Re: SWMA question

[Jim Oberholtzer <midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul:

IBM has no part in this game, IBM's policies on this have been standard 
and constant for some time.  99% of the customers that get those 
invoices from a BP do exactly what yours did, ignore it.  It's up to the 
partner to have a sales function that makes sure the customer re-ups the 
maintenance not IBM.  While I was with one of the largest partners, we 
had a special sales person that did nothing but update SWMA contracts 
and Passport Advantage contracts.  She had by far and away the largest 
margins of all the sales functions of the company.

You want to know who to be angry with, the customer who ignored the 
invoice and the partner that did bother to follow up on his biggest 
margin item, SWMA renewals.

Pay the stupid penalty and don't forget next time.

Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects


On 7/2/2012 4:26 PM, Paul Nelson wrote:
> List,
>
> Do any of you know the person at IBM who deals with business partner
> relationships? I have a customer whose hardware and software maintenance
> agreements expired last winter.
>
> I just learned about it when I tried to order their V7 upgrade. I tracked
> down a clerk at the BP, who told me that she had emailed a renewal notice a
> month or so before the expiration date, but hadn't heard back from the
> customer.
>
> She told me the person to whom she had emailed the invoice, but got real
> quiet when I told her that guy had been gone for almost a year prior to her
> email. She got even quieter when I asked if she had bothered with a
> follow-up phone call.
>
> She just sent me a copy of the quote for setting up an new agreement, and
> the penalty is 116% of the agreement amount!
>
> What's wrong with this picture?
>
> Paul Nelson
> Cell 708-670-6978
> Office 512-392-2577
> nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
> --