Sage News and Discussion

Master VAR Programs Recently many of you may have received e-mails and calls from the largest reseller organizations about their ""Partner Success Programs"" or something similar. These seem to be part of an initial program for a potential Master VAR program. Sage doesn't like that term, so they don't use it. Actually, not only do they not use the term, they haven't even announced or mentioned this exists to the general channel. During the initial organizational meeting for the current BPAC group at Summit in 2017, Scott Ehmen mentioned the concept, but said there was little consensus within Sage as to whether this should be created or what form it would take, implying that it was something far in the future and we would take this up at future BPAC meetings. Since that first meeting, the subject has not been on the agenda nor discussed at BPAC. I have approached Sage about this, and it has been acknowledged some large resellers have been given the go ahead on a temporary basis to contact other resellers regarding their programs. I have seen the letter from one of them, but have no details as to what incentives Sage has given them. I have a problem with this being started without a general notice to the entire channel. I also don't understand why Sage would not open this up to all partners from Platinum and above. I imagine there are some Diamond partners not included in this. As for my group, we have 4 -5 open negotiations regarding mergers, which at this point is the only method available to us for strategic relationships that involve the merging of Sage customers. At one time (years ago) there was a concerted effort by Sage to help promising partners grow, but I don't see that happening. The largest resellers don't need help growing - that will happen anyway, so why give them more incentives?

What I really don't like is the lack of transparency for the small resellers... it is very hard to design any strategic plan...when you are trying to work side by side with someone that switches strategies every quarter.....

Why limit this program to the top level tier achievers? Yes, there is the higher margin that is available. Yes, there may be more resources at your disposal and yes, they may have sales/marketing strategy that produces results that Sage desires. But what prevents the top achievers from changing the rules (just as Sage has done) once you are locked into this program and reduce your tier. IMHO, merging and combining does produce short term results but doesn't necessarily sell more licenses in the aggregate. So again, if you are looking at a program like this, why limit it to the top unless you just want to get rid of the bottom? Maybe 90 Minds should apply to be a Master VAR?

John, you should talk with Kayley Bell about DSD's program. It doesn't involve a merger, and its affiliates are pretty satisfied. To affiliates it sure looks like a Master VAR program.

I confirmed the pilot program is for Diamond partners. That leaves one option for me - I need to reach Diamond!