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Aplicor Alliance Partnerships are serious commitments not to be taken lightly. Alliance Partners are a closely integrated extension of our own organization and stand as our cornerstone in scaling with the global Software as a Service (SaaS) business systems market. Our complete emphasis is on quality of partners, not quantity, and we therefore limit partnerships to those that are truly complementary, strategic and mutually rewarding. Partner attributes which Aplicor seeks when forming long term successful partnerships include the following:
- Aplicor seeks established businesses with credible reputations and strong financial conditions.
- It is important that any partner possess CRM and/or ERP consulting and implementation experience.
- Partners must demonstrate availability of sales and marketing resources.
- There must be a strong fit between Aplicor’s business software applications and Partner's services.
- There should be overlap between Aplicor’s and Partner's target market and customer base.
- The partner should be able to establish and grow a pipeline of customers.
- Partners must have a minimum of one CRM and/or ERP sales and one technical representative.
We have found the following items to be the most critical success factors in building and growing a profitable CRM and/or ERP sales and consulting organization:
- A senior executive liaison at both organizations. It is important that a senior officer or executive from both Aplicor and its business partner have an active relationship.
- Executive sponsorship. It is important that any potential Aplicor partner have executive sponsorship for their CRM/ERP program from their CEO or President.
- At least one dedicated CRM and/or ERP sales person. An experienced sales professional is a prerequisite to growing a successful CRM/ERP business practice.
- Proactive marketing campaigns and events. Our research is very clear in showing that partners who perform recurring promotion or marketing campaigns succeed in building profitable CRM/ERP business practices while partners who perform few marketing events grow their practices at very slow rates. Partners who are demand generators make it to the top of their game.
- At least one CRM and/or ERP consulting expert. Our experience also clearly shows that having one expert CRM and/or ERP consultant is far more valuable than having multiple part-time resources who are trained but are not experts. Partners with one or more expert consultants achieve much higher customer satisfaction rates, more projects per customer and more revenue per customer.
- A true partnership. We view our business partners as an extension of our own organization. We desire open, candid and honest communication with our partners. We have found when partners open up and build a trust with each other, both organizations excel in their partnership.
We recognize our partners have a similar evaluation to make when partnering with a software manufacturer. Below are several factors which may influence their evaluations.
- Investment. There are no up-front administrative or authorization fees. However, partners must demonstrate financial commitment in the form of agreed upon subscription license sales.
- Staffing. Partners must commit a dedicated executive resource to sponsor the Aplicor solution and become a product expert. Lack of product expertise is a universally recognized criteria for unsuccessful partnerships.
- Training. Aplicor will provide the partner with a sales and consulting training. It is incumbent upon the partner to follow-up Aplicor training with in-house software research, evaluation and training.
- Sales assistance. Aplicor provides pre-sales assistance upon request. Such assistance may include sales strategy consultation, software demonstration or other similar assistance.
- Consulting assistance. Aplicor will make professional services staff available to our partners for customer implementation or support. Such billable services may be offered directly by Aplicor or under the partner company's corporate umbrella, depending upon the partner’s wishes.
- Margin. 30% to 50% margin of the SRP (suggested retail price).
- Optional territorial exclusivity. Based upon mutually agreed upon quota and publisher revenues.
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