Taking the Lead

Building partner loyalty

Honing their lead generation skills can help small or new developers build partner loyalty, according to Peter Bohnert, vice president of applications and a principal at Transitional Data Services, an IT services company in Hopkinton, Mass.

Transitional Data last year became an Authorized Gold Partner for Compiere, which provides open-source ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM applications.

"We're seeing some good lead-in from companies like Compiere," said Bohnert. "We happen to be the only Compiere partner in the northeastern United States."

While the two companies have worked together for only about a year, the relationship is off to a promising start, said Steve Gunderson, vice president of sales and marketing and a principal at Transitional Data. The partnership has helped increase Transitional Data's open-source business, Gunderson said.

The IT services company is currently working on one contract that came through the vendor's Web site referral and has several more in the pipeline, Bohnert added. "They're growing into what they can do for their partners," he said. "They're trying to take a more active role and get leads to the right people."

Programs gain sharp edge

Vendors continue to hone their referral and lead generation programs. When Adtran, a supplier of networking and communications solutions, updated its Adtran Advantage Partner Program for North America in February, it implemented an automated lead distribution system and deal registration program based on its partners' membership level and areas of proficiency, according to company representatives.

"This year, we have further enhanced the program to bring added benefits to our partners in the areas that are most important to them, such as partner profitability, ease of doing business, lead generation and voice/data convergence," said Ted Cole, vice president of channel sales at Adtran, in Huntsville, Ala. "These changes will help us continue our channel growth and strengthen our focus on the SMB [small and midsize business] market."

Similarly, when it launched its new program for North American resellers, NetOp Tech emphasized its partners' ability to tap global and local references and sales leads.

The Chicago-based company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Danish software maker Danware, divided its program into five levels, consisting of gold certified, certified, registered, certified consulting and international certified partner.

For its part, 8e6 Technologies, which develops Internet filtering and reporting solutions, said the 8e6 PartnerFocus program it launched in August provides participants with "real leads that are prequalified by the 8e6 business development and channel sales team to facilitate growth and drive new revenue." In addition, partners of the Orange, Calif., company can earn margins of up to 40 percent on registered deals, the representatives said.

Of all sizes

Large vendors frequently include lead referral and lead generation offerings in at least the top tier of their channel programs. These software developers and hardware manufacturers must balance providing leads —preferably prequalified —to one or several members of their channel program, based on several criteria such as geography and vertical and technical expertise.

"HP's lead-routing rules ensure that customers are contacted by the most qualified registered HP partners in their area," said Tom LaRocca, vice president of partner development and programs for Hewlett-Packard's Solution Partners Organization, Americas, in Palo Alto, Calif.

"HP's routing logic qualifies partners for specific leads based on factors such as their certifications, Partner­ONE membership and proof of performance," LaRocca said. "This stringent prequalification process ensures that the partners who have been assigned to the customer are the most qualified to handle the lead."

Keeping it simple is crucial, vendor executives agree.

"We want to make it easy and [fast] for partners. We get them enabled as friction-free and inexpensively as possible," said IBM's Wong.

Participants in IBM's PartnerWorld program at the advanced or premier level are eligible to receive leads after achieving certain minimal requirements such as demonstrating at least one customer implementation, Wong said.

IBM's PartnerWorld program—which encompasses all partners including consultants and integrators, ISVs and resellers—took the top spot in IDC's "Worldwide Top 10 ISV Partner Programs 2006 Vendor Analysis: Enabling ISV Partners for Success." Other leaders included Microsoft, SAP, Oracle and HP, IDC said in the report, published in December.

Advanced and Premier ISVs can use IBM's Sales Connections lead registration system to connect with IBM sales personnel or partners around the world.

ISVs enter a sales opportunity into Sales Connections online, are contacted by IBM within three days to validate the entry and are then connected with the most appropriate individuals, according to IBM representatives.

Below the managed services waterline

To date, more than 2,200 partner leads have been submitted, Wong said. And in the third quarter of 2006, partners entered 387 leads —a 330 percent increase over the prior year's third quarter, he added.

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