**Editor’s Note: Click here for a recent list of important channel-program changes you should know or here to see which channel people were on the move in September.**
Spectralink has replaced its North American SELECT Program with its new Engage Channel Partner Program for North American resellers and distributors.
The company also recently hired new sales and channel leadership: Scott Thie as vice president of North American sales, and Bill Foster as director of channel sales. Thie will lead Spectralink’s sales organization, and Foster will lead the Engage program and work closely with Thie to align channel sales with the company’s overall sales strategy.
Foster tells Channel Partners the company wanted to refocus on optimizing the rewards, and sales and marketing enablement for its partners that are “truly delivering value added solutions to our mutual customers.” The company provides enterprise mobility for the health care, retail and manufacturing sectors.
“We have some key partners that are now driving application-led mobility solutions into health care,” he said. “This is a complex sale with a long sales cycle. We want to insure that our partners are supported, protected and able to realize a best in class margin on these deals.”
The Engage program is structured to encourage proactive deal discovery, vertical sales execution and joint partnership. It has three main tiers: Platinum, Gold and Silver, as well as the continuation of Spectralink’s Registered Partner designation.{ad}
Program highlights include: incentivized deal registration; market development funds (MDF); new sales and marketing enablement tools, including a discounted demo equipment purchase program; streamlined training/certification with reduced tuition; and access to a library of marketing assets.
“The new program provides our partners significantly greater sales and marketing enablement tools, including sales playbooks, marketing campaigns in a box and an aggressive demo purchase program,” Foster said. “Additionally we have launched new partner tiers … specifically mapping to the value add a partner brings. Our top solution partners can now enjoy a deal-registration program that protects their investment in a long sales cycle.”
Spectralink is implementing a minimum advertised price (MAP) policy aimed at ensuring its value add partners are not hurt by low priced, online sellers that can “take down deals solely on the basis of price,” Foster said.
“Spectralink’s goal is to have a closer working relationship with our resellers,” said Doug Werking, Spectralink’s CEO. “The Engage Channel Partner Program rewards partners for their significant value-add selling solutions into our core verticals, while enabling them to target our upgrade ready installed base with state-of-the-art voice and data solutions like PIVOT. We’re excited to launch this program, and the timing couldn’t be better with Scott and Bill leading our sales and channel teams.”
