Softline Pastel wins CRN Loyalty Program Awards: Software Category

Our key focus is on developing and nurturing the relationships we have with our channel partners. We strive to meet their needs by ensuring we reward their successes through constantly providing them with the support they need to be successful.

We have developed a more personal and consultative association with our partners which gives us better insight into their businesses which in turn, allows us to provide the kind of support they really need.

By creating open channels of communication we are constantly aware of what our partners need and we do our best to meet those needs.

We have varied memberships to cater for the needs of the specific business.  For example, we have a large number of accountants that are registered with us, but because the majority of their focus is always going to be accounting and related services, we understand that we cannot enforce rules regarding product sales. 

However, there are businesses that focus on selling and supporting our products, so this program allows for rewards based on sales and other product related activities.  Here, through consultation with our resellers, we have designed a program that recognises performance, and rewards with more product discounts, and recognition of achievement amongst their peers.

Overall, the objective of our program is to promote the sales of the accounting products produced by Softline Pastel. Ours is a loyalty program that provides our partners with what all business owners want - financial reward.  

The program offers tiered incentives. As our partners climb the ‘achievement’ ladder; their financial rewards come in the form of greater discounts on the products purchased from Softline Pastel, which assists them in their businesses.

The incentive is predominantly financial reward but peer competition and recognition also goes a long way to encourage sales.

To support our partners, ongoing training is available. We also produce extensive product education material that they can access when required. As a company we also make significant investment in research and development to ensure we can assist our partners through a constantly changing technology landscape. 

We make an effort to ensure that we host nationwide events at least once a year to meet with them, share pertinent or topical information, and to allow them time to meet with us and provide us with their input. 

As already mentioned, we have varied memberships to cater for the needs of the specific business partners. 

For Value Added Resellers the pre-requisites to joining include maintaining up-to-date technical certifications, attending workshops and roadshows and complying with a strict code of ethics.

The Registered Dealer program requires partners to maintain up-to-date technical certifications.

There is no selection criterion for our Refer and Earn program which allows companies to refer customers, and if the sale is concluded, are rewarded for their effort.

Finally, only registered accountants and bookkeepers may join the Pastel Accountants/Bookkeepers Forum.

We constantly strive to listen to our partners and to engage with them to ensure we meet their needs and expectations just like we require them to meet ours.