Resellers have the reach into the customers. That makes a reseller valuable to you. To build a profitable relationship, you want to make yourself valuable to them.

Understand that resellers today are under tremendous economic pressure – their customers insist on the lowest possible prices, keeping margins razor thin. (The first thing a customer will do is check the price on Amazon or CDW.) A rule of thumb is that a reseller needs to have services comprise 30% of their revenues, or they’ll be out of business within 3 years.

When recruiting a reseller, describe how your product will augment the products that they’re carrying. Create that value proposition aimed towards the reseller, and then create one aimed towards their customer. How will adding your product to their line card augment sales of products they already carry? How will it be an easy upsell to their installed base of customers? If your product provides a service component that ties in with the other products they sell, that will be a strength and reason for them to add your product to their line. If their technical staff can use existing skills and knowledge with your product, that will also be helpful.

To enable your resellers, do you have sales training that they can access online? Provide sales materials that their reps can get to on their phone as they’re walking into a customer meeting, or as they’re calling a customer. Is the technical training online, and easily watchable in 20 minute chunks?

Work with the resellers reps and create a value proposition that they can use with their customers. It may vary from your corporate value proposition, based on the customers your reseller works with. It’s best to keep the communication in plain language – address the customer’s pain points and the solution provided without acronyms, if possible. Avoid marketing jargon as well! Even the term ‘value proposition’ is marketing jargon.

Putting yourself in their shoes, so to speak, understanding how they do business every day, and how they approach their customers will pay off for you in a solid relationship with your reseller partner.

Frequently, I’m engaged by clients who have just decided to sell their products or service through a reseller channel. They may be newly launching into the market, or perhaps they were selling directly and want to extend their reach much more broadly into the market, and faster.

Problem is, often the execs think that once a reseller signs the partner agreement that sales will immediately begin. Yes, that can happen if your product is setting the market on fire in its niche. Security products that protect networks against Advanced Malware are a recent example – they are hot and selling well, and resellers are flocking into those partner programs.

More typically, your product will find a place in the market but will need to be explained, demonstrated, justified and proven in the customers’ network. You need to engage the reseller owner or VP to sign the partner agreement. You need to engage the sales reps to make sales happen.

Think of bringing a reseller on board like dating – there are a few steps you take when getting to know each other, to build the relationship. Once the relationship is established, you continue to show up, to keep it good. No regular communications (newsletters, webinars), failing to initiate lead generation programs, never going out into the field with the reseller reps is like signing up for a dating service and then never answering your phone. Newbie mistake!