David Bromwich, Specialist in IT & Telecommunications Sales at
Hays, shares his thoughts on the result of the 2012 ‘What Channels Need To
Succeed’ Survey by The Channel Partnership. An expert in all aspects of the IT
& Telecommunications sales markets, he would be happy to hear from anyone
interested in this post by email or on LinkedIn.
The 2012 ‘What Channels Need To Succeed’ Survey asked 250 participants, working across a mix of
managerial and front-line sales roles in the technology and telecoms
industries, a range of questions regarding their relationships with vendors and
how these could be improved. There are some interesting findings in the
results, which suggest that while most VARs are relatively happy with their
vendors, there is some clear room for improvement in a number of areas, often
reflecting changes in the approach to sales more widely.
A key trend
that appears in the results is a desire to have a greater understanding of the commercial
value of both the products offered by vendors and the insights trends
surrounding the product, including market trends, competitor activity and
customer needs. Training on products and technology were seen as the most
highly valued support features from vendors (51.2%), with training on skills
and competencies following closely (46.4%). Commercial insight and more
training were both seen as having a high impact on increasing sales, beaten
only by brand awareness.
Furthermore,
lack of effective training on products and services was frequently listed as a
frustration (22.6%). This shows the importance of training for VARS and
suggests that, while a number of vendors are providing this support, there is
still room for improvement. This is further highlighted by the fact that 52.4%
of participants rated their vendor’s support as good and 35.7% rated it as
satisfactory, with only 8% rating it as excellent. While the majority of
vendors are not performing badly, it does appear that there is plenty of room
for improvement.
These results are not surprising, considering the wider changes
that have taken place in the sales industry recently. The end user now has much
greater access to the features and pricing on products than was previously
available. They do not need salespeople who will only reel off a list of
features before launching into price negotiations. As part of the wider culture
of solutions selling, VARs need to be able to explain how the product will make
life easier for the end user and the value it will bring to them. Vendors need
to support VARs in this.
What more could vendors do to support VARs in the changing
marketplace?
