Not too long ago, I had the privilege of speaking at a client’s conference for their elite dealers.  I always find these conferences of interest, because generally the vendor spends most of the time tooting their own horn.  This time, however, woven in with the usual talks about “how we’re doing as a company”, “here are our neat new products” and “here’s the roadmap that puts us ahead of our competitors” were a number of sessions that actually focused on the partners’ businesses.  And not only were the sessions focused on the partners’ businesses – they actually spoke to some of the real challenges that many partners face.  There was a session on recruiting – because recruiting talented people is often one of the reseller’s biggest nightmares.  The session talked in great detail about how the internet and social networking has changed recruiting and then provided practical tips on how to use the new methods.  Another session focused on the marketing strategy and tactics of one of the dealers.  Now we all know that the majority of resellers/dealers do virtually no marketing whatsoever – because you really can’t consider doing a monthly lunch-and-learn as a marketing strategy.  But this dealer had a real strategy, money in the budget to carry out the tactics, metrics to measure the success, and a great story to tell about customer retention!   

Of course, I think my session was important as well – offering a concise roadmap for the evolution of a partner business from the model that worked pretty well in the past to the model that is needed to survive and thrive going forward.  It is the roadmap that I mention in my white paper on who in the reseller channel will survive and who won’t.  Whether a reseller is offering their customers legacy PBX’s, VoIP, collaboration, unified messaging or other “solutions”, the evolution of their business is still critical.  I knew that some of the attendees would just shake their heads when they saw the roadmap and think “thanks but no thanks”.  I don’t expect that they’ll be at the elite dealers’ conference next year.  Their business will be floundering as product sales and margins continue to decrease.  Other attendees nodded their heads in agreement or understanding as I outlined the key evolutionary steps and tactics for the overall business, sales, marketing, and operations.  I expect that these executives will be back at the conference next year doing better than ever. 

So kudos to companies like Mitel – who not only talk about their own success and roadmap for the future, but ensure that their dealers have a number of the tools that they’ll need to succeed in the ever-changing world of today and tomorrow. 

Tags: Unified Communications Information //