The Real Influence

Considering the exponential growth these Web integrators experienced in 1999 and 2000, vendors scrambled to develop programs to quantify the amount of products these solution providers influenced in a given sale.

As the cache of Web integrators has faded, however, so has vendors' focus on the influencer model.

But now is not the time to ignore this constituency; influencers have actually grown, not diminished, in their influence. Today, all types of solution providers influence product sales,especially hardware sales,that they may not necessarily purchase for the end user.

The reasons are myriad. First, many VARs are positioning themselves differently than in years past. They are solving business problems and acting as consultants with a specialty. Very often, VARs may tell a client, "You'll need a router, so go find a Cisco XYZ product." The fact remains, this group of solution providers still tells the end user, particularly in the SMB market, what to buy.

Meanwhile, the direct-sales efforts of hardware vendors as well as credit issues, delivery lags and other hassles have prompted solution providers to adopt the influencer model, telling end users where and what to purchase as part of a solution without taking title to the products themselves.

Some vendors have yet to grasp the nuances of this purchasing behavior. Instead, they assume that the end user researched and decided which product to buy, because the product was purchased directly on a Web site or through a mail-order firm.

Vendors need to figure out a way to credit all solution providers who influence a sale. If they correlate direct purchases with only end users, they are missing a huge piece of the puzzle, and their solution provider loyalty could be compromised as a result.

How often do you influence purchases? I can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].