Ingram sends resellers back to school

The importance of training within any business cannot be underestimated.

Resellers’ businesses are no exception, particularly when accessing the smaller end of the channel’s scale.

Ingram Micro has a broad range of resellers across Australia of differing sizes and agendas. The distributor has a training-centric vision for its extensive reseller tier and CRN was given an excusive insight into its forthcoming Reseller Business Program, which is attempting to shift some of its more up-and-coming resellers onto the next level.

Taken by external consultants, Quantify Corporation, the new initiative is part of Ingram’s Orbital program, which aims to provide additional training to the distributor’s reseller base.

“This is a momentous occasion for us,” said John Walters, director of the Commercial and Solutions Group at Ingram. “We have been playing with this idea for a while and it is taking what we are doing at Ingram to the next level.”

Walters said Ingram wanted to make a difference for its resellers, with more technical and business training.

“The (Reseller Business Program) course is going to be very intimate and hands-on, with a limited number of people in a room,” added Walters.

Barry Freeman, principal of Quantify Corporation, said: “We felt we could put a program together of modular training, which has a practical element to it and give resellers some of the information they need.

“We started talking about some of the issues resellers face such as lack of planning, poor cash management, lots of the things fundamental to a business and we thought ‘we can help here’. We ended up with a six-module program, with weekly sessions over six weeks.”

The modules outlined for the program are: Business – Why?; Marketing; Sales Pipeline; Managing Cash; Leadership & Motivation; and Communication.

“Today is about talking to the resellers about what we can do. John (Walters) has picked this initial group (of resellers). We also offer those who join the ability to work with us a broader consulting basis too, for a price of course.”

Freeman said the sessions will take place later in the afternoon for four hours, including a dinner and guest speaker, who will be someone from outside the organisation with specific expertise.

He said the upcoming course being offered to the first set of Ingram selected resellers is nearly free. “We will be asking for $500 for the whole six-week program, which will go to a charity,” he said.

Quantify Corporation and Ingram will be contributing the money to Brainwave Australia, a charity which supports the treatment and care of children suffering from brain illnesses.

“We wanted to get the program going, wanted an incentive and wanted some dedication, too. We have developed this program with Ingram and will only be offering it through them exclusively.”

Freeman said this first program is aimed at tier-two and -three resellers, but what may happen is the bigger players may send one of their senior management along if they see the value in the program.

“This is tailor-made for the reseller community and IT in Australia. It is all about the channel, not just general theory,” added Freeman.

Alex Lopez, principal of Quantify Corporation, added the program is designed to help IT resellers manage their businesses more successfully and to make
more margin.

“Ingram wants to take these resellers to the next level. However even some of the larger organisations don’t have the proper systems in place, and there are hundreds of things which you can do to make your business better.”

Lopez said Quantify Corporation also has a “buddy system” where attendees can phone and talk through any questions they may have had from previous sessions. “Some people many not want to discuss internal issues in front
of competitors.”

Lopez said the majority of businesses do not have cash flow plans in place, which is what business is all about. If you know your cash flow you can forward plan, he added.

“There will about 10 to 12 people in each class. Any more and you can’t do the buddy system and that system is very important,” added Lopez.

CRN canvassed resellers’ opinion after the event and found the attendees had a positive attitude towards Quantify Corporation and Ingram proposal. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” may be a clichéd corporate sound bite, but Ingram is working towards ensuring its reseller community is not caught unawares in a competitive IT channel.

“This is tailor-made for the reseller community.”

“Ingram wants to take these resellers to the next level.”