HP's Thompson: 'No Hidden Agenda'

The comments came a day after HP CEO Mark Hurd told Wall Street analysts that the company would “have an iron fist on doubling down [on partners committed to HP]. For the people who want to play with us, we are going to play with them twice as hard. To the people that don't, we are going to get them out of here."

Thompson, vice president and general manager of Solution Partners Organization Americas, said any changes the Palo Alto, Calif., company makes will be only to reward partners for more loyalty.

“The messaging that our CEO made was that we are going to look to reward partners doing more with HP. To put it simply, we want to do more business with you,” Thompson told VentureTech members during a keynote address.

He did not say whether HP partners would be cut for selling products and services from competing vendors. He did tell the solution providers: “We realize there are other companies out there that have product. The message here is if you&re selling storage today, we want you to sell servers and services. We will pay you more. For those selling displays, there is more opportunity for you if there&s an HP display with an HP box underneath it. It doesn&t say you can never sell something else on top of that.”

Thompson offered no details on what any loyalty changes would look like or when they might be implemented.

“This is a process, it&s not an event. We have been rolling out programs around loyalty and attachment for a year,” Thompson told CRN. “We want partners to sell more services, more options and focus on SMB customers. Loyalty is very important to us. It&s a win for partners, it&s a win for HP. Those that co-invest with us will be best positioned to expand the market.”

HP&s current loyalty programs have been successful with VentureTech members, Thompson said. He noted that about 15 percent of Venture Tech&s 400-plus VentureTech members have grown their HP business more than 25 percent in the last year. In addition, another 40 percent of VentureTech&s membership is close to reaching that target, Thompson said.

“I attribute that to listening to partners,” Thompson said. “Partnering been in the DNA of our company for over 25 years.”

HP has talked consistently about loyalty and attach rates for some time, said Paul Bay, senior vice president of vendor management at Ingram Micro.

“This is the second straight VTN meeting in which John is here in support," Bay said. "We&re seeing double-digit growth by HP [in VentureTech]. The deeper you go with HP from a product line standpoint, the more you will be rewarded.”