The company says their Connect Partner Programme is designed to reward partners who demonstrate a commitment to marketing and selling Plantronics as part of an overall value added strategy, as well as areas of specific expertise required to keep pace with the communications industry. Through the Connect programme, resellers gain the ability to enhance customer relationships through pre- and post-sales support and maximise revenue generation opportunities.
Partners will also have access to Plantronics’ Plantronet partner portal featuring a library of product information, ready to go campaigns, sales plays, quoting tools, opportunity registration and market development funds programmes.
To recognise the changes and innovations in communications technology, two different levels of specialist accreditation are now available to acknowledge partners’ areas of expertise.
UC Voice Specialist: This recognises systems integrators who actively promote Plantronics to their clients. Customised support includes also discounted and sample products for their own use as well as for demonstration purposes, access to Unified Communications (UC) specific programmes and event support.
Public Sector: This recognises and supports partners on the UK Government and Customised Hardware and clients. Customised support includes discounted and sample products for their own use as well as for demonstration purposes, access to UC specific programmes and event support.
In addition to specialist accreditation, the programme will continue to offer three different levels of participation, which partners will qualify for based on goals, commitment and training.
Partner Level: The partner level membership offers support across all aspects of growing the resellers business including; pre and after sales support, supporting product information and online collateral, marketing content, product presentations, case study development and direct marketing toolkits.
Certified Partner Level: Certified members get to share all of the benefits open to partner level members, as well as the support of a designated Plantronics account manager committed to helping the company grow its business.
Premium Partner Level: Premium membership entitles partners to receive all the benefits of the Partner and Certified levels, however also receive funding to support their own marketing or promotional activities, demonstration and sample products for both internal and educational use in customer showcases, support in creating the most competitive pricing packages for customers and easy to use template-format business and marketing plans.
Paul Dunne, Head of Channel Sales, UK & Ireland said: “Since 2007, Plantronics’ Connect programme has gone from strength to strength. Over the past few years headsets have become ubiquitous for business. Now, with the development of UC this looks set to continue as customers demand top quality UC headsets that seamlessly integrate with their UC rollouts and encourage adoption within the organisation.”
Antonia Howard, Business Manager, Misco said “We are delighted to work alongside Plantronics as one of their premium level partners. Plantronics’ support has helped us gain confidence in our knowledge of their products. It has also helped us provide customers with solutions that best fit their needs, consequently helping us sell Plantronics products more effectively.”