As part of the 2009 Partner Program Guide, Everything Channel, parent company of CRN, surveyed solution providers to gain further insight into how vendors might improve their partner programs. In addition, vendors submitted applications detailing their partner programs that were then evaluated by Everything Channel's Institute for Partner Education & Development on operational performance and more. Based on those evaluations, some partner programs were designated as 5-Stars.

So what do VARs feel goes into a top-notch partner program? For one, vendors might think about increasing their technical training initiatives, as that was chosen as the most important program component by solution providers. Sixty-one percent of respondents rated technical training as extremely important or very important. The availability of demo or evaluation equipment was second at 59 percent.

"For our top vendors, [technical training] is our value-add and access to that, essentially getting our guys up to speed, is important to us. For them to invest in me, in us, it lets us do all our own presales, implementation, support services," said Dave Gilden, partner and COO of Acuity Solutions, a Tampa, Fla.-based solution provider.

The least important vendor program components, according to the survey, were the size of the partner community and how a vendor monitors the growth of its partners' business. Further testimony on this topic comes from the fact that the areas where VARs want to spend their MDFs from vendors is in training and certification (53 percent) and demo and evaluation equipment (52 percent), according to the survey.

Steve Bright, CEO of Fidelity Max, a Kansas City, Mo.-based solution provider, said the ability to spend MDF dollars there gives his company an advantage in the marketplace.

"If we can have demos that we've never used before and we can set one out on-site and leave it there for a short period, we can show how it benefits [customers]," Bright said. "We don't even have to come pick it up. A demo program gets me in the door and gets me an account that I might not otherwise get. Or it exposes the client to technology that they might never have paid money for up front because they didn't understand it."

Solution providers also want vendors to actively help them increase their services attach rate, according to the study. That was chosen as extremely important or very important to 42 percent of solution providers when measuring their satisfaction with channel programs in which they are most active. Sales incentives, such as rebates and spifs, was a close second with 41 percent.

The reason is simple, said Patrick Dolan, director of business development at TCC Technologies, Carrollton, Texas. "That's where our real margin is. If we can drive services, that's even paramount over sales of hardware. That's really what we're shooting for," he said. Other solution providers wholeheartedly agreed. "It's money. There's no other reason. [Services] is where you make your margin. They also create entanglement and deeper relationships with customers," said Acuity's Gilden.

Larry Hedin, vice president of sales and marketing at Heartland Technology Solutions, Des Moines, Iowa, said a vendor that can drive a higher services attach rate is truly valuable.

"There's no doubt that a heavily services-oriented company is more profitable than one without a services focus," he said.

Next: Technical Skills Count In another finding, solution providers feel that proven technical skills based on the number of implementations and reference accounts should be the most important criteria in determining the tiered levels of a partner program. Meanwhile, a partner's sales volume and the number of certifications held, often used as program criteria, were dubbed the least important criteria, according to VARs.

Some small VARs feel their larger competitors have an unfair advantage when it comes to a vendor's partner program tiers, even if the smaller company has the same skill set.

"It's hard for us to move on. We never get the sales volume. We tend to have smaller deals," said TCC Technologies' Dolan.

Fidelity Max's Bright agreed, noting that it's especially difficult for newer VARs to move up a vendor's food chain.

"If a vendor's program has any level of [tiered] partnership, I usually don't participate," he said. "If they give these [large] guys extra incentives, extra discounts, how does anyone starting out even have a shot? I believe there's enough business in this country for all of us. [Tiers] give the bigger guys, and maybe not always the best guys, more resources."

The perfect partner program might include a hybrid of rewards based on skill sets, volume and certifications, said Acuity's Gilden.

"It doesn't need to be weighted in one direction. It's the equivalent of having life experience to get your degree. I don't want to reprimand people getting training and certified, but at the end of the day, someone that has a year or two of experience in the field doing implementations is more valuable," he said.

In the study, VARs said their inability to see additional value and not meeting revenue goals to realize that value were the top reasons why they do not typically join a new vendor's program.

"From a programmatic standpoint, we look at what the commitments are. Then we compare that against what we feel the return on investment would be. If the commitments outweigh the value, typically that's when we'd walk away," Gilden said.

The benefits of an established vendor's partner program is one of the primary reasons why Fidelity Max will choose a vendor, said Bright.

"I don't do mediocre companies. Usually, we don't partner with a company right away. I'll wait two or three years for them to work the bugs out. When it comes to see the value, if they have a good product or service, there's a reason to partner. If it's just to have access to the products, that's no incentive," he said.

When solution providers do look for new partner programs to join, access to product discounts and rebates, leads and demo equipment are the three primary motivators, according to the survey research. Product discounts and rebates help you create enough margin initially to support bringing on a new vendor, said Hedin.

"Then, of course, if those products are part of a bigger solution, they lend themselves to us selling services or recurring services wrapped around that," he said.

Gilden noted that discounts and rebates can be great motivators, but it also depends on the difference in rebates for those in the program and those not in the program.

"I don't care if I can get 40 percent off if the next person gets 30. The spread is very, very important," Gilden said. "Also, the leads are great but it's also about how they go to market. It's one thing to say, 'Here's a lead,' it's another to say, 'There's an opportunity here, we'd like to engage with you and go talk to the customer.' "

Extra margin is also the most important element of a vendor's deal-registration program, according to the survey. Thirty-two percent of VARs said extra margin leaves them extremely satisfied or very satisfied with deal registration.

"It gives us the opportunity for some bigger deals without the fear of someone swooping in on the deal, or some vendors taking a bigger deal direct," he said.

And when it comes to leads, nearly half of the VARs in the survey said qualified leads are the best way for a vendor to motivate and support their solution provider partners. That was the top choice by a wide margin over MDFs and dedicated field or inside account personnel.

"Leads are not hard to come by. Qualified leads are hard to come by," said Hedin. "In a lot of cases, we've invested in a vendor's sales training and tech certifications and we have all the things we need to be able to act on truly qualified leads. If a vendor can qualify those and frame them up for us, we can respond quickly and create pipeline very rapidly. It cuts down the whole sales cycle."

Hewlett-Packard is a vendor that understands VARs need qualified leads to truly drive deal closures, Hedin said. "I know they're working hard to qualify those, particularly in the ProCurve business. Our close rate is much better with them," he said.