Just two weeks ago, Dell surprised many with its announcement to sell
products through distribution. Immediately, channel message boards were
filled with discussions on how this would affect sales or what this would mean
for key competitors.
While vendors and analysts alike shared their expert opinions on whether or
not this was a good thing, I decided to talk to the businesses owners who now
had a new option at distribution. “This is a good thing,” said one partner.
“While I cannot go on the record, I can tell you that any time we increase
competition and add some change, we all win.”
Very few partners were willing to go on the record, but many were willing to
share their secrets for winning with Dell in distribution.
Competition from Dell is good.
“The manufacturers may say that nothing is going to change, but they are
worried. This increases our position with them as they work harder to keep
their products in front of us.” Learn to leverage your manufacturer's
sales representatives. If you have a Dell product in mind, check the
competition to look for the best price for you and your customer.
Dell wait time is reduced through distribution.
Products that used to take weeks to arrive from Dell can now be shipped much
faster through distribution. “We used to have these awful wait times, and
time is money to us. We need the product at our customer location to
begin the installation.”
Credit is available.
Both Ingram Micro and Tech Data have credit lines available for solution
providers. If you do not have a credit line with Dell, now is a great
time to take advantage of the financing terms available through your
distribution team.
Increase your special bids.
“Having Dell at distribution helps us all. We can shop more prices.
The No. 1 competitor for us and Dell is HP, and they are always selling up to 10
points below any price we get just to take the account direct. That can
change now that we can use incentives from distribution and Dell.” Don’t
be afraid to work with your distribution and manufacturing representatives at
the same time. Oftentimes, a distribution representative has a direct
line to the manufacturer and can assist with special bids over the phone.
At the same time, you still have the option to work directly with your Dell
representative and allow them the opportunity to win your business.
Gartner may be predicting a steep decline in PC sales, but the federal
government is going to be opening new lines of funding for local and state
governments, education, and health care. Dell has played well in all of
these areas with products and programs focusing on these verticals. Now
might be the time for your business to work with Dell and distribution for
increased revenue and profits.
Kathleen A. Martin is
special projects coordinator for Channel Insider.
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