LEXMARK CHANNELS GET SOME COLOR THERAPY

Lexmark channel gets some Colour Therary
Vendor hopes to open better communication line with channel with lauch of new strategy
Printer
vendor Lexmark has unveiled its new channel strategy, which it has
claimed will give channel partners more consistency and enable them to
plan ahead more effectively.
Mark Seaman, SME director at Lexmark,
said: “The way we communicated to the channel didn’t make Lexmark’s
strategy clear. We would run numerous promotions
on an ad-hoc basis:
in the fourth quarter last year we had eight or nine promotions going
on at the same time. So we have decided to create an umbrella that all
future promotions will fall under.”
To kick-start the launch of
Colour Therapy, Lexmark’s new umbrella campaign, the vendor has
unveiled a cash-back promotion on its C522 network colour laser
printers, and it will be running an iPod Nano promotion starting on 1
February.
“Colour Therapy will give Lexmark a consistent identity,
and it will give us and our partners a chance to better plan ahead. We
deal with about 1,500 resellers in the UK, but we are always looking
for more. The more accounts I can trade with, the better,” Seaman said.
“We
will be communicating to our channel partners a lot more in advance
than previously. I will be going to partners in the middle of a quarter
to get them aware of the next promotion.”
Mark Bayliss, product
manager for printers and imaging at Lexmark VAR Integrex, said:
“Lexmark does need something firm in place, rather than to keep on
saying it has got this promotion and that promotion; it needs a set
strategy.
“However, I’m not a fan of cashback schemes because they
create more administration for us and the vendor. It would be easier
for vendors just to sell us the product at the reduced price in the
first place.”

Lexmark lights fire under channel promotions
Channel Butters up VARs with promise of ‘clarity’
PRINTER MAKER Lexmark is wooing resellers with a new channel strategy.
It’s
promised ‘greater clarity’ in its channel programme, and says from now
on there will be quarterly promotions planning, backed by an easier
claims process for promotions. It’s also instituted a new telesales
agency to generate leads.
It will be making available Web banners, tailored flyers and images for resellers to use in their own marketing campaigns