Software renewals – the biggest ROI for PRM?
As the Chief Product Officer at RelayWare, I get front row seats to the many issues facing indirect sales executives. In recent months, two RelayWare customers, in the software space, have discussed a common problem. While resellers were proving to be a great channel to sell through for an initial sale, when it came to the annual license renewal a year or so later, reseller performance was much poorer than expected. The situation was so bad that one customer told me of an indirect license renewal rate of less than 50%.
My customers had many theories for the reasons behind this – loss of customer relationship, change of sales staff, even that resellers were deliberately “churning” their customers to a competitor to gain the higher discounts that a new sale typically attracts. But on discussing the problem with a few resellers we discovered a much simpler problem – the resellers were simply not aware of when each of their end customers’ licenses ran out. The administration of the renewal process was quite simply a distraction.
Both RelayWare customers were considering expensive incentive programs to encourage resellers to renew their customers’ licenses, but I suggested an easier, and much cheaper option – to use the power of the Partner Portal and the PRM system behind it to remind each reseller when the renewal was coming up, and make the administration of the renewal process as easy as possible.
They took my advice. Now, each of their resellers receives a tailored reminder 60 days before the license renewal is due, complete with full details and renewal pricing. All they need to do is call the customer and ask for a Purchase Order. Processing the Renewal itself is made easy by linking direct through to the customer’s details on their Partner Portal. The whole process need take no longer than 5 minutes. Of course, if no renewal is purchased the system will remind the reseller again as the license renewal date gets closer, and can prompt the Partner Account manager to phone the reseller if needed. The end result is a smooth automated process that makes software renewals easier for all concerned. And the great advantage is that there is a very low initial cost to my customers – a few minor tweaks to their partner portal, a couple of new email templates and the new reminder process was up and running.
It’s early days yet, but my customers report that resellers are definitely being more proactive in chasing their license renewal opportunities. We are all eager for the end of the Quarter to see how year on year renewal rates have changed and what the exact ROI for renewing licenses through RelayWare actually is!
¶ Posted October 15th, 2010 † Veronica § PRM ‡ No Comments |