short plank." For Klikon Solutions' David Abouhaidar, successful relationships with vendors and distributors must be built on honesty.

"Vendors need to say what they are going to do and do what they say. We are in a fortunate position with our vendors and distributors because we are moving volume so we can dictate the terms but we expect them to deliver what they say they are going to deliver," he said.

"From a distributor point of view, it's not always about price - it's about availability; it's about relationship. We don't buy from a company; we buy from people. Our customers don't buy from Klikon; they buy from the person they deal with. That's the beauty of business; that's the beauty of sales - people buy from people.

"Vendors are really turning full circle these days and are definitely more channel-focused. In all honesty, going direct is probably the easiest way for them to lose a customer."

Profusion Media's Robert Georgievski agreed that building relationships was key but expressed concerns about the lack of skill within many distributors.

"Within our organisation we are self-reliant and will do the configurations," he said. "We will put the whole thing together and tell a distributor what we need so all they have to do is provide a price and deliver it.

"They will still make their 4-5 per cent but when you are stuck on something and they can't assist you, that's a pain point.

"A lot of the disties need some sort of specialised skill set that you can turn to. If I want a SAN solution, or virtualisation on blade, I might have a couple of questions when it gets a little tricky. At least have an idea of what it is we are doing because we are pushing these solutions."