Fishbowl: VAR Opportunities For Inventory

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been picking up some new names to keep tabs on, and Fishbowl is no exception. If you’ve got an inventory problem, VARs might want to jump on board with Fishbowl and their software inventory solution. I spoke to Kirk Tanner, chief marketing officer at Fishbowl and he gave me the details…

First, Tanner gave the rundown on Fishbowl’s history and their VAR program. Fishbowl started in 2001 originally as a custom software development company for various other companies. Their big named client was BC Techincal, which manufactures medical imaging equipment. Such machinery is complex, and with so many parts comes the need for a complex inventory system.

An inventory tracking software was written for BC Technical, and in 2002, BC Technical felt there was money to be made in it. They invested in Fishbowl to create a go-to-market strategy for the software. Serendipitously, Intuit came out with a SDK for their Quickbooks platform, and so the decision was made to integrate the software enter that marketplace. The rest, Tanner said, is history. “We’ve become the #1 selected inventory solution for Quickbook users. 1.7 million business are using Quickbooks [for managing inventory]. We’ve got a huge market place and we’ve continued to grow rapidly year after year…[even] hiring during the recession.”

Fishbowl doesn’t just do inventory software anymore, though it is their bread and butter. But Fishbowl also sells mobile hardware, barcoding, wireless and point of sales hardware which is part of their turn-key solutions with their software. Tanner also noted that if you’ve got a device running on Windows Mobile (5 or 6), you can run Fishbowl’s software.

But their VAR program is what you’re most likely interested in.

That’s a common theme we hear with a lot of companies looking to increase and improve their channel distribution. Fishbowl recently revamped their VAR program at the start of March 2010. Tanner explained:

That’s a decent chunk. So what does a mere Affiliate get? They can jump in and receive a 10% commission on software sales, and at the end of the year, the total cash amount of sales can be put towards qualifying as a Preferred VAR. You’d have to do $50,000 net sales a year, however. You can skip the whole thing and cough up $1,995 to become Preferred, too.

But while you’re going through the two levels of certification to become that special Preferred VAR, Fishbowl’s has their own people go out and do demos for your potential customer. Fishbowl can ease the VAR into the program and get a dedicated sales person assigned to their case until the VAR becomes 100% Fishbowl certified.

“It’s a nice little hand holding transition, [but some of our] Preferred VARs don’t need it since they’ve been with us for a while.” said Tanner

Preferred VARs also get perks of customized marketing material at Fishbowl’s expense. Direct Mail, Brochures and any other marketing information can be customize with the VARs logo and contact information. Even electronic press kits, e-mails and more. The only caveat is that you’ve got to be 100% Fishbowl oriented in that marketing campaign.

Just to be cute, Fishbowl also delivers software on a USB drive in the shape of a goldfish. “[It’s great at] trade shows and events…” remarked Tanner

I asked him for some key takeaways for VARs looking to jump into the proverbial Fishbowl. Tanner listed a few…

Tanner seemed quite confident in expounding upon those details.

And now for the nitty gritty? The price tag is for Fishbowl’s inventory software solutions is $3595 and up ranging on a multitude of factors between user-base and if there will be in-house training at the customer’s company.

And for the future? “We’d love to have — by the end of the year —  another couple hundred VARs into both VAR sections.”

Any takers?

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