Steljes is a distributor of technology products in the corporate and education markets, offering a range of products from a growing list of vendors.
It is a privately owned, independent business employing approx 170 people.
Steljes sell through an established network of reseller partners. While Steljes activate end-user marketing campaigns they are naturally reliant on resellers being pro-active in creating their own leads and driving sales. Resellers are equally reliant on Steljes to give them the tools to achieve this.
Like many technology distributors, Steljes had largely been reactive to requests from resellers for marketing material. This demand was handled by the Steljes marketing team, aided by one inhouse artworker, who between them didn’t have sufficient capacity as the business grew. The lack of pro-active channel support was impacting on both the bandwidth of the marketing team and the service provided to reseller partners. A different solution was sought.
The wish list was ambitious:
– increase the level of support in the form of marketing collateral offered to resellers
– get marketing campaigns and supporting material into the channel more quickly
– allow materials to be personalised
– retain brand control over personalised collateral
– reduce the time burden on Steljes marketing team
– use the solution as a driver for reseller recruitment, retention and loyalty
– minimise the financial investment required
This change was part of a wider business growth programme that included greater channel resourcing, new channel and reseller training, customer satisfaction research and the restructuring of channel co-funding to target new and growing markets.
Outsourced resource
The solution came via a marketing services agency, Oliver Marketing, who created a bespoke service package.
The Steljes in-house artworker was transfered across and another designer recruited to create a permanent, outsourced, on-site studio. Their work includes all Steljes artwork and a significant percentage of end user and channel based design requirements.
A print buying resource was brought on board plus dedicated procurement, work flow and templating software deployed.
Welcome to Steljes CommsCentre!
The vision for the project was making ‘our team, your team’, giving partners access and freedom to put their own stamp on marketing collateral.
This approach dramatically improves the value Steljes add by helping partners to take products to market faster and more cost effectively in a way that is unique to them.
How it works
The CommsCentre solution includes the deployment of a user friendly, web-based marketing and print tool.
The in-house team design material with reseller partners in mind. A template is then built that allows controlled customisation. This can be as simple as adding contact details or as complicated as changing colours, choosing images and products and free text entry.
Crucially, it does this without the need for any design experience and without compromising the design or key messaging to guarantee brand consistency and control.
This way, material delivered to the end user as unique to the reseller, empowering businesses that haven’t previously undertaken marketing activity before.
Steljes CommsCentre provides instant access to a complete toolkit of static and rebrandable marketing collateral.
- no specialist software or training required
- access the complete product image, lifestyle image and logo library
- use the pre-created bank of product marketing copy and web content
- create personalised marketing materials using ready-made templates
- valid for the UK and Eurozone with a simple drop down choice between Sterling or Euro
The output varies:
- unlimited, free of charge PDF downloads
- subsidised print-on-demand (through a combination of Steljes subsidy and Oliver Marketing’s buying power)
- DM fulfilment, including data upload, through a registered third party mailing house, also at subsidised rates.
As a web based system, users have access 24/7.
The whole process, from logging on to downloading the output or ordering print, takes just minutes to complete.
A growing band of evangelists
From April 09 and April 10 the system has grown through more aggressive and consistent promotion to the channel.
Over 12 month period, Steljes traded with 1200 reseller partners with a core trading group of 300.
Yr-on-Yr increase
April 2010
April 2009
Registered Reseller Partners
173 per cent
246
90
Registered Reseller Users
181 per cent
648
231
- Average number of users per reseller = 2.6
- percentage of core trading group registered to CommsCentre = 75 per cent
“The Steljes CommsCentre is such a useful resource. It enables us to be very nimble, creating fully
branded company literature in minutes, which normally would take a week.”
Jamie Marshall, partner alliance manager, Adventi
Accessing a forever changing toolkit
A soft launch of the system took place in the Autumn of 2008 with a small number of vendors represented. Since April 2009 material for a further 12 has been added, delivering considerable added value to both vendor and reseller partner.
Steljes CommsCentre
Yr-on-Yr increase
April 2010
April 2009
262 per cent
257
71
Reseller Downloads – product info / mktg templates
162 per cent
118
45
Trading figures show an increase in activity and loyalty.
In April 2010, retention figures tracking the number of resellers who had traded in each of the previous three months peaked at 54 per cent (average since 2007 = 47 per cent)
A cost neutral solution
The saving made by reducing the reliance on creative agencies, coupled with a contracted minimum 15 per cent saving on print, have made the packaged solution cost neutral.
Freeing the marketing team of the majority of channel responsibilities has allowed them to re-focus on creating end-user campaigns for channel partners to utilise.
Despite difficult trading conditions, pressures on budgets and high financial scrutiny, the deployment of CommsCentre has empowered Steljes and their Channel partners to grow market share.
A Sample Campaign
New Year in Education – 20pp product catalogue template targeting educational establishments preparing for a new school year.
Seven resellers personalised the template and sent it to 500 contacts through SCC = 7,500 contacts not known by Steljes
Cost to print & fulfill £4,792
Over £42,000 uplift in orders tracked in the following three months.
ROI = 776 per cent
Conclusion
Steljes CommsCentre has revolutionised the level of marketing support provided to reseller partners.
By communicating to, and communicating through resellers, Steljes has pushed its reach far deeper into organisations.
Cost neutral, CommsCentre achieved all the original objectives and now forms the cornerstone of an umbrella framework of reseller support that focus on stimulating demand in established, new and emerging markets.
Resellers have responded by putting more business through Steljes, by value and frequency.
