ScanSource to VARs: Distribution Can Help

Solution providers should take advantage of what distributors offer, Constantine said, tapping into distributors' economies of scale to reduce costs and improve processes in areas like system integration, marketing and services.

"A rising tide lifts all boats, and our job really is to help make the tide rise. If we can help you be more successful and to grow your businesses faster, that translates into success for us," Constantine said.

"Service differentiation is the holy grail in distribution, and we're all trying to compete for your business. Most of the time we are selling similar products at similar prices, and service and execution are how we seek differentiation," he said.

For example, VARs can use distributors' integration services and shipping services to do the back-end technology integration and get the product to the end user, freeing up VAR sales staff to do what they do best -- close deals.

"And we can perform these integrations very efficiently because we're doing system integration for thousands of customers," he said.

VARs should also take advantage of distributors' marketing services both to help market and brand solution provider businesses and to spread the word on new solutions offerings.

"We can help create leads that are specific to your solution that you're out there marketing to a very specific segment of customers. When the leads come back from that campaign your sales team will be much more likely to follow up on them and to go after the opportunity with gusto because they know that lead came from something specific that you're doing," Constantine said.

"[Distributors] can help you promote your value proposition and create campaigns that will generate higher quality leads than what VARs can get from vendors," he said.

Managed services provide another level of differentiation for solution providers, he said. Solution providers should also look to distributors to help with branding and marketing materials like catalogs and e-commerce portals.

Trade shows that target specific audiences can be effective ways to take products and solution sets to market, as can high-end telemarketing campaigns. "In the B2B world a good high-quality telemarketing firm with good people that are professional, that get to the point quickly, that can articulate the benefit of whatever your solution is and then that can qualify to a certain degree, that opportunity. That to me produces the best results," he said.

"Your distributor partners are motivated to help you grow your business. That's the only way we're going to grow -- if you guys grow. We've invested a lot in providing these services," he said.

"Its frustrating when we talk to partners and they try to go it alone and not take advantage of the lessons we've learned and take advantage of the investments we've made We want to help you grow your business in any way you can."