TD SYNNEX Brings B2C Rewards to B2B Relationships
The distributor’s new Partner Loyalty program uses techniques popularized by airlines, retailers, and other consumer businesses to thank resellers for past and future sales.
It’s a lame joke that I used elsewhere just a few weeks ago, but in my book three instances of anything is all you need to declare a trend in effect. And by that standard, partner loyalty programs are now officially a trend. Instance one in this case was the loyalty program announced by Pax8 late last year. Instances two and three came last week from TD SYNNEX and Sophos.
Before we dive into the details, a little context: Partner programs, obviously, are as old as partnering itself in the channel. Partner loyalty programs are a much newer phenomenon specifically designed to reward partners, financially and otherwise, for their contributions to mutual success before, during, and after a sale. Per data shared on LinkedIn by Omdia analyst Devan Adams, in fact, partners currently value incentives of that kind more than any other vendor benefit, including MDF and pre-sales or technical support.
Marketplace operators like Pax8 and TD SYNNEX have even more reason to heed such data given that a large and growing amount of business flows through marketplaces these days and partners have no shortage of marketplace options.
“Especially in an industry like ours where there’s a lot of choice, they want to feel that the investment of their time and dollars is valued,” says Calhoun McKinney (pictured), TD SYNNEX’s vice president of North American go to market. The distributor’s new Partner Loyalty program aims to demonstrate appreciation, she continues, in the manner an emerging generation of B2B managers has grown accustomed to via airlines, retailers, and other B2C businesses.
“There’s kind of this massive state of change with who’s in those roles, and as we look at data and profiling on those decision makers, they value things like loyalty programs,” McKinney says.
Like Pax8’s Voyager Alliance program, the TD SYNNEX Partner Loyalty program provides tiered benefits customized by partner size and specialty. Unlike Pax8’s still forthcoming Voyager Alliance Rewards program, TD SYNNEX’s benefits are tied to sales performance (initially in the distributor’s advanced solutions portfolio) rather than a consumer-like points system. Sales figures determine who qualifies for membership in the new program as well, according to TD SYNNEX partner enablement management leader MK Fisher.
“We want to make sure you’re investing in us and we’re going to invest back in you,” she says.
McKinney, without providing specifics, suggests that partners can expect more to come from its Partner Loyalty program, as well as more offerings like it.
“We’re excited about what’s happening in the channel right now and we’ve got a lot on tap for the year,” she says. “You’re going to continue to see things like this come forward that are evidence that we’re really making big investments in our partners.”