VAR Tips For Dealing With Vendor Consolidation

By Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2011-04-06

Acquisitions are often cause for celebration, given that they mean people at one company get what they want while people at the other receive healthy amounts of stock and/or cash. They can create problems for value-added resellers, however, and a recent article addressed how VARs can best prepare for and deal with vendor partners being bought.

Heather Clancy gave three recommendations in relation to the possibility. First, after referring to a potential problem encountered by Powersolution.com, she suggested, "Proactively seek secondary relationships in key product categories."

It may not be wise to invite fierce rivals to company get-togethers, of course, but having a backup plan is a good idea. Laying claim to an additional source or two of income never hurt anyone, either.

Next, using Towerwall Inc. as an example, Clancy stressed, "Be transparent." Vendors and customers alike deserve to know what's going on. Sharing information can help them understand thought processes and simply make them feel like part of the team, too, thereby increasing loyalty and improving relationships.

Lastly, Clancy advised, "Watch the market carefully and remember to start fresh." That way, VARs can take advantages of technological cycles and impress companies' new owners in the same fashion they made a good impression on the old ones.

Hopefully these tips will prove useful to VARs who must deal with vendor acquisitions. After all, it's no good losing allies and future earnings while everyone else gets to sip a legally permissible amount of champagne and then go test drive Porsches.

About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.