The results of our latest quick poll on reseller.co.nz so far send a clear message to vendors who don’t have a local office.
It seems respondents aren’t too keen on having an Australian channel manager popping across to visit every three months.
But judging by the releases I get for the Reseller News appointments column companies keep hiring channel managers to cover Australia and New Zealand who are invariably based across the ditch.
I get the feeling that some international IT companies view New Zealand as an add on which is identical to the Australian market. Unfortunately that’s not the case as any good reseller will tell you - different markets require different strategies and having someone on the ground here helps build closer relationships.
And it works both ways. For example, Chillisoft has taken the step of opening an office in Melbourne so its Australian resellers can be better serviced.
Of course opening an office isn’t always practical or cost effective which is where the local distributor comes in.
So I have a small request. If you are making NZ based appointments please let me know here and we’ll be more than happy to run it in a future issue.
