Question

Topic: Strategy

Reseller Marketing Strategy

Posted by bweit on 11/20/2015 at 12:14 PM ET 250 Points
I work for a software reseller in marketing. We sell 4 different products providing accounting, ERP and CRM solutions.

In some cases we compete directly with the software provider themselves. In this market customers are just looking for a solutions to their needs. They may know the software product but are not familiar with our brand as a reseller. Are brand is not large enough at a national level and even weak at a local level to leverage our company brand.

I currently leverage inbound SEO, PPC,content marketing, social media, Lead generation, webinars, and local events that seems to gaining traction.

In very competitive software market we are competing against multiple software options, then when they land on a product we represent we are competing against multiple software resellers and the direct software provider.

What is your advise marketing a reseller product? How to we start creating a brand as a reseller and convince client they should work with us vs. the product developer themselves?

We provide services nation wide through remote services. How can we gain traction at a national level. At a local level we have an advantage because of the face to face interaction. The downside is that it shrinks the market and in business software it is a large investment and companies to switch software for 5-10 years.

From a messaging perspective how do we quickly communicate our product and reseller services?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 11/20/2015 at 1:42 PM Accepted
    The first thing you need to do is find out why your current customers buy through you. What makes you different (and better) in their eyes? What added benefit(s) do you offer? If you were in your customers' place, would you buy from you? Why or why not?

    The objective of this is to identify a core positioning benefit that you can own. Once you have it, just focus on the market segment who needs you most. If that's local, then why don't you have a 100% share of the local market? If it's industry-related and local, then why don't you have a 100% share of that market? Etc.

    It may make sense to have a qualified consultant and/or market research professional help you with this initial project. It's certainly important enough.
  • Posted by bweit on 11/20/2015 at 2:55 PM Author
    Many of our current customers came from one of our reseller products that sent leads to us based on our location. So we built a client base locally because we were the preferred reseller in our state. We have a new product that is not setup that way.

    With the new product we do not receive leads from the product in fact we compete with them for sales opportunities. The majority of the customers we have for the new product came from switching or upselling existing customer into the new product. However we are looking to grow this customer base. The product is newer so it lacks brand awareness. So on a local and national level we have to help educate the market on why the need the product vs. competitive products and then why they need us as a reseller.

    Our value is our people, expertise and strategic solutions. This issue is it is not a huge market right now and of the market that exists less than half are complex strategic projects so they go direct to the product themselves.

    At a local level the market shrinks even smaller and makes it hard to identify prospects.

    So to answer you questions the segment that needs us is industry related and local. We don't own the market because there are close to 100 resellers, the direct product and 3-5 well branded software competitors.

    Would I buy from us? Yes if I has a complex business and needed expertise. No if I just wanted the product and needed to get started.

    The challenge or question is how do we find people interested in the product and our value prop?
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/20/2015 at 3:31 PM Accepted
    Since you wrote "Would I buy from us? Yes if I has a complex business and needed expertise." - it would make sense to not simply position yourself as resellers, but as consultants with expertise solving the type of problem that your users would need the product for. Then focus your messaging around your expertise, your successes, and highlighting testimonials from clients who've really benefit from their relationship with you.
  • Posted by cookmarketing@gmail. on 11/22/2015 at 10:22 PM Accepted
    Can your present IT 'brand' software companies be listed (kinda; like a co-op adv) with your upcoming media campaigns?

    If so, that 'list' will validate your market savvy, cross-pollinate established and new customers who may be unaware of all your IT offerings, establish your 'cred' and value to those customers
  • Posted by telemoxie on 11/23/2015 at 7:36 PM Accepted
    If I were in your shoes, I would try to identify (hopefully local) companies for whom you have provided exceptional results and high ROI. I would narrow my list to companies in well-defined vertical markets, and I would began to market your vertical market expertise and specific experience to other regions within a day's drive or so. But location is important, as you say. I might also consider adding some additional software products and solutions (at a lower price point) close to home.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 11/24/2015 at 12:00 PM Accepted
    I agree with the talk above. Don't just be a reseller, but a value-added reseller.

    The software producers often are not that good at dealing with customers, which is why they use resellers. You are meant to be a local face. So for customers in your geography, you have a big advantage over the software producers themselves.

    A bit less of an advantage if you are selling outside of a local geography, but still can be done.

    Bit harder
  • Posted by bweit on 11/24/2015 at 3:44 PM Author
    Thank you everyone. This is good direction.

    We are a Value Added Reseller and provide consulting and custom development services. We do have an advantage locally we just need to educate the local market on the software. Outside of our geographic we are one of the top partners in the nation for service, support and sales.

    As Peter mentioned - software producers are not that good with customers or complex services. We know this because we get service work from the software producer for complex jobs because they are just interested in selling software. However in this scenario we miss out on the software sale which is reoccurring revenue that we are after.
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 11/25/2015 at 5:04 AM Accepted
    A recurring software sale often comes with a support and maintenance element - installing upgrades, providing on-site support, retraining and new employee induction, data management (eg backup, emergency recovery), configuration and security policies etc. On top of which you have customisation, set-up, bedding in and migration to new versions (or new software). The direct software supplier may be fine for a helpdesk type problem, but if the software is running your business and you have an outage, then you really need someone who can come on-site who knows the set up and use cases, the specific configuration files and past usage history and fix ASAP. If the software is a car, you're the mechanics who make sure it doesn't stop working.
  • Posted by Shelley Ryan on 1/26/2016 at 4:33 PM Moderator
    Hi Everyone,

    I am closing this question since there hasn't been much recent activity.

    Thanks for participating!

    Shelley
    MarketingProfs
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