Delivering Value: Beyond Price & Availability

Ease of doing business was selected by 73.8 percent of solution provider respondents in the 2006 CRN Sourcing Study as either a "very important" or an "extremely important" reason why they purchase from a supplier. That put it ahead of price and availability, breadth of product lines and 10 other choices.

"You always want to make more money, but spending one or two points more to get the service and product on time is worth it to me," said Jay Hakami, president of Sky IT Group, New York. "Being in the VAR services business, we have relationships with our clients and we want strong relationships with our suppliers."

It's a sentiment echoed by many solution providers that have learned through years of experience what makes a good supplier partner—and a bad one. Unanswered phone calls, high turnover among sales reps and inconsistent availability aren't going to win a supplier a lot of business.

"You have to deliver in a timely fashion. If they're not thorough and providing good service, we [won't buy]," said Alain Bezahler, president of Boston Computers and Peripherals, Sharon, Mass. "If we ask for a quote or have a question and we don't get a prompt answer, or if they don't ship something on time and don't tell you, we'll go somewhere else."

In essence, ease of doing business often encapsulates many of the other reasons on the list: availability, personal relationships, problem solving and product knowledge, solution providers said.

"Each distributor is only as important as their current sales rep. A bad distributor will get more business if they have a good sales rep and a lousy sales rep is going to lose a sales opportunity for the best distributor," said Risa Stolly, president of A-Prompt, a Whitehall, Pa., solution provider.

"That's very important," she said. "Regardless of whether it's an individual or team, it's very important that people be there for you and that you trust them. If I call a distributor with a question and they give me an answer, I'm more likely to place that order with that distributor even if the price is a little higher. I appreciate the value of them giving me that information."