D-Link Corporation, a global leader in connectivity solutions for small, medium and large enterprise business networking has announced that it has embarked on a channel initiative aimed at helping partners to bring intelligence to their channel sales.

According to the vendor that makes solutions in the IP Surveillance, Wireless, Switching, Storage, Security, Cloud, VoIP, Print Servers, Structured Cabling, Digital Home, 3G/4G Routers, Power over Ethernet Kit, Powerline, KVM, Structured Cabling and Digital home offerings, the strategy has been designed to assist partners to identify and exploit opportunities in the market that help them to increase their sales revenue.

Sakkeer Hussain, Director – Sales and Marketing, D-Link Middle East and Africa (MEA), said in spite of a competitive channel landscape and the uncertain in the market, it’s critical that resellers adopt new ways of interacting with their end user customers as generic messages to clients and prospective customers are losing their effectiveness and no longer guarantee new business wins.

Hussain said the art of selling is not by luck but needs to be mastered by every channel partner involved in the IT industry especially now that the market is going through a rough patch. “Understanding what exactly your clients want and recommending the solutions that suit them best will not only win you new business but ensure that your customer views you as their trusted business advisor and not just a reseller,” he said.

He explained that value-adding and not just pitching a vendor brand and its hardware products is what is needed in the channel. “Every so often, resellers get into the comfort zone and depend only on the vendor brands or hardware products they sell,” he observed.

He said at D-Link, the company is recommending to its channel partners to be offering value-added services, such as pre- and post-sales services, scoping and designing of solutions, consultancy, proof of concept (PoC) and offering professional services as in when the client needs them.

“To be able to add value, channel partners need to invest in training or areas of their business that will be enabled to competently provide these offerings to the end user,” he said. “To grow any business, one needs skill sets to deliver comprehensive technology offerings and that’s what D-Link has been urging its channel partners to do.”

Hussain added that D-Link is working closely with all its distribution partners across MEA to ensure that channel partners are properly developed, supported and enabled in the market to cement their sales revenue.