Hewlett-Packard is rolling out a new preferred pricing program for channel partners that commit to leading with HP products in the early stages of deals.
In a letter to partners last week, Scott Dunsire, vice president and general manager of U.S. channel sales for HP's Printing and Personal Systems division, announced Discount for Value Pricing (DVP), a form of deal registration that is designed to give partners an edge on the competition.
"With approved DVP, you will receive a unique price for that specific project, providing you with a competitive edge to win new business against competitors," Dunsire said in the letter. "Our intent with DVP is to reward you for engaging HP early on in the new business process."
[Related: HP Back In Tablet Game With New ElitePad 900]
To apply for DVP, partners simply inform their HP account manager and submit an HP DVP request form 30 days prior to the publish date for a request for quotation (RFQ), Dunsire said.
DVP is HP's latest bid to rekindle loyalty with channel partners concerned over declining profit margins from selling HP products. Last month, HP began offering 60-day financing from Wells Fargo, GE Capital, IBM and De Lage Landen as part of a program that aims to ease partners' cash flow concerns when spinning up HP deals.
"Essentially, we're helping pay the interest cost for partners and making sure cash flow is not an inhibitor for them growing," John Solomon, senior vice president of Americas sales for HP PPS, told CRN in an interview last month. "This is something we haven't done in the past, and we think of it as proof of what we're doing to re-ignite the channel."
HP has seen its share of channel leadership changes over the past couple of years, and the company reshuffled the deck earlier this year after combining its PC and printer businesses. In a meeting with partners earlier this week in HP's hometown of Palo Alto, Calif., CEO Meg Whitman said no additional channel changes are planned.
According to partners in attendance, Whitman's focus during the hour and a half Q&A was on reaffirming HP's goal of making partners more profitable in spite of the challenges facing many of its businesses.
PUBLISHED OCT. 1, 2012
