ChannelVision Magazine

much higher for the partner in propor- tion to the cost for the product. Instead, you are better off looking for products that provide higher value to your customers. Is the product sticky? Some products are very easy to “rip and replace.” If a customer is not satisfied with a product, they can re- place it with another that functions in a relatively similar fashion with a simi- lar outcome. When looking for a sticky product, also consider if it makes your company sticky within the account. If you find products that allow you to provide related services, such as monitoring and helpdesk, it allows you to not only show more value but helps your company remain more relevant within the product use. Does the product raise your visibility within the customer? We worked with one large re- seller who used to fulfill orders for software licensing for a very large financial services customer, but when we jointly worked on a propos- al for HVDs/DaaS, the profile of the reseller rose suddenly. They were invited to participate in much higher level meetings. Instead of only get- ting time with procurement, they were speaking with multiple people within the IT organization. They also were invited to expand their rela- tionship into lucrative data center hardware bids, such as networking equipment and servers. The sales rep on the account was amazed at how just speaking about HVDs/DaaS raised their profile and put them in a new light with their customer. Meet- ings suddenly involved very senior executives who are keen to learn about the technology and what it can do for their business, and the rela- tionship becomes much stronger be- tween resellers and their customers. This is probably a typical story for many resellers and just one example of how cloud services are more transformative and in line with digital transformation that compa- nies seek today. When evaluating a product, and the related margins, this is one criterion that also contributes to lon- gevity with customers and valuation of your business. Financial Criteria You also want to look at factors that help you build out a forecast, such as: • revenue contribution, • average deal size, • revenue per unit, • profit per unit, • profit margin as a percent. For example, if you have a pros- pect with 100 users that are candi- dates for HVDs/DaaS and you pack- age a service to them for $150 per user, you can generate an average deal size of $15,000 per month. Easy toWorkWith Some vendors are very large com- panies, and they have many product divisions. You might have one channel manager assigned and then multiple overlays. Typically, you get lost in the shuffle, and either the squeaky wheel gets the oil, or the big boys capture the vendor’s mindshare. Since you want to provide a high-value service to your customers, it should be easy to work with your vendor. Look for a vendor where you, as their partner, have high level visibility and access to their man- agement team. This will show you as a strong partner and give you more cred- ibility with your customers, allowing you to get help when you need it. Of course, there are numerous other criterions, and each company is going to have its own particular criteria that are important, as well. Be sure to note those down, include them in the evaluation grid and at- tach a score to them. o Ali Din is the chief marketing of- ficer at dinCloud, a cloud services provider that helps organizations rapidly migrate their IT infrastructure to the cloud. For more information, visit www.dincloud.com  or follow @dinCloud on Twitter. at your service: Xaas March - April, 2018 | Channel Vision 47