Tipping The Scale In Your Favor

If you don't know how to get your vendors' attention, getting the most out of their partner programs will seem like an uphill battle. But it doesn't have to be. Setting your expectations correctly can help you move mountains, turning vendors into venerable business partners.

Vendors that invest in an idea to grow market share with solution providers look for tangible, quantifiable results. Therefore, the secret to success is based on the creation of a strategic alliance and a true value proposition spelled out in a joint business plan.

	HP'S LANE NONNENBERG says partnerships must be mutually beneficial.

"When we work with IBM, HP and Compaq, it's with a business plan that has a consistent methodology to ensure a return on investment for the OEM that can be measured," says Tom Ducatelli, vice president of business development and supply-chain management for Dallas-based integrator CompuCom. "If we surpass it, we expect to earn additional money."

"Vendors are anxious for partners to execute well-thought-out and clearly defined business-development activities," agrees Gene Bledsoe, a partner with Dallas-based Casal Group, an integrated marketing agency that focuses on IT companies. "Going to vendors and asking them to allow you to buy more T-shirts, to fund your annual golf sales-team tournament or for more free demo equipment is not a well-thought-out marketing activity."

But when you create a solid marketing plan, you can get a lot more than free T-shirts in the deal. Solution providers that work closely with Sun, for example, are getting involved in beta programs, pilots and new initiatives,

according to Joe Womack, vice president of Sun's Americas eSun partner sales.

The most valuable payoff for working closely with vendors is a solid partner to back you and provide leads as you venture into new business territory. "That's the biggest win-win for both vendor and partner," Bledsoe says, adding that developing incremental business is key.

You can put your company in the drivers' seat of vendors' partner programs by taking eight conscious steps to cement the vendor/solution-provider relationship.

1. Communicate: All true partnerships begin with communication. Vendors and solution providers need to be honest with each other about their strengths and weaknesses. Lane Nonnenberg, vice president and general manager at HP's Channels, Alliances and Partners Business, stresses the importance of developing a "capabilities map." Such a map, he says, tracks what HP does well in a solution set, what the partner does well,and where each needs to fill in the gaps.

In addition, you've got to keep your vendor partners informed. If your profile is outdated in their databases, for example, you might miss out on leads. "Our field sales force has to know who the 'go-to partners' really are," says Dan Vertrees, vice president for North America partner sales and marketing at Houston-based Compaq. "When we come out with new initiatives, [those solution providers can be] the individuals to evangelize these new programs."

2. Talk to the right people: Communication must take place on the right level. "Remember that almost everyone in the vendor's organization can say no to your special proposal, but only a few people can say yes," advises Casal Group's Bledsoe. "Make sure you are at the right level of the vendor's organization before you ask for special concessions and considerations."

3. Differentiate: A crucial message you need to communicate to a vendor partner is what differentiates your business from the competition. "The only way to do that is to have something that's yours," says Phil Mogavero, executive vice president of Data Systems West (DSW), a Woodland Hills, Calif.-based e-business solutions integrator. "Whether it's hosting, consulting or something else, you need to add a spin to what you do." HP's Nonnenberg agrees: "If HP and a partner come together and create a unique solution in a particular geography, solution segment or industry, we are going to have a better time of things because there is something unique and powerful we can take to market."

4. Participate: Customer events, sales initiatives, briefings, councils, roundtables, conferences and retreats can be timeconsuming, Sun's Womack admits. "But the solution providers that participate in those opportunities tend to see more of their ideas and preferences enacted in the channel model," he adds.

5. Plan: Long-term, mutually beneficial relationships don't just happen; they require careful planning. Spell out who your target customer is, what market segment you belong to, what industry you're in, how you handle lead generation and what your sales engagement model is. All these things have to go into the marketing plan as well as the overall program plan for the solution you're putting together.

6. Review your plan: "If it's something you commit to on paper or a Web site, you should come back to it, not only to review it but to change it,it's your guidebook for how you're going to drive the business plan forward," Nonnenberg says. Womack agrees, saying he likes to sit down with partners at least quarterly to review mutual expectations.

7. Commit: Putting plans down on paper isn't enough. Solution providers at the head of their vendors' lists are the ones who have "skin in the game," as DSW's Mogavero puts it. "I want bilateral skin in the game," Nonnenberg agrees. "We both have to invest, and there has to be a mutual business benefit for each of us before entering into this relationship. The closer you come to actually identifying what that is, the better off you are in the long term."

8. Walk the walk: Don't just talk the talk. One of the most convincing ways to demonstrate a solid commitment between you and your vendor partner is to use each other's products and solutions. The fact that both Pleasanton, Calif.-based Documentum, a content-management solutions company, and HP use each other's products internally helps convince customers that their partnership is a serious one, says Gerry Machi, vice president of e-business alliances for Documentum. "We've been running on HP platforms for at least six years, and HP has our software in many of its business units," he says. "That [results in] lots of recommendations to customers."

A solid vendor/solution-provider alliance is much more than a set of business transactions. "It's a relationship that has to be developed," Nonnenberg says.