Silence Is Not Always Golden

Recently, while traveling to a city outside Mumbai, I was sitting with the leading distributor of the region and we got to talk about Dell India. I learnt that he had been signed as a Dell Master Sales Affiliate and I was amused as to why the vendor was not announcing its channel strategies openly.

Coincidentally, a Dell manager was at the dealer's premises and we got talking, without me giving out my name and designation. In true industrial espionage style, I got all the information about Dell's channel plans. It sounded fool proof. Which is why I am still wondering why Dell is not coming out and announcing it?

On one hand, the company is all gung-ho about working with the channel and most of its distributors have even gotten a Dell account manager who will work with them to ensure there are no initial sales glitches. The partner's sales and technical teams are being sequestered for a complete understanding of the company's offerings in the laptop and desktop space. Yet Dell continues it silence!

A vendor representative who read about Dell signing up channel partners but remaining tightlipped about it in The DQ Week wondered why Dell was playing the silent game. He quipped that were he in Dell's shoes, he would go all out to talk about this to gain more channel appreciation and trust.

After speaking to several of the other Dell partners, I found they were all kicked up about working with Dell. The margins were good; they did not have to worry about service issues, as Dell would take care of it.

Vinita Bhatia

They did not even have to worry about payment recovery or debt exposures. Customers would make the payments in favor of Dell and the vendor would send the partners their margins for a certain period. All they had to do was convince customers to opt for Dell and their job was done. Sounds good. So why is Dell not talking about it?

Is it because this is the first time the company has moved away from its tried and tested direct sales model? Is it because going through the channel is tantamount to claiming their failure in making the direct model work in the Indian market? Or is it because Dell does not think it important to acknowledge the channel, the people who are ultimately going to help it realize its dream of making inroads into the vast SMB market or of entrenching itself in the upcountry cities?

Whatever be its reason, it is time for Dell to come out of its closet and become vocal about its go to market strategies in India. By maintaining its silence it is only creating confusion in the channels' mind, which will not help it in any fashion.

 
vinitavs@cybermedia.co.in