Looking to promote solution sales among its channel partners, Hewlett-Packard is offering a new set of back-end rebates to partners that provide value-added services as part of their sale of HP products.

The new Business Class Consultant compensation gives HP Preferred and Elite partners back-end rebates when they provide consultative and value-add activities to customers who purchase qualified business-class solutions, says Tom LaRocca, vice president of marketing and strategy for HP Solution Partners Organization.

The BCC offer will become available to partners on Feb. 1, and LaRocca says he expects "hundreds" of partners to line up to take advantage of the new program. With back-end rebates, partners will be able to more accurately gauge upcoming revenues at the beginning of the sales cycle, which can help them be more competitive, he says.

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“We anticipate that with BCC, our Preferred and Elite partners will be able to plan more effectively, invest with HP and deliver more value to end users," LaRocca says.

To take advantage of the BCC offer, partners go through a simple deal registration process for eligible volume hardware sales. Partners submit a statement of work that lays out the proposed opportunity and make a commitment to provide specific value-add services through the HP Deal Registration tool, LaRocca says, much like HP’s existing deal registration process.

“There is a minimum deal size to qualify,” says LaRocca, but partners are already used to working within those types of constraints. “It’s very much the same as the normal deal registration process and minimums,” he says. The BCC program is also "stackable" with other HP solution provider incentive programs, which can provide partners with even greater rebates and rewards.

The BCC program will be piloted first on sales of Industry Standard Server, Business Class Storage and ProCurve Networking solutions, LaRocca says, and is available across all account segments, including Enterprise/Corporate, Commercial Named and Non-Named, and Public Sector (SLED and Federal). Partners will receive varying rebate percentages depending on which products they sell, he says.

LaRocca adds that the program is ideal for solution providers selling to customers of any size, whether SMB or enterprise. Once any kinks are worked out, LaRocca says more solutions will be added under the BCC program.

“Once we get some history, some idea of turnaround times and address any issues, then we’ll be able to add more solutions. We want to make sure we are doing this right first,” he says.

HP also announced the launch of an HP Partner Toolbar, which gives partners one-click access to the HP Partner Portal. The tool was developed based on partners’ need for convenient access to their most commonly visited sites within HP’s partner portal, says LaRocca.

The toolbar is a simple download that sits on partners’ desktops. It includes customizable buttons, a real-time news ticker and other easily accessible features, and is available now on the HP Partner Portal.

“Partners at one of our advisory council meetings asked us for something they could use like any other type of toolbar to facilitate easy access,” LaRocca says. “They’re always in and out of our portal for various reasons—and this makes it easier for them.”