Five MSPs Reveal How Climb Channel Solutions Is Enabling Their Business

‘I have a client waiting on a solution, a service, a product or an opportunity and I can’t wait,’ Sam Heard, owner of MSP Data Integrity Services, tells CRN. ‘The faster I can get that information effectively from Climb, the better I can take care of my client. That’s the partnership that I love.’

From developing a deeper relationship to communicating effectively to creating a new vendor-MSP relationship, Climb Channel Solutions is enabling its MSP partners in a different way.

The Eatontown, N.J.-based distributor held its partner conference in Birmingham, Ala., this week with about 150 attendees to discuss enhancing that enablement, how its approach is different and what’s to come for Climb in the future.

And that’s what their partners are looking for with Climb.

“I have a client waiting on a solution, a service, a product or an opportunity and I can’t wait,” Sam Heard, owner of Lakeland, Fla.-based MSP Data Integrity Services, told CRN. “The faster I can get that information effectively from Climb, the better I can take care of my client. That’s the partnership that I love.”

When it comes to strategy, Climb is taking a “blue mountain” approach where its executives say competitors are taking a “red mountain” approach. A red mountain strategy, according to Climb, is when a company competes in the existing market space, works to beat the competition, exploits existing demand and has a differentiation based on low cost.

In a blue mountain strategy, the company creates uncontested market space, makes the competition irrelevant and creates and captures new demand.

“Those kinds of markets are competing in the same way in the same boat in the same style,” said Charles Bass, vice president of alliances and marketing at Climb. “We’re going to build the company around competing in a different way for different partners in a different market.

“We’ve been focused on challenger brands from the very beginning since we came in,” he added. “We feel like it’s the most underserved market out there and it makes the most sense for us to go chase it.”

Climb Channel Solutions currently has about 320 employees, more than 500 vendor partners and more than 7,500 reseller and MSP partners.

In 2023, the company generated $1.26 billion in revenue and plans on doubling that by 2026.

“We’re going to make it easier to transact with us—we’re selling speed,” said Dale Foster, Climb CEO.

Here are five MSPs on why they like working with Climb and how the distributor is enabling their business.

Sam Heard

Owner, Data Integrity Services

They have effective communication. We can effectively communicate what we need, why we need it and when we need it and they respond quickly and effectively with the right talent. That’s the key. Don’t send me somebody who doesn't know what they’re talking about. That’s huge for us because time is money. I have a client waiting on a solution, a service, a product or an opportunity and I can’t wait. The faster I can get that information effectively from Climb, the better I can take care of my client. That’s the partnership that I love.

When I don’t know something, how to do something or provide for my client I go to [my account manager] and say, ‘I’ve got an issue here. I’ve got an opportunity here. I have a challenge here.’ He comes immediately within a day with one, two, three or four options. Then if I pick one or two, he has the people that he pulls in and the resources he can immediately pull in and think with us together. That goes back to the effective communication. I go to him, whether it’s for me or for my client or for a need, and I immediately get the data or the response that I need. That’s a great relationship.

Michael Tanenhaus

CEO, Mavenspire

Whenever you’re dealing with different distributors or different parts of the channel you’re looking for what differentiates them. Climb has a really great emergent program and they’re putting emerging technologies in front of us. They’re creating conversations with manufacturers and vendors instead of line cards. They’re very much into creating a personal relationship where you can develop a business, write a plan and then go do it together.

Paul Gibbs

Sr. Director, Managed IT Services, RJ Young

They get to know our business and then they recommend vendors and solutions that align better with our business. They don’t just throw us anything—they try and throw us things that are relevant for our business.

Scott Larson

Owner, Technology By Design

The biggest thing for us with Climb is their ability to deliver the customer experience that we get as a partner of theirs. We don’t have to worry about mistakes being made because they’re very focused on the client experience. Anytime we send something their way it gets handled, it gets handled quickly and it gets handled appropriately. We can’t say that about all the distribution partners we work with, there can be delays and things can get a little bit more complicated. When mistakes get made in the distribution layer we really need to rely on that from a logistics standpoint and from a delivery standpoint. We really need to rely on that to be 100 percent so we can more effectively do our jobs and support our clients in the field.

Costas Speliakos

President, CEO, Eos Systems

The main approach for them is to reach out and say, ‘Here’s a great solution that we’ve just on-boarded. We want you to take a look at it and we’re going to put you in touch with that particular vendor.’ At that point we take it to another level. Once we engage with the vendor and that initial introduction was made, which is key, [Climb] outlines what the engagement model is with that vendor and then we go to the next level. We start looking at the product set, going through the demonstrations and then develop a business plan around that. Once we develop that business plan, we go to market with the vendor and do events and webinars. Climb is the initiator, Climb is the introducer and then at that point they actually help with that courtship. They will support us moving forward. They’re the perfect go-between as far as a distributor is concerned.