IBM Connects The Partner Dots

The IBM Sales Connections program enables partners to query IBM about a sales lead, then have the appropriate IBM regional territory sales manager respond within 72 hours, said Scott Hebner, vice president of strategy and marketing for ISV and developer relations at IBM, Armonk, N.Y. IBM inaugurated the program last week.

Here&'s how it works. Say a solution provider is having trouble closing a middleware software sale. That partner can simply access IBM&'s Sales Connections Web portal, type in the name of the customer and a plain language request such as “This customer may need help with financing” or “The person in procurement is dragging his feet.” IBM then comes in to improve the situation, Hebner said.

The Sales Connections program costs partners nothing, and IBM takes no markup on the service, Hebner said. What&'s in it for IBM is the opportunity to tack on additional sales, he said. “We want to have access to that opportunity,” he said.

Bill Bush has test-driven the program. Global alliance manager at business intelligence vendor Actuate, an IBM partner in San Francisco, Calif., Bush used the Sales Connection Web site to express concerns about a customer dragging its feet on an application deal. He saw results fast, he said.

“We told the IBM team we were in the process of working with so-and-so in procurements, and [IBM] came back and said “That&'s great, but that person doesn&'t have the juice,&' ” Bush said.

IBM knew who in the customer&'s procurement division had the necessary authority, connected Bush with that person and the deal was closed, he said.

Under the program, partners maintain ownership of the customer and reconnect for renewals. They don&'t have to worry about IBM closing a deal without them, Hebner said.

The program is open to partners at the Advanced level of IBM&'s PartnerWorld program, Hebner said. PartnerWorld already contains nearly 1,500 Advanced level partners, he said. Nearly 5,000 more are eligible and can sign up at no cost.