General Consultant Discussion

Any Intaact VARs in the group?

Scott Hickman

Thanks.

We were, but not any more.

Why not @BillPfahnl?

We couldn't compete with their AICPA program. So, after one year we ended our relationship. Their AICPA deal offers no protection for the VAR that makes the initial contact and performs all the legwork. We found more and more of our prospects choosing to purchase directly through their CPA because of the savings. For example, We drove two hours to meet with a well qualified prospect, only to walk into the meeting to find the prospect's CPA also sitting at the table. Prior to our meeting and after our phone converstion with the prospect, he was so excited about Intacct that he told his CPA about it. The CPA went to the website and found the AICPA offer. The prospect end up buying directly from the CPA. We spent 4 hours in the car and 2 hours in a meeting to sell Intacct for the CPA to his client. So, if our prospect ends up buying the highly discounted Intacct through their CPA's firm and their highly discounted AICPA price, the VAR gets nothing. And, say the CPA's client outgrows the limits of the AICPA model and purchases their own full license, the VAR gets nothing. We're not even guaranteed ROR with the client that was once your prospect. Intacct does not have an alignment model in place for CPA firms. At least Sage has the SAN so you can benefit from any future sales from your relationship. Taylor doesn't see a problem with this model. I suppose it works for some, but it sure didn't work for us.

Thanks for sharing @BillPfahnl. It surprising that Taylor doesn't see a problem with this. It's a classic case of bad channel strategy when you have different channel members that clash like this. Surprising really. My guess is that they understand that they will get more leads from CPAs than they will from VARs so they are favoring that part of their channel for the time being. If they keep it up, they better ramp up their fulfillment department or they are heading for headaches. Just my 2 cents.

So then why do they need Taylor? With the AICPA offer, it should sell itself and there is no need for a channel.

Thanks for the feedback Bill.