Satisfying The Masses

Eddy Wong, president of New York City-based solution provider GG Group, recently did something most of his peers probably don't do often enough. He undertook his own vendor-selection process.

What he did was take stock of the vendor programs in which his company was enrolled, the vendor programs he should explore and how the products he sells stack up in the marketplace.

Related Research What a VAR Wants: What makes a partner feel satisfied. Top Factor: What's most important to partners.

"I had a client ask me to refer him to a different vendor because the one he was using wasn't very good," Wong says. "So I wondered why I sell this vendor product." The question prompted Wong to go through his vendors, which he generally does on an as-needed basis, and re-evaluate his offerings and the programs in which GG Group participates.

Wong tallied up some positive and negative encounters he had with vendors. The exercise revealed what a good vendor-partner program should entail, as well as pitfalls solution providers should avoid.

Wong isn't alone in taking stock of his vendor programs. But moves like this show a channel trend that a growing number of solution providers are talking about--a reversal of roles. The tide is shifting from the vendor dictating terms to solution providers; VARs now view themselves as having the power to demand more from their vendors, and to more selectively choose the programs they join and the products they sell. Solution providers want the vendors to court them with their partner programs' qualities and their products' value propositions. Instead of vendors expecting solution providers to just join the program and sell product without any value-add to them, today it's about solution providers wanting to know what vendors can offer them.

NEXT: Learning the ropes