Happy Holidays!!

Just a quick message to wish you all a very happy holidays and that the joy and warmth of this time of the year stay with you and your beloved ones in 2014 and always.

Merry Christmas!!


Mª Amor Dominguez

How do we Move into a Partner Ladder??

When expanding a  business in the IT field, it is very common to enter into the new market through a partner strategy. However, this requires a deep knowledge of the local market, a first-hand experience on the purchasing and procurement habits of the main target customers, and finally an access to these relevant organizations known as "partners" that may make the difference positioning, proposing and alerting about sales opportunities.

However, the partner companies that could be of our interest probably have their own business alliances and trusted vendors as well as their own business model.  What can make a company become a significant element in the sales chain? How, we as a vendor, can get its commitment and build together a market?

We could summarize this in  three simple steps:

1. Relationship and trust building
2. Motivate
3. Incentivate

If you consider the traditional partner strategy model, the entry point is usually the conversation on margins or referrals. However, building a trusted relationship that could end in a business alliance is a first and essential step;  sales, as we have said other times is the most "human" activity we may find in an organization  whose origin comes from the very origins of the human being. This requires time and sharing of information in several ways, from informal meetings to formal presentations, training and, of course, the permanent presence in the latest communication means as could be the social networks nowdays.

When building this relationship we have to take into account that the vendor enters into a new market through companies that have their own business in place, and trusted alliances. How can we  motivate  the partner to take into consideration our product? Of course, the horizon of an incremental revenue or the reduction of an operational cost can and must push for this relation. However, this could not be enough since considering a new product may mean to train  or recruit new staff.  Among the most motivating factors in building the alliance are:

• Creating a difference among competitors
• Show innovation in the solutions proposed

This is something that the vendor must take into account to develop all the resouces needed to help the partner in building these elements. This requires the development of research material such as white papers, the contribution with press releases, the joint participation in events as well as special activities such as sponsored surveys or book presentations, industry benchmarks, etc.

Once we get at this stage, we may start talking about incentivating the sales since the objective of this type of relationship is increasing the sales through third-party relations.  This requires a closer look to the exising ways of partner sales incentives but we will take into consideration:

1. Sales referral fee or discount, based on the global activities.
2. Marketing Development Funds (MDF) that may support the development of joint campaigns
3. In-depth training on a single topic.

We will analyze this step in depth since it has gone through a deep transformation caused by the emerging of compliance cases. However, at this point, the message is very clear. Partnership is a way of doing business and the benefits must be assessed right at the beginning of the alliance. This has a clear correspondence on the way that we as human beings work, and isn't this the reason for us to work together? 

Do we Partner or do we Build a Market??

Through all my profesional life in the IT business I have realized how much has changed the way that companies get into the market. Back in the golden middle 80's the existing IT companies - a number much smaller than today - got into the market directly through their own sales force. The usual process to expand their business was the identification of a large customer, mainly a Bank or Public institution, that allowed an initial settlement of the company.

The change came in the 90's with the sales approach of companies such as SAP or Microsoft, among others,  who started their expansion (and the building of their current empire) with the identification, development and management of a trusted network partner. The result was that most companies started a partner strategy that in many cases competed with their direct sales force. However, there was an important piece missing in the puzzle: most of the sales and partner's strategy focused on the short term, leaving the medium term unattended. The market needed to be much more mature to focus on activities that allowed a medium-term strategy and opportunity management to feed both the direct and partner sales short term strategy. This has been the basic reason to build this service where the business development activities are the first step to build a successful local sales strategy.

As we may realize, sales is one of the most human activities that may exist in the enterprise as it means the building of relationships and trust that brings good results for both parties; therefore, it requires time and goodwill. For this reason, market and business development is a previous step to a partner and distribution strategy that allows both parties to know each other, share their plans, get their commitments and work for a joint project.

I would like to know your opinion...If you share this point of view and want to expand your IT business or improve your current one I would be very happy to meet you!!

Let's Talk!!

September is here!! The golden colours come after a summer full of light, mainly in Southern Europe!! And I want to start this new phase talking to you!! During the last year I have put in place a service to support  IT companies that want to expand their business in this part of the world.

It is true that Spain has gone through a very severe recession as the rest of the world; it is true that  the Banking sector, key for the success of any economy has needed to go under a big reorganization, but it is true also that Spain counts with large companies that are pulling through offering best-in-class products and services, that it has a highly qualified workforce and that was able once, together with our Portuguese neighbors to change the world getting further and beyond their boundaries and creating a new civilization.

This is the spirit that I want to offer you when considering to open new markets. Most of the major software and hardware vendors are based either in Spain or Portugal, offering even in hard conditions better results than other economies. There is a strong, qualified partrner network willing to support the sales of innovative, added-value products.

It belongs to the European Union that offers one of the most interesting cooperation frameworks in IT through its IT programs.

It has a rich history and a diverse Nature, from the green lands of Northern Spain to the mediterranean and dry lands of the South. For all these reasons, Ultreia!! I want to welcome you!!