General Consultant Discussion

Is it just me or do most third party developers make you chase them for commissions. I had a customer wire transfer payment to Kissinger/Insynch (whatever their new combined business is called) and I'm still being given the ""Well we need to make sure the engagement is done"" to which I replied ""are these ever done"". I hear a lot of third party developer sob stories about how they have problems getting referrals or their relationship with partners went bad or they can't get call backs. On the flip side I've had recent good experience with Scanforce, SWK and (as much as I hate to admit it) Azamba. In my view if the future of consulting is in add-ons and integrations - and some of these third party developers continue to ignore that VARS will want to be compensated - it very well could prove fatal to their business model.

I've had these problems in the past and never understood it. With our Eversafe partner model, I am so excited to send out payment to a partner for their referral. I know that is the only way we will ever see future referrals. I just don't understand how people could see things differently.

I think part of it is the ability (or perceived ability) of a developer/vendor to create a recurring revenue stream. Those vendors who have not figured that out seem to be more problematic. I also have had vendors in the past complain how the sale was difficult, took a lot of resources, wasn't profitable. All things that have nothing to do with me and in turn they either didn't want to pay or at some newly reduced amount. If the future is in collaboration and add-ons --- the old ""let me buy you lunch next time I see you"" is not only outdated but I believe is going to stifle referrals.

It may be simpler. I'm not sure many of these have set up their accounting systems to automate the process. We are not developers, but we pay various types of commission fees. Since it's not a huge volume, we haven't automated it. Because of that, some transactions are not identified properly.

And this landed in my inbox. Though I'm not sure if Avalara has re-thought their commission change which as I understand it removed the recurring portion in favor of a one time fee. Vertax / Net@Work are setting up a 25% recurring sales tax integration for Sage. Competition is good and should be encouraged.

I would have thought that the developers would be more in tune with how business partners feel with shrinking margins from Sage and not only differentiate themselves by telling us that they are different but by showing it too. That said, we receive our commissions from SPS Commerce earlier than I expect to.

I think you're all missing the point. Most of these developers, like many publishers, really believe they won't need a channel in the mid-future. So they don't bother to make the substantial changes within their systems to strongly implement channel commission options. It is both an efficiency and attitude problem.

The one I'm talking about with Kissinger I directly influenced the sale. I'm not talking about being cc:'d on a maintenance renewal and marking it up to earn money for essentially pushing paper. There's a certain amount of familiarity and tech background required to make a good referral. To be candid - the vendors who were easy to deal with an who seem to get the new market are the ones (provided they have a good product) that I'll deal with more in the future. The ones who don't get it I won't do any more with.