 |
 |
Comms Business Magazine met with the management board of 4Com Channel Services, a new company aiming to be the new force in distribution to find out what they had to offer resellers.
A potential new force in the distribution of converged communications solutions has brought together some of the most experienced and successful players in the channel to form 4Com Channel Services.
Daron Hutt, Managing Director of Siemens and Samsung’s largest UK reseller 4Com is now working alongside three new members of his management team, Roy Carter, Neil Moulton and Paul Fullman and is set to take on the mainstream distributors.
“There are a significant number of opportunities and drivers for our business.’ says Daron Hutt. “Three years ago we set up our own leasing operation which is working really well. The industry average for lease acceptance is barely 40% but we are averaging over 80% acceptance. Why? Because we have a proven sales process methodology that works and that the leasing companies like.
“The problems other companies have with leasing is not related to the credit crunch but due to the leasing companies’ telecoms portfolios underperforming and costing them money. This has been caused by some key insolvencies where suppliers bundled in services as part of the lease and then when the services were not delivered the users quite rightly refused to pay. As a result leasing companies have withdrawn funding from all but a few of their brokers as they need to understand the reseller and ensure that the quality of the sales and installations are good and importantly that services are not being bundled.
“This has left many of the smaller resellers not having any access to leasing at all. At 4Com however, we are trusted by the leasing companies to bring on resellers to use their leasing facilities via ourselves. This is a unique channel offering.”
Hutt also sees that there are significant systems sales opportunities, “Our sales are up 12% on last year and we are heading for a record performance. Why? Because our sales training is excellent and our contracts are good.
“It is our view that the broadline distributors in the market today are more aligned with the needs of their vendor partners than those of their their resellers. Resellers really want to hear what will put money in their bank accounts today. They want practical training on how to sell products, they want to understand what the ROI is and how to present that in a way that will win them business.”
Neil Moulton, Sales Director at 4com Channel Services, says that feedback is excellent, “We have been talking to many resellers already about our proposition and it seems we have really hit a chord. 4Com is highly successful due to its sales methodology and the way in which we bundle additional applications such as CTI, call recording and call management.
“Our direct sales volumes will be wound down as we ramp up our channel programmes and re-focus resources. We’ll impart our methodology to our channel partners who have been keen to understand how we are so successful and we’ll help them to become more successful too.”
Product Portfolio
At the time of writing 4Com Channel services were unable to officially announce their comms platform portfolio for distribution but they will have in place by the end of this month a full range of SME and Enterprise solutions including at least one exclusive platform. Focus will also be placed on call management and call recording applications.
Daron Hutt,”We will also have backing from major carriers in order to supply a range of network services; we want to be in a position to supply excellent rates that will provide growth for resellers and in effect a sign-on bonus for resellers who shift their minutes to ourselves.
Whilst we now have a great management team in place to carry through our strategic vision we are also recruiting more channel personnel and at the same time attracting more capital investment.
“2010 will see 4Com Channel Services become a major force in distribution as we help more and more resellers to develop their business through real value-added services and strong partnerships with the shared long-term objective of growing business.”