ESI Awards Top Channel Partners With Elite Status

Tiered partner programs and special recognition for channel players allow vendors and manufacturers to spotlight high-performing partners and garner greater loyalty.

To recognize top channel partners that succeeded in improving business quality and customer satisfaction, ESI, a designer and manufacturer of high-performance telephone systems for SMBs and organizations recently announced its Elite Reseller Partners for 2012.

Currently touting more than 600 resellers, ESI’s nationwide channel program awarded 33 top-performing partners from 18 different states in the U.S. with Elite Status.

Although there are no published qualifications regarding which companies receive Elite Status, “the selection process involves a number of qualitative and quantitative factors, including revenue growth, participation and performance in our quality program,” David Gantt, Director of Marketing for ESI told Channel Marketer Report. The vendor also analyzes the level of technical training achieved and the degree to which they are following recommended best practices offered by ESI.

Resellers who earned Elite status receive a number of benefits, including:

Discounted technical training;

Matching funds for cooperative marketing;

Use of a special logo to promote achievements; and

The opportunity to qualify for a reward trip.

By tapping into key customer satisfaction metrics, such as the quality of services provided to customers, and other qualitative and quantitative data, the ESI Elite Reseller program annually honors the company’s top performing resellers. This tiered approach to partner programs not only helps differentiate reseller performance, but also their general needs, Gantt explained.

“Just as the partners themselves differ in size, capabilities and business practices, their needs also differ,” Gantt said. “A tiered approach allows us to more effectively match ESI’s programs and offerings to the needs of our partners.” Additionally, this strategy allows ESI to study best practices from top performers, and creates an opportunity to “share those lessons with all our partners, raising the overall performance of ESI and the entire channel.”