Wireless networking and telephony solution vendor EnGenius Technologies Inc. has launched a revamped reseller program after consultation with its partners in North America.
“We compared our program against others that were best in class in the industry,” said Vicki Bilyeu, channel marketing manager for EnGenius. Then the company, which offers long-range telephony solutions, among others, added what its own resellers were saying they wanted to take advantage of.
“A lot of the changes that Vicki made…was based on direct feedback from resellers,” said Gabriel Maxwell, the company’s director of channel sales.
The program has two levels of resellers—authorized and elite. Elite partners commit to a dollar volume, while authorized resellers don’t have to, she explained. The elite resellers also have extended maintenance offerings.
EnGenius has now added free product demos to its reseller program. The rationale was to provide a better way for resellers to demonstrate complex products to customers, she said. To qualify for the free demo product, new resellers must pass an online quiz based upon the company’s portfolio of wireless products. The company has also added market development funds (MDF) to its program.
“I thought it was fantastic,” said Pam Bains, manager of London, Ont.-based Microcad Computer Corp., of the changes announced. “(For) a lot of the products, a lot of technical knowledge is required of them.” The free product demos are also an advantage for a reseller like hers because she has a physical storefront, she said. “A lot of people don’t even know EnGenius. That’ll be a big advantage to us as well.”
“We’re constantly trying to keep our Web site updated,” Bilyeu said. The company has added videos to its site to further explain its products and solutions, along with webinar training for its resellers. EnGenius also offers its resellers a listing on its Web site.
“They advertise on your behalf,” Bains added, which a lot of vendors won’t do. The added MDF will also be an advantage.
The company got here “by osmosis” from its American presence, Maxwell said. “We’ve seen that we’ve done well there without putting a hard charge on it (in Canada).” Now, it is looking to expand after doing well here.
“We’re always looking to add more partners,” he said. “We try to focus our elite program on true value added resellers.”The company recently met with Synnex Canada, one of its distributors here, and together they are looking to increase the number of partners here by 25 per cent, he said.
“These are the benefits that the resellers wanted,” Bilyeu said. “They’re wanting to sign up with us.”
