Sage News and Discussion

I had about 20 minute call today 1/11/12 with Tom Miller. It was brief because he is over in Paris at the ERP X3 global conference. Sage PR contacted me because I do work on the LinkedIN group and blogging ... I didn't learn much more other than Sage is saying due to their surveys of customers that they find those on support with Sage have higher overall net promoter scores. This is a common reason for most of Sage's moves. Whether there is any validity to it - I've no idea. I think Tom does have a good point in that not all partners are as technically competent as us and having support from Sage probably improves satisfaction in those cases. Starting 3/1/2012, there will only be Silver and Gold plans (which include telephone support) Any maintenance coming due after 2/29/2012 will be a minimum of Silver no more Bronze. Silver plans will be increased from 20% to 21% of list price of software. Tier for ONLY Diamond and Platinum were cut 5% - no other partner levels impacted. This only impacts Sage 100, 300, 500. Does NOT affect other product lines. As a one time transition Tom seemed indicated that partners could renew customers in bronze through 2/1013 though I think Tom indicated this would be at a slightly higher than regular Bronze price. He seemed to say there is a FAQ coming so I'd probably wait to read it in print because this seems to be some discrepancy. I've asked Sage for a copy of that FAQ in advance of the announcement just so I can make sure that the info we have is accurate. Silver plan will add 5 cases to the already existing 5 for a total of 10 (I'm fairly sure this is what Tom said but I know the Silver plans previously only included 5 calls so I would want to verify this with the Sage FAQ). I asked Tom: 1. What is the marketing plan for informing customers? Are they going to be hit repeatedly with a message to call Sage instead of the VAR? Tom couldn't answer but is supposed to check 2. What will the rules of engagement be for renewal past the 90 days? Tom has to check though there is a way to register these leads 3. What will the procedure be for calling in on a customer case? Tom has to check but thinks that there's nothing extra I believe there will be a FAQ coming out 2/12 along with a channel wide announcement. My apologies for lack of clear details as Tom was not on a really clear line and our time was short. The above are the only new things that we chatted about

I still think Tom has that backwards - people buy more stuff because they are happy with you, not that they are happy with you because they buy more stuff.

Ultimately I view this as a price increase however I can't really argue with Sage's underlying reasons which invariably are that they're paying too high a commission for just a maintenance renewal.

I had a similar conversation with Sophie about the changes. She told me that Silver was staying at ""only"" 5 incidents. @PhilMcIntosh - I agree. I mentioned this to Sophie and said that surveys stating that customers on Silver are happier do not mean that forcing Bronze customers to go to Silver will make them happier. I also suggested that most people don't like to be forced into ""my way or the highway"" decisions. If Sage truly wanted to improve customer experience, they should consider offering a maintenance only plan with no support attached for a low price. Then - customers that are happy with support from their partners can continue to do so without feeling that they are losing out on something. Which is what will happen with the new mandated Silver plans. ""Well... gee ... I'm required to pay for a plan that includes 5 (10?) calls, so I should use that and not call your group."" I also appreciate that Sage is disseminating this information slightly ahead of time but encouraged them to get the partner perspective in the planning stage and not after decisions are cast in concrete. @WayneSchulz - Yes, this is a price increase but it's not only a price increase. It's a grab for low-end services by Sage - even if customers are perfectly happy with their reseller. Don't get me wrong - there are plenty of resellers that probably need this help and some that want it (don't want to do ticky-tacky support issues) but for the rest of us that have solid relationships with clients, it makes things a bit awkward now. Parrticularly for the folks that sell their own brand of unlimited support. ""Well Sage gives me 5 free calls. Why do I need your plan now?"" They key will be to differentiate our plans even further and provide more / different servcies with them. It won't sit well with some customers that they have no choice to get the Sage plan or not - even if they want the partner's individual service.

Well out of my 50+ clients I think I have only 2 on Sage support. Yet I did win a customer satisfaction award last year. I am just saying! FYI - I do not sell a support plan. And we all some clients that never call and are small and never has issues - so they are definitely going to feel this is a price increase.

@PeterWolf I asked Sage for their FAQ so I could verify the # of calls on the Sliver --- I thought that Tom mentioned 10 but he was in some conference room at the ERP X3 thing and probably not in the best situation to rattle off a lot of details.

Looks like # of Sliver calls stays at 5 - or at least it's not in their FAQ as they just mention Sliver plan with no reference to increased calls.. You can keep a customer on bronze - but the fee is essentially the same 20% v 21% that I think Silver is going to become

It was 5 calls for Silver plan and unlimited for Gold plan. 10 calls was for certified Consultant. they will get 10 free calls per year.

I could swear Tom mentioned 10 calls for Sliver -- but I think I was wrong and it remains at 5.

The standard policy was 5 cases with the ability to purchase 5 more cases at $950, for a total of 10, but no more - didn't make sense, but that was it. In many instances with smaller installations if you purchased the 5 additional, it was more than starting with a Gold plan.

Here are my candid comments on the new policies. As a Platinum tier reseller and with many large clients on Gold and Silver plans already, we are potentially losing $10K in revenue this year due to the loss of 5%. Sage claimed that the increase from Bronze to Silver would be about equal revenue for us, but I did the math and it's less. So overall we lose revenue. We also lose some support dollars, as Peter pointed out.

Firms going from 35% to 30% shouldn't lose anything directly. Firms going from 30% to 25% will lose 2.8% from what they used to make. 100 * .18 * .35 = 100 * .21 * .30 100 * .18 * .30 <> 100 * .21 * .25

Oh, so they are actually motivating us to reach Diamond! (Starting to sound like @PhilMcIntosh ! :))

There can only be one Chief Cynic! (Even if Sage refused to print it on my name tag.)

You go. I am not worthy.