Informa just had Mike Bauer of Scansource on their podcast. (I listened because Intelisys is one of my TSDs, but listening to Mike is hard.) AireSpring is doing it’s TSB round table – Telarus, Intelisys, Sandler Partners, AppDirect and Avant – on June 5th with Informa’s Craig hosting.
The channel partners have indeed seen an influx of investors. Yes, MSP M&A has been going hot and heavy for over 6 years. Scale works in an MSP business. However, the MSP business model is very different from other channel partner models.
There are less than 60K MSPs in North America and about 100K VARs. There are about 5,000 agencies.
Agencies have seen an influx of investors, but the offers are not that great for stakeholders looking for an exit. The owner can get some chips off the table, but can’t walk away. After the 3 year tie-up, we are seeing the principles coming out of “retirement”, taking a W2, or starting a new agency.
Mike thinks there will be growth. That’s funny since most ARPU in the major products is flat or declining.
The TSB heads like to talk about how AI and CyberSec are great areas for partners to get into (invest time and resources in). If so, why don’t they break out the percentage of sales by category? Oh, right! Network and simple voice are still 85% of the orders.
The TSB execs like to talk about the education they offer. Trust me on personal experience that it isn’t worth the time. How could it? It is vendor powered. It rarely involves use cases or sales forensics. It rarely involves the partner who is actually selling it.
The model – for webinars, presentations, even for meetings with channel managers – is a vomit of the portfolio of the vendor. At least, that is my experience. Follow up is crickets, by the way.
TSBs have extensive line cards. Some have over 500 vendors. And they are adding more! Why? MDF. They need the dollars.
Many vendors want to use the channel and the TSBs are happy to take their money. The outcome or future sales are not guaranteed.
Honestly, when I see AppDirect buying vendors aimed at enterprises, I have to wonder if they are equipped with any data. Or is it all on a whim.
When you get a chance to interview an exec at a TSB, could you stop throwing softballs? Ask for some real data.
How many partners are closing 10K per month in MRR deals? How many are closing $100K?
Intelisys data showed just 21% of their partners were top tier (making six figures or more in commissions). If Mike is saying there are 4000 TAs, then 840 agencies/VARs/MSPs/SIs are making bank from one TSB. Most will have at least 2.
BTW, investors will be targeting that 21%!
Mike said we should ask what we want from our TSBs. First and foremost, commissions paid accurately on time. Everything else is gravy.
- How many partners actually use the tools?
- How many log in to the portal weekly?
- What percentage of partners take advantage of in-person education?
- How does that effect their sales? Do they close something big within 30 days?
- How many partners are actually selling AI?
- How many partners sell network AND SaaS?
At CVX Expo 2025 in Phoenix, there will be a session with TSBs. What questions would you like to have asked?