Enterasys Tweaks Partner Program, Spotlights Registrations
Enterasys understands the value of knowledge lies not just in the satisfaction of being able to answer customers’ questions correctly. The value of knowledge can lead to fatter wallets for channel partners, Enterasys believes, and as such has made adjustments to its channel program.
“We developed the 2011 Advantage Program to financially motivate our partners to become qualified on all our products and services,” said Bill Przybylinski, director of North America channels/distribution at Enterasys.
Included in the program are free presales technical specialization courses, designed to arm channel partners with the technical expertise they need to competently manage the sales process with their end user customers.
“Many competitors ask for significant investment in training, which in most cases partners aren’t seeing any type of revenue prior to taking the courses,” he said. “That’s not our strategy – we want our partners to be armed with the knowledge the need when they go out and sell these solutions.”
The program also now includes a fourth, top-tier level – the Diamond level – which features the highest discounting incentives to achieve the highest level of margins, particularly with new customers, Przybylinski said. “It’s a revenue requirement of $1.5 million but 20 percent will be new customer, new deal business. That’s in line with the goals and needs of the company.”
Enterasys also broke out registered deals into three categories – new customer, new deal; existing customer; and prequalified leads – to better level the playing field for its channel partners, he said. “It’s a simple program with three major categories. The new deal registration process makes it easier for partners to identify special pricing opportunities for new business deals and lock in those deals through price protection.”
Przybylinski noted the changes to Enterasys’ partner program are geared toward helping partners find – and land – new customers.
“When we looked at our plans for 2011, as well as the feedback from our partners on their expectations and growth, we all agreed that it’s difficult to grow business by simply maintaining an installed customer base,” Przybylinski said. “We have a 97 percent customer satisfaction rating vs. 80 percent customer satisfaction for the rest of the industry. Our partners see happy customers stay. So if they go after new customers, their business will grow.”
The tweaks to the program also provides partners with a high-touch support model through Enterasys’s sales and engineering teams, as well as the executive teams to support partners in customer opportunities.
“We’ve built achievable goals,” he said. “This new program allows our partners to get in at a low cost and grow their revenue with minimum investment. They have the ability to earn attractive margins.”
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