ISV Go To Market in the Acumatica Channel: Where to Start
Breaking into the Acumatica ecosystem as an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) is a goal for many young business software companies. Achieving this goal (and standing out among competitors in the channel) requires a strategic approach. Selling consistently in the Acumatica channel is not just about having the best solution. It is fundamentally about channel relationships and building trust. If you are wondering how to launch your go-to-market strategy in the Acumatica channel, these proven strategies will help you.
Clarify Your Value and Simplify Your Pricing
Before you start reaching out to VAR partners in the Acumatica channel, your ideal customer needs to be very clearly identified. You must be able to succinctly articulate answers to the following questions:
What specific customer groups will be most helped by your solution?
Which of their difficulties/challenges will you resolve?
How will you make life easier for your customers?
Why is your solution superior to Acumatica’s native capabilities?
Why is your solution better than other ISV solutions that are on the market?
Value-Added Resellers (VARs) are looking for solutions that will enhance their clients' Acumatica experience. VARs will not recommend a solution that they are not confident in! To make your solution incredibly easy to understand, provide VAR partners with short, simple discovery questions that they can use to quickly qualify or disqualify opportunities during early conversations.
Furthermore, establishing transparent and common-sense pricing that makes sense within channel pricing structures is crucial. If VARs cannot understand how much your solution costs or how they make money from it, they will simply recommend a competitor's product because it is easier to sell. One final note about pricing: Young ISVs who are attempting to gain market share in the Acumatica channel must remain flexible and opportunistic in the sales cycle. At the beginning, you will need to adapt your pricing according to customers’ needs. After all, you need to do everything possible to get your foot in the door and start accruing goodwill in the channel. This may even look like creating customizations to meet the customer where they are at.
Build and Nurture Trusted VAR Relationships
In the Acumatica ecosystem, VARs own the customer relationships. VARs are your critical sales force. If VARs trust you, trust your product, and trust your support team, then you will be successful selling your solution in the channel. One of the easiest (but most underutilized) ways to connect relationally with VARs is to simply ask your existing customers who their Acumatica partner is. Identifying leading VAR partners by looking at industry resources like the annual top 100 VAR list can also work, but be realistic about how VARs will respond to your advances.
Understanding the VAR’s perspective is very important. VARs are not highly incentivized to recommend upstart ISVs. After all, if the new solution is buggy, the implementation is complicated, or the product support is poor, then the VARs will take a hit. ISVs commonly have cocky attitudes, believing they are the “hottest” new thing, and are frustrating to work with.
Young ISVs must prove themselves to the VARs in the Acumatica channel. To win over VARs, you must impress them and make it easy for them to do business with you across all stages: marketing, discovery, implementation, and support. Establishing a structured channel program that rewards partners with revenue share or margins is a must. Critically, ensure you pay them on time!
Building strong relationships goes beyond transactional business. Being a trusted partner means providing open, quick communication regarding demos, ongoing technical support, and providing a predictable implementation process. VARs must trust your solution, but perhaps even more importantly, they have to trust your team.
Co-Market and Establish Thought Leadership
Relational connectedness with VARs will be the core driver of success in your go-to-market strategy. Beyond this, an effective go-to-market strategy involves obtaining and distributing great product content.
You need to have professional-grade Marketing and Sales Enablement collateral. Instead of just pushing your product features, product content should focus on thought leadership. As a new ISV, you need to teach the VAR community about your product. In an ideal situation, you would create helpful, problem-solving content alongside your partners. This collaborative approach could look like hosting a joint educational webinar, where the VAR serves as the industry subject matter expert, but you also get to introduce your solution. Alternatively, creating co-branded blogs that address current trends and real problems could be effective.
Provide VARs in your relational network with a marketing toolkit that includes co-branded assets, comparison pamphlets, and short-form demo videos. Demonstrating your product smoothly—ideally embedded directly within the Acumatica ERP—gives it a polished look and builds confidence for VARs and end-users alike. Additionally, always ensure that your marketing incorporates social proof, as partners and end-users rely heavily on reviews and track records to build credibility.
Maximize Your Visibility in the Ecosystem
You cannot succeed in the Acumatica channel while lurking in the background. You must be present, active, and always building. Optimize your Acumatica Marketplace listing. Regularly update your content, embed marketing videos, and solicit reviews. Attend the Acumatica Summit to meet partners and users. Show up to Acumatica's user groups, participate in hackathons, and join independent communities (e.g., ACU Connect). Even taking time to answer technical questions on community forum pages is a part of building your brand's reputation.
Keep Up with Technical Requirements
Finally, your technical reliability is a cornerstone of your strategy. VARs must be confident that you will support their clients into the future. Keeping up with Acumatica’s new versions and release schedules is a big part of this! If your solution does not work well in the new Acumatica UI, what message does this send to VARs and end-users? Not a good one…
Success in the Acumatica ecosystem does not happen overnight. By staying consistent, working hard to meet VAR partners, producing great content, and creating a highly supportive channel presence, your ISV can build the relationships necessary to thrive.
