D-Link Bulks Up VAR Discounts, Rebates

D-Link executive vice president Keith Karlsen said the business and consumer networking vendor is bent on helping existing VARs reach new levels of profitability with its new D-Link Premier Partner Program. He said the program lowers the revenue commitment required to become an authorized D-Link VAR and also offers higher levels of incentives through increased sales of D-Link business class products like network switches, wireless, IP surveillance and storage gear.

Karlsen said the changes should entice more VARs to become Diamond Partners, which now require $50,000 or more in D-Link product sales per quarter, a drop from the $75,000 required under the old program. Premier Partners require $25,000 or more in product sales per quarter.

Also effective immediately, the more than 3,500 authorized D-Link VARs will also receive automatic up-front discounts on purchases of D-Link business products, education and government applications. Additionally, D-Link has upped its back-end rebates. D-Link also added a new Volume Incentive Rebates (VIRs), which will offer them the same percentage on every product sold depending on VAR revenue levels for each quarter.

"The more our partners sell, the more they earn in rebates," Karlsen said. "Many of the discount and rebate percentages have been increased to reflect our commitment to helping our VARs reach their sales goals."

Later, Karlsen added, "they can make as much as they want based on how much they sell."

Brad Faizy, president of Tech On Web, an Addison, Texas-based solution provider, said D-Link's new program is offering more benefits than before. Between the up front and backend funding, he said, he can be more aggressive with price points and compete better against solutions from Netgear and Linksys.

Faizy estimated that under D-Link's new channel program, he could realize as much as 14 percent on the back end, a rebate that other manufacturers can't even come close to.

"They've been extremely aggressive and very responsive," he said. "And because of that our sales have skyrocketed."

Faizy estimated his D-Link sales jumped from somewhere in the hundreds of thousands to well over a million in recent years and he sees that growing further as the new program really takes shape.

He added that D-Link has offered quick turnaround on projects, getting in contact within hours instead of days, a turnaround that can make or break a deal in some cases.

"We have to be quick at getting quotes out to our customers," he said.

Along with updating the discount and rebate options, Karlsen said Diamond level VARs will also have access to D-Link's field sales support and engineering teams that work with them throughout the sales cycle.

"We believe it is important for all of our VARs to get field support," he said. "Through our research we know that most of our competitors do not always offer it, and that many times our field engineering teams are just what our VARs need to reach the next level of their sales goals."

As part of the restructured rebate system, D-Link's new program will not require VARs to specify how their rebate money is allocated. Partners will not have to waste time determining where their rebate funds are coming from, product by product.

Karlsen said the updates stemmed from complaints from partners that the old program was complicated and made it difficult for VARs to realize true profitability.

"We want to make this more attractive," he said.