‘If you sell more across our entire portfolio, it means that you are bringing a better value for the customer, and if you bring a better value for the customer, we want to reward you,’ HP’s Kobi Elbaz tells CRN.
HP Inc. is rolling out massive new incentives for its channel partners aimed at giving them bigger accelerators on deals when they win with more of the company’s portfolio and it is offering resellers training through master classes in AI, and persona-based selling techniques.
The goal is to build a sales force that has an unrivaled expertise in the business uses of the technology that is driving sales, Kobi Elbaz, senior vice president and general manager of global revenue operations at Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP Inc., told CRN.
“We are taking a different approach than just bringing devices into market, because I don’t think the discussion is anymore about this AI device, whether they have more NPUs and can run more tasks,” Elbaz said. “This is not what customers are looking for. What the customer is looking for is, ‘What does it mean for me? What’s the pain point that you try to solve?’”
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HP Amplify, the company’s partner program, was started five years ago as a performance-based framework for engaging with channel partners, but Elbaz said the world of work has changed since then and it is now hoping to drive better engagement with education, support as well as stackable incentives.
“In the end, to make it real, you need to understand what pain point you’re trying to solve by persona,” he said. “So we will continue to enhance that, to give the channel partners the tools to that they can talk to customer and because we believe the experience is important.”
Additionally, HP is going to introduce Amplify SuperPower Booster, an upgraded compensation structure that gives partners better incentives if they sell products across the HP portfolio. This was born from a program HP started last year called More for More, and now it has grown to include all the items that HP sells, except 3D printers.
“If you sell more across our entire portfolio, it means that you are bringing a better value for the customer, and if you bring a better value for the customer, we want to reward you,” Elbaz told CRN.
He said partners start earning incentives from dollar one, to encourage their participation in Amplify. He said from there, HP breaks it down into four categories where they want to see a partner’s business grow.
“You have a personal goal. You have a critical goal. You have a services goal, and you have a collaboration or peripheral, audio, video,” he said. “Each one of them, if you make the goal, you get booster, you get you get an incentive. Now, if you make two or three of them, or four of them, it’s like you are now getting additional boost for the entire rebate you get.”
He said if partners want to only sell personal services, what HP calls its PC lineup, or only print, they will still receive incentives, but there is a bonus for adding more products.
“Now, if you make two or three of them, or four of them, whatever you get, it’s like you are now getting additional boost for the entire rebate,” he said.
Harry Zarek, president of Compugen, one of the largest HP partners in North America, based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, said the rollout of the AI PC and the coming PC refresh on the horizon has his company – No. 60 on the 2024 CRN Solution Provider 500 – feeling “very optimistic.”
“The incentive that they have on those additional categories actually are very helpful,” he told CRN. “So the idea is to sell more than just the core product of PCs or printer. If you can sell around the AI PC, like headsets, monitors, and keyboards, the more you attach to the core products, they give you additional incentives. Those are good programs. We like those programs.”
Elbaz said for the 26 years he has been with the company, HP has been committed to driving profitability into a partner’s business. As political maneuvering puts pressure on markets around the world, Elbaz said HP’s longevity and dedication to partners is a beneficial differentiator.
“Many companies come and go when it comes to channel. We’ve been with the channel always, and we develop a very strong trust relationship with channel partners,” Elbaz said. “We find it super valuable. Many times there is a lot of volatility in the market and the geopolitical situation I think will put pressure on everybody. I think we always learn that when you are in those areas, trust is critical. And you work with the company you trust, because this is the only way you can make any challenge into opportunity.”
Additionally, he said the company is not backing down from its core principles to manufacture products with minimal environmental impact, nor is it moving away from its commitments to equality in the workplace.
“Whatever we’ll do, we want still to do it right,” he said. “Meaning that about sustainability, diversity and equality is super critical, and we will continue to focus on that. So we are not dropping any of our values because of fashion. Those values were part of HP DNA, even before it became fashionable, and we are not going to change it back.”
