Legrand overhauls partner program

Legrand Software has launched a new channel program aimed at spurring its top-end resellers to further embrace the company's CRM software.

The three-tiered program - Authorised Reseller, Professional Partner, and Professional Elite Partner – features higher margins and access to increased co-op rebates and marketing support.

Alain Legrand, managing director Legrand Software, said the ISV's decision to restructure its channel program was to “add a top tier for our best performing resellers and to pass extra margin on to all resellers”.

Unlike the hardware sector where tight margins were squeezing the life out of resellers, Legrand claimed much of the software sector was still quite profitable.

“There’s not the same level of 'me too' products where resellers try to sell nearly identical products to their competitors,” he said.

“Even our most junior partners make 25 percent margin – with five percent marketing co-op on top of that. The more senior and successful partners who make selling Legrand CRM a big chunk of their business are going to see margins topping 40 percent.”

He said resellers normally would also be able to bundle in extra services such as installation and training with Legrand's products.

“There are extra opportunities for resellers for long term revenue with software maintenance. We direct revenue from these [sales] back through the reseller channel. Some of our resellers are receiving revenue from sales they made three years ago,” Legrand claimed.

Legrand said the company was looking at providing a service-as-a-software model for larger customers, however the Legrand pricing model is currently better suited for local SME’s.