Integrity Is King, Say Government VARs

If there's one thing VARs are seeking most from their vendors, it's integrity, agreed attendees at a town hall meeting Wednesday at the 2007 XChange Government Integrator conference.

During the discussion, which was moderated by GovernmentVAR and VARBusiness editor Lawrence M. Walsh, VARs shared horror stories about how vendors' lack of integrity has hampered their ability to grow.

"[One vendor] came out with a program that I put a model around, and the next year they had a new manager and a new program," a VAR said. "I lost money for four years on a five-year contract because they changed my pricing. But if I dropped them, I would've been in contract violation. I had to pay for them to maintain my reputation in the government. People say that's just the way it is, but that's not right. That's integrity to me."

VARs agreed that margin protection is a common way for vendors to win them over, but partners had mixed feelings about deal-registration opportunities. While some said they wouldn't be profitable without such opportunities, one VAR called deal registration a "band-aid" for what he sees as the bigger problem of overdistribution.

"It creates extra paperwork for me, and instead of letting me focus on the technology and provide solutions, I'm working with the vendors and I have to do one thing for market development funds and another for deal registration, and maybe I get [the money] back in four months," said the VAR. "I'd rather sell and have them limit distribution for that market.

As for how vendors can improve channel programs, VARs called on them to make sure they offer incentives to their own channel-facing staff to support new programs.

"I can map our Cisco business success by the reps hired in our given territory," one attendee said. "If the programs aren't enforced to the team, they do no good; in fact, they do harm. We can't enforce the programs as a reseller or we'll get our reps in trouble. So it's critical to push vendors to have teams to support programs in order for them to be effective."

VARs agreed that vendors' loyalty levels varied by the size of the vendor and the size of the deal.

"They also need to have the understanding that we may not be bidding them on this job because it may not be the right solution," another VAR added. "If you do that, a lot of time their loyalty shrinks, but they need to support us in that if it's the wrong solution I'm doing myself harm as a business."

Attendees agreed, however, that the government channel is highly reliant on vendors to maintain profitability, even more so than in the commercial sector. That said, it's ultimately up to the VAR to "own the relationship with clients" if they want to survive and prosper, the crowd agreed.

"You have to control the account; you have to own the customer," a VAR said.

Tweet

   

More