Brand your reseller: harness the power of referrals
When the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Thomas Hoenig, recently said that the economic outlook for the first half of 2009 looked “bleak,” your stomach may have turned over. Most likely, we will not feel any economic relief until the third quarter. At the end of 2008, factory orders, home sales and service industries were still experiencing a sharp decline. Is there even a dim light at the end of the tunnel?
How do you plan to survive the recession? How will you ensure that your customers continue to search for you for products and resources that retain significant value, even in these difficult times? If we look back through history and study successful businesses, those that stayed the course or, better yet, did well during bad economic times survived and sometimes thrived on word-of-mouth recommendations. The concept, of course, is nothing new. We use it every day. Your best friend recommends a great new Indian restaurant. Your mother just had a great experience with a new dry cleaner in town that you will now surely try. His running partner ran 10 miles in new, state-of-the-art sneakers that made those miles feel like five. You get the picture. People are more likely to try new things or make informed purchases if someone else has made a recommendation. What does this mean for VARs in 2009?
Your resellers are an integral part of your sales team
Did you know that in PC retail, 67% of everyone who walks into the store asks the sales rep for a recommendation and 97% follows it? That means 65% of the product that comes out of that store is determined by the name of the product that comes out of the mouth of a sales rep. I hope you see where I am going here. Your products must be those recommended by your resellers.
So how do you do this? How do you create a partnership with your customers to encourage them to recommend your products and services before everyone else available to you? Let’s take a look at some easy ways to rate your reseller.
– Resellers must use your product personally. Your resellers should always have their own personal copy of your latest specialized software or product that you want them to sell. You give them this. It is free for them and for them to keep it (marked as “Not for resale”). Everybody likes to get something for free. Giving them a copy of your product will only benefit you, because if a rep is using your product and they like it, they will be more actively recommending it.
– Become a teacher. Your resellers have likely used your product in conjunction with one (or more) of your competitors, so they are familiar with the general concept of why someone would want this latest piece of software. Now it’s your job to show the sales rep why an end user should choose yours. Spend some time with your resellers and offer a hands-on product tutorial. Explain the special features. Show them the points of difference that distinguish your product from others. Reinforce the outlets for them and answer their questions. Get them fully educated and engaged, and welcome them into the fold! Encourage your resellers to use it personally in their daily life. The more they use it, the more familiar it will be to them.
– Spring training. Take the time and invest in regular reseller training (or retraining) with your product. Give them a playbook and offer seminars on how resellers can easily sell you product to your customers. Is your software easier to use than any other? Does it have a proprietary backup feature? Do you have an unlimited number of users per copy? During these short training sessions (30 minutes is usually ideal), teach your resellers how to, in turn, educate end users on how to use your product. Give them the value-added prayers that will help them close the sale. By making their sales job easier, they will naturally want to recommend your product to the competition.
– Communicate changes and updates. Flagging the reseller is not a one-time deal where you enter, give the reseller a free product, and walk away, hoping they’ll use and recommend it. What happens when you create update 6.02? Or does the technology needed to use the product change? Encouraging personal use of your product is an ongoing effort. You want your resellers to have the latest version or new product available asap and then they can wholeheartedly recommend it as if they have been using it for years. So when you have to offer an upgrade or new services or features, start the training process all over again. It is your responsibility to give your resellers the tools to want to sell your product.
– Use the Internet for virtual training and communication.. Everything we’ve discussed so far in this article can be done online. While I am an advocate for face-to-face meetings, if you have a group of resellers who do not have the ability to travel easily or finding a pleasant moment is difficult, consider using your website as a portal for training and communication. You can publish white papers on your products or host webinars, training sessions, and podcasts online.
– Set the elite “Members Only”. Remind your resellers that they are part of an elite group of carefully selected companies who are valued and respected members of your team. Create a password-protected place on your site to get information and offers available only to them. Reward their loyalty with valuable information here and the occasional incentive like a spiff. Maintain regular communication, reminding them of your support for their sales efforts. Check in at least once a month to see if you can answer questions or provide additional help. At the very least, you reinforce your commitment and maintain that high level of primal awareness!
The bottom line is that in this troubled economy, you want your resellers to sell to you and their products. The easiest and simplest way to do this is to encourage them to know your services inside and out, answer any questions they have, and give them the ammunition they need to close the sale. Presenting the opportunity for a reseller to give a recommendation on something you know and feel confident in is very powerful, both for you and the reseller. The reseller views their customer as knowledgeable and service oriented. And you reap the benefits of the sale.