Specialty Distributors Score Big By Forging Close Ties With VARs
“Regardless of where you buy from, it’s all about who we can build a relationship with,” Phillips said.
s solution providers grow more specialized, so do their buying habits.
Specialty distributors were well-represented among the top 50 preferred sources designated in the CRN 2005 Sourcing Study. The five that ranked highest among that community were Avnet, Arrow Electronics, ScanSource, SED International and Agilysys. Point-of-sale and RFID technology distributor ScanSource was tops when it came to performance.
Some solution providers with a bent toward a specialty technology practice, such as security or wireless, swear by the depth of relationships a specialty distributor can provide.
“We typically try to use specialty distributors,” said Michelle Drolet, CEO of Conqwest, a security integrator and reseller in Holliston, Mass. “They have very, very close ties and one-on-one relationships not only with the vendors, but with us.”
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Two of Conqwest’s close distributors are Securematics, Santa Clara, Calif., and Interwork Technologies, Ottawa. The depth of these relationships translates into better pricing as well as better product delivery, Drolet said.
Indeed, Bob Whiton, president of Net Solutions, a solution provider in Tustin, Calif., said he turns to specialty distributors more often, especially when he needs products in a hurry.
For Whiton, one main motivator is this community’s ready access to specific products. Specialty distributors have also picked up the slack when it comes to offering products on a will-call basis, he said, which has inspired him to align with more sources at the regional level.
And then there’s the matter of rebates. Some of Whiton’s vendors only run specific programs through select specialty distributors, which has forced a shift in his sourcing habits. “There are special cases where you’re directed by the vendor. There’s more and more of that,” Whiton said.
For Glen Jodoin, vice president of operations at GreenPages, Kittery, Maine, using specialty distributors is a matter of culture. Since they tend to be smaller, his own team often finds it easier to work with them on building solutions and for things like training. Jodoin points to increasingly close partner Alternative Technology, Englewood, Colo., as an example.
“Sometimes you find partners that just mesh with your sales force,” he said.
His sentiments are echoed by Doug Phillips, vice president of product and solutions at Seneca Data, a large custom-system builder in North Syracuse, N.Y.
Although Seneca Data is large enough to negotiate direct relationships with vendors—and indeed is viewed by some other solution providers as a product source itself—it often opts for the specialty route when buying components because specialized distributors can be more flexible.