Commercial Integrator + Security Sales July 2024 - 13

what other offerings might it usurp
(especially in the security space)?
Commercial Integrator: How often
do you reevaluate existing vendor
relationships? Once a vendor is " in "
with your MSP firm, does that vendor
still have to prove itself to retain the
relationship?
Mike Nunn: Vendor relationships need
to be evaluated constantly. Vendors are
there to help grow our business. And, if
that's not happening, they need to know
it right away, without waiting for an
annual vendor review. Always have the
pulse on things like lead-time changes,
price increases, quality or customer
service improving or worsening, and,
lastly, putting you on credit hold without
notification (one of my pet peeves)
instead of partnering and growing with us
as volumes increase.
Stanley Louissaint: Vendors are technically
proving themselves through the
delivery of the solution and our interactions
with them. We are loyal to a vendor
up to the point that they are loyal to us.
We are not loyal when a vendor tries
to take advantage of us - either by not
delivering on the product and/or service
delivery or by not honoring their price
commitments to us without fair warning.
If a vendor is doing what they say, and
the product is doing what it's supposed
to do, we will continue with them for the
long haul.
Felicia King: QPC continually reevaluates
vendor relationships. Vendors,
products and services are evaluated at
least annually, but a variety of events
could trigger an immediate re-evaluation.
Consider the Datto sale to Kaseya. That
was something that caused a lot of MSPs
to reevaluate their relationship with
Datto. Vendors are being evaluated on an
ongoing basis informally, whether they
realize it or not. The vendors who help us
and provide value - especially by having
good products and services, which make
us look good to clients - with low TCO
are the most favorably perceived. We seek
to do more business with those vendors.
Vendors that fail to take feedback for years
are abandoned.
Denase Harris: Most of our vendors
require an annual partner meeting to discuss
satisfaction and performance. Some
larger vendors, such as Microsoft and
HPE, address this during annual program
renewal, which is done virtually. If the
vendor does not request the meeting, we
do. To make minor corrections, as needed,
we report problems with billing, sales,
support or product to our partner account
manager as the situation arises.
Joshua Liberman: There is no fixed
schedule for re-evaluation; rather, I
depend upon triggers to spur a review.
These triggers might include product
or support challenges, large cost
increases, relationship deterioration or
other factors. From a higher view, as
we are doing now, I might redesign an
entire security stack with an eye toward
efficacy, cost, or reduction of data silos
and vendor sprawl.
product and nobody else does it like you,
but, truthfully, I probably have a solution
that does what you do. And, if I don't,
your phone call isn't going to make me
buy. When we have a need, we go out
there to fill the need. It never works the
other way around.
Felicia King: Regarding vendors, they
'During vendor selection,
the most important thing
is understanding what
the problem is that I'm
trying to solve.'
- Stanley Louissaint, principal
and founder, Fluid Designs
Commercial Integrator: What advice
would you give to members of the
vendor community who might want
to establish a relationship with your
firm? What can a vendor do to catch
your eye or grab your ear?
Mike Nunn: All too often, the vendor
sales process starts off with verbal
diarrhea about how/why the vendor is
amazing...the best in the industry...all the
other companies they've sold to...blah
blah blah. On rare occasions, they take
the time to learn some things about my
business and how they may be able to
complement or improve something. Lead
by showing that you've taken the time to
understand me and my business.
Stanley Louissaint: Don't find me;
I'll find you. I'm sure you have a great
should look to the WatchGuard partner
program as an example of how to do
a partner program well. WatchGuard
provides on-demand, self-service, nearly
unlimited training to partners at no cost
to the partner, other than their time.
WatchGuard has excellent products that
make us look good to clients. The product
suite is about as comprehensive as one
could expect, enabling us to be able to get
the most leverage out of a single vendor
relationship. Furthermore, WatchGuard
does not base partner levels [on] revenue
levels except at the top tier. WatchGuard
cares more about technical competencies
and associates other benefits with sales
volume - not partner level. WatchGuard
provides NFR assets at reasonable prices.
Another great vendor is Tenable. Their
partner program is extremely beneficial
in many ways, although their partner
levels are [related to] sales volume.
Vendors must understand that, if
their product [entails] a high labor
burden rate to manage their product or
service in delivering outcomes for clients,
it won't be successful. The ability
to deliver outcomes to the SMB market
is contingent upon having quality
resources, with low burden rate, which
are reliable.
Denase Harris: Participating in vendor
showcases at quality industry sponsored
events, and/or being a speaker at
those events, is a great way to catch my
attention. Unsolicited email and requests
to connect via social media platforms like
LinkedIn are the least successful way to
engage with me if I don't already know
the vendor rep or their company.
Joshua Liberman: Be concise, eschew
obfuscation and avoid " buzzwording "
us. And be sure to provide peer reviews,
case studies, success stories, etc. Most of
us care far more about the experience of
our peers than about industry pundits'
reviews or vendor pitches. CI
July 2024 | Commercial Integrator+Security Sales & Integration
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Commercial Integrator + Security Sales July 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator + Security Sales July 2024
