Lenovo Offers More Discounts With LESS Program

The server, desktop, and notebook PC vendor is offering its partners who buy Lenovo products through distributors a new program it calls the Lenovo Economic Stimulus Solution, or LESS.

LESS is aimed at helping small and midsize business customers address such issues as the credit crunch, a shortage of cash and the preservation of capital, said Alan Andrade, executive director of channel marketing for Lenovo.

"LESS is about how we can work with our partners to work with customers on these issues," Andrade said.

A big part of LESS comes from Lenovo leveraging its relationship with IBM and IBM Global Finance, Andrade said.

That includes offering customers who will definitely purchase Lenovo products through a solution provider, but were planning to defer the purchase because of a cash crunch, the opportunity to purchase immediately with a 90-day deferral in payments with no additional fees, Andrade said. "We will float the money so customers can do what they need to do to finish the deal," he said.

For longer-term contracts, Lenovo is also offering low-cost financing and low-cost or no-cost leasing, Andrade said. "Because of our relationship with IGF, we have a lower cost to lease equipment than our competitors do," he said.

For solution providers, LESS includes an additional 3 percent to 6 percent reseller discount on top of normal discounts when customers purchase a minimum of three units of the same product, Andrade said.

When customers purchase a mix of three hardware, software application, or services options, the solution provider also qualifies for an additional discount of approximately 30 percent if ordered on the same invoice, Andrade said. Those options do not have to be purchased with a system to qualify, he said. Examples include extended warranty, accidental damage protection and storage, he said.

The low-cost financing through IGF should be a big incentive for the channel, said Joe Vaught, executive vice president and COO of PCPC Direct, a Houston-based solution provider and partner of both Lenovo and IBM.

"Everybody for the next couple of years will need credit," Vaught said. "And if you can get deferred payments and low-cost loans, it's a big deal for small and midsize businesses."

However, said Vaught, Lenovo and IBM still need to find the right approach to the channel, given that IBM has turned over its desktop and notebook lines to Lenovo, while Lenovo does not have a high-end server line or a storage line, keeping both at a disadvantage compared to Hewlett-Packard.

"We've had some customers go out to bid, wanting a bid from one vendor," he said. "But now I don't have a complete IBM solution. It's painful. Customers say, if they can't get what they want, they'll go to HP. I don't think IBM thought about this. But I'm really rooting for Lenovo."

Lenovo has turned out to be a pretty good channel partner, said Todd Barrett, director of sales for the security and networking division of CPU Sales and Service, a Waltham, Mass.-based solution provider.

However, its lack of a complete product line means Lenovo struggles to be a strategic partner, Barrett said.

"I can't say I spend a lot of time with Lenovo," he said. "It's a laptop company. We work more with them out of necessity than as a strategic partner. As long as customers continue to want ThinkPads, and as long as Lenovo keeps producing a quality product, we'll keep working with them."