Sage Eases Partner Program Advancement For CRM App Resellers
Sage executives said this week that the move, which reduces tier thresholds by around 40 percent, would increase the margins earned by a majority of solution providers who resell the company's Sage CRM and Sage SalesLogix applications.
"We think we've created the best business opportunity for our partners in terms of financial rewards," said Jeffrey Gregorec, vice president of sales and strategic alliances for Sage CRM, in an interview.
The move also will help Sage recruit additional resellers, he said. "It's a very strong statement, recruitment-wise, on our part. We have a significant number of partner prospects."
The Sage Partner Advantage Program has five tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Partners advance from one tier to the next based on the volume of products they sell and the number of new customers they bring in. Sage executives declined to disclose specifics about the current requirements and what the new requirements will be, other than to say the thresholds are reduced by about 40 percent.
Tom Miller, vice president of channel management, said Sage is taking these steps because the CRM application market remains highly competitive and some competitors are raising partner requirements. "We want to provide the right business opportunities for our partners," he said.
“With today’s economy, most enterprises are trying to maximize profitability by cutting costs, including reducing margins, " said Phil Sim, vice president of CRM at Blytheco, a Sage partner based in Laguna Hills, Calif. "Sage, on the other hand, has virtually increased margins to most of their partners with the tier restructure, which outlines their understanding that the greater the channel partnership, the higher the overall profitability of everybody involved.”
“While other providers have cut margins, Sage has now basically increased margins for a majority of their business partners," said Sean Mohan, president of Strategic Sales Systems, a Sage reseller based in St. Louis, Mo. "Sage has recognized their partner channel commitment to the success of the Sage CRM products. This new tier structure also recognizes a business environment that still has not recovered to pre-2009 levels. Sage has provided their channel a stimulus to greater sales.”
About 1,000 solution providers today sell sage CRM, SalesLogix or both. The changes do not apply to Sage's ACT! sales lead tracking application.
While Gregorec acknowledged that Sage runs a "small risk" of diluting the partner program's top tiers with the changes, he said the expected benefits of reducing the barriers to entry for new partners and barriers to advancement for current partners outweigh that risk.
Sage evaluates partner tier assignments every six months, so the new criteria will apply to partner evaluations done before the end of the company's fiscal year on Sept. 30, Gregorec said. The changes apply in North America, Latin America, Western Europe and the Middle East.
