Managing Partner at Sage Summit 2016

Sage Summit 2016
As the years go by, Sage Summit is becoming more customer and sales oriented and less technical and reseller oriented.  We have gone from two separate events, to two events next to each other, to a customer event with a token nod to resellers on the first day.  Even that first day is primarily sales oriented.
Not much we can do with the content, but we can adapt to it and leverage it for what it is.  It may not the place to send all of your technical resources to learn, but it is the place to bring your prospects and customers to learn.  If you don’t have a plan going into it with your customers and prospects you are missing an opportunity. As a Partner our primary goal is to act as a guide, to recommend what sessions to attend, and what vendors to see.  Even if we don’t sell anything to our customers and prospects, we at least want them to experience the depth of the product that they are using or looking at, experience the ecosystem that they may need in the future, and assure them that there is a roadmap to the future.
In some cases where the prospect is very engaged, meeting with Sage employees and product managers can reassure their interest.  We had one prospect looking to migrate to a new Sage platform that met with multiple Sage employees and was given multiple personalized demos.
Overall WAC Solution Partners has adapted well to making our customer’s experience great.  We are always striving to do more and keep them engaged, informed, and coming back year after year!
So while it’s unfortunate that the focus is no longer on the reseller, as they say, when you have lemons, you need to learn to make lemonade.
 
Robert Distler, Managing Partner, Consultant
WAc Solution Partners- New England