4. Cisco Partnership Is More Profitable
Lloyd's response on why a Cisco partner is more profitable than a solution provider who aligns closely with HP: "It's a simple formula -- I'd rather sell something for $100 for a certain percentage of margin than something at $60 for the same percentage of margin, because the unit of work I had to deliver with my sales force, with my infrastructure, with my services capabilities, I'd like to maximize that, the gross profit dollar that came from that unit of work. I'm confused as to how you make more money if the value proposition is to sell less dollars at the same margin, or 'we'll give you a rebate to make it try to look [like] more.' I'm confused, because the last time I checked, more dollars and more margin helps me build a profitable business and helps me get a return on resources that are always scarce and limited. I have limited availability to invest in a sales team, limited availability to run a service practice. We've built the collaborative approach to each of those things. I don't know how selling something at 70 percent of what I was selling at a dollar helps make me more profit. I'm sorry. Someone's going to have to explain it to me."
Next Slide >
