As a busy VAR representing many lines of business, you don’t have time to chase ITAD customers, yet you don’t want to miss out on good opportunities either. The good news is that you don’t have to if you partner with the right recycler. A responsible recycler with a good channel program can find and take care of ITAD opportunities for you. You’ll earn the extra revenue without any of the headaches.
Quantum is a good example of a recycler that deals almost exclusively with ITAD. Ari Prassinos, director of business development with Quantum, set up the company’s channel program and he says it’s an important and strategic part of their business.
“We work with all areas from OEMs and distributors to traditional VARs and system integrators,” he explains. “For us, a great channel program boils down to three simple things: make it easy, stay committed to the channel, and make it profitable.”
An Easy Channel Program Closes the Door on Your Competitors
Quantum makes a channel program easy by offering a complete ITAD solution for your clients. Quantum knows that you don’t have time to chase this business whereas they have the resources to be your dedicated ITAD team. Therefore, if you want to take a hands off approach, they can find and close ITAD opportunities for you. In effect, they are an extension of your sales and service team. In an alternate scenario, you can simply offer Quantum’s ITAD solution as part of an upsell in your standard sales process, making your clients’ lives easier and closing the door on the chance for clients to use a competitor’s ITAD solution.
A Trusted Channel Program Gives You Peace of Mind
Quantum recognizes that it’s relatively easy to create a channel program but it takes hard work and dedication to become a trusted channel partner. Prassinos suggests that before you take on a recycler as a channel partner, you ask to speak to other partners they are already working with and ask questions. He also suggests scheduling a visit to the recycler’s facility.
“Don’t trust us until we can prove to you that we can be trusted. Ultimately, you own the relationship with the client,” says Prassinos. “I’ll give you an example. A partner engaged us to work directly with one of their clients. After we had completed the project, the client contacted us directly for another project, but instead of working directly with the end user and keeping the extra revenue, we contacted the partner and ensured they were kept in the loop with the engagement and, of course, with their back-end rebates. That’s the way we work at Quantum.
A Profitable Channel Program Means More Revenue
Finally, Quantum realizes that there is revenue to be made in ITAD, not just in the recycling and remarketing of used IT gear but also in data destruction, logistics and project management. Many businesses miss out on this marginal revenue because they are not able to offer services such as crushing hard drives or scheduling trucks for pickup of old equipment. As Prassinos notes, “It’s an easy program and there’s no investment. Most deployment projects offer a decommissioning opportunity that can yield double digit margins. Do not leave money on the table!”
Where Can I Find a Complete ITAD Disposition Solution?
Quantum has a brand new facility in Toronto and has been serving the Canadian market for more than five years. They handle all assets from “cradle to grave” and are OES and PCI compliant with multiple industry certifications such as R2, RQO and NAID-Canada.
“We offer a closed loop solution. So let us do all the work for you and you can just pat us on the back!” says Prassinos. “We guarantee anything we touch will be recycled completely and ethically and we make sure our clients are protected and secure at all times.”
If you’re ready to discuss your ITAD solution, contact Quantum today.