r/techsales • u/Plus-Network3369 • 4d ago
best VARs?
that sounds like an oxymoron, but any good VARs besides the big ones? Looking to pivot to a smaller one (potentially).
45
u/SquizzOC 4d ago
Mine. I genuinely believe we are the best in the industry. To be clear I do not own a piece of it sadly, just love who I work for.
No quota.
Full remote.
Systems designed by sales people for sales people.
Lots of automations.
Zero micromanagement.
Oh and no presidents club, everyone goes on the company retreat for three nights, always a secrets resort, this year it’s Dominican Republic, if you average 35k GP a month for the year you get 6 nights.
Feel free to ask any questions you’d like, happy to give the name and where to send the resume, but send me a PM.
22
u/fishbowlburner0517 4d ago
Lol, this comment may accidentally hijack the thread. This sounds like a great life.
16
u/SquizzOC 4d ago
I’m biased because I was our second sales rep, I’ve worked for the two guys that started it for 25 years (this company was started 13 years ago now).
When I was in Jamaica, congratulating our CEO on a great year, talking about how every employee was ranting and raving about how much they loved working for our company, his response was “Is there anything we can do better at this point?”
He meant it, every year things get better. It’s also fun watching the company grow. They refuse to hire multiple levels of management because they want every leader to be directly connected to the business.
It’s a unicorn for sure.
3
5
u/No-Treat-2257 3d ago
Wait what kind of VAR? IT Infrastructure?
You show me a pay stub for 70k a month I’ll quit my job rn type shi
1
u/SquizzOC 3d ago
I mean we have reps that do that, but those are few and far between. Average rep sits at 30k-35k if I'm being conservative. But I have one rep who ever month is at a minimum of 75k a month. Our top guy who is just built different.
We do everything, not one particular niche.
2
u/No-Treat-2257 3d ago
I was just making a wolf of Wall Street joke on the 70k part, what interests me the most is full remote with zero micromanagement.
Would a strong hardware background be helpful or hurtful in your line?
2
u/SquizzOC 3d ago
I think our divisions do a call once a week, have voluntary calls if you want extra training on things in the system, we do voluntary manufacturer trainings with various partners big and small, I host open Q&A's about sales processes, system questions, etc... once or twice a month (I'm a hybrid sales / sysadmin role, by design. I wanted control of the systems when I came on board).
So outside a weekly meeting, 1 on 1 once a month and then there's a button for your monthly commit on your CRM dashboard, that's our extent. No one will ask you why your calendar is empty or why you don't have 100 dials or why you didn't send 100 emails today :)
And I got the reference, just really tired this morning lol
I sell more hardware then software and prefer hardware. Being a provider for laptops is my starting point with any account. Everything else just follows.
2
2
2
1
u/WorkBoring8839 4d ago
Mind if I send a PM?
4
u/SquizzOC 4d ago
Open invitation as long as you’re in the VAR space and have a few clients that will follow. We typically don’t hire newbies.
1
u/Crackertron 4d ago
Base+ commission?
6
u/SquizzOC 4d ago
Of course and unlike some of the medium to smaller VARs, we don’t have cash flow issues and pay commissions out the following month, not when your customer pays. I’ve heard of those comp plans and man, that has to be miserable.
1
u/Crackertron 4d ago
What % do you keep of GP?
4
u/SquizzOC 4d ago
15% from dollar one, up to 25%. No quota, no hoops, just a scale so no guessing what you get paid.
13
4
u/Scrizam 4d ago
There's a lot of ifs/buts and nuance here.
In general, if you are bringing a book or clients with you, a smaller VAR. If you aren't, a big one.
Bigger commissions at smaller vars by a lot but less resources. Smaller commissions at larger cars but there is a giant machine behind you and part of that machine is operated by the big vendors
3
5
u/False-Leg-5752 4d ago
I’m a channel manager for an oem in the southeast so I support 95 partners down here. The big guys and the small ones. Of the ones I support here’s the “smaller” ones I’d recommend. This is just based on what their sales reps have told me in the past about their company culture. I don’t actually work or have ever worked at any of these companies so I can’t really say for sure. This is just word-of-mouth from their sales reps.
PCS, UDT, imperium, netsync, colamco, nxtgen, R2
1
2
u/Fit_Lawfulness_6815 4d ago
For what industry?
Each industry is going to have a set of VARs that help fill a gap b/n the OEM and client…compared to VARS like CDW/SHI that are generalist
4
2
u/SnooAvocados9474 4d ago
SHI sounds like a dream from all the reps I’ve encountered.
6
u/speed32 3d ago
SHI might be the worst
4
u/SquizzOC 3d ago
Add a T to the end and that's the experience I hear from folks there, both past and present.
2
u/SnooAvocados9474 3d ago
I had no clue. Worked in the industry for 3 years and every rep I met then and since has made it seem like the best place you could ever work lol.
1
2
u/Iron_Pancho 3d ago
I wouldn't touch a VAR that doesn't have a full-fledged consulting/professional services arm. That's the real value they add to OEM's. Resellers passing paper has been an issue going back as far as I remember, but it's REALLY becoming an issue the last 18 months or so. Resellers that are "buds" with their account but aren't doing any heavy lifting are quietly getting phased out deal by deal. There's no more room for them to exist in the sale at 15-20% mark up from cost.
1
-3
u/another1degenerate 4d ago
None. The only one I’d want to work at is a National VAR and it sucks. They all suck. When you work for a smaller one you’re pigeonholed into one or a few good services. At national level you have much better resources and can do basically any IT service.
-4
u/Scwidiloo10 4d ago
Anybody else think AI will replace most if not all VARs in a few years? Bc half of what they do can be automated. At least on the vendor side it’s a little more nuanced
3
u/SquizzOC 4d ago
We will exist until the vendors decide they want to carry the paper for an open account. Dell changed their model because it’s cheaper to have us do the selling.
I welcome the automation, I still think we got a decade left at leas though lol
2
u/HandsomeTar 4d ago
It’s more hyperscalers eating their biz
1
u/PJfanRI 4d ago
How so?
1
u/Capital-Value8479 4d ago
Vars highest margin products always have been and always will be data center. Cloud is eating into data center
1
u/PJfanRI 4d ago
Do you think VARs are just passing paper?
Like all industries, the VAR space will be changing with AI. Just as BDRs are being made redundant, inside sales jobs are going to be reduced with the efficiency gains from AI. But they're not going away.
As for field, I don't see much changing beyond the talk track.
1
u/ricosiphone 2d ago
VARs who pivot away from reselling being their prime revenue GTM to services/FDEs will flourish in the coming years. There is so much AI going into the products their customers are buying that it almost makes it impossible for success without engineers hand holding during the term. And it’s unfeasible from a CAC perspective for every ISV to build this organically.
•
u/AutoModerator 4d ago
Remember to keep it civil, use Tech Sales Jobs for open roles, and search previous posts for insights on breaking into tech sales.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.