“Even the best products won’t get the attention they deserve unless there’s a team of the right resellers in the right industries who are excited to talk about them.” This is one of Ben Baum’s core beliefs as he leads Durabook’s channel partner sales strategy as Vice President of Sales, Americas.
In this interview, Ben breaks down how Durabook builds and drives its channel sales model.
Let’s start by talking about the experience you bring to your role as Vice President of Sales, Americas, and how that shapes Durabook’s channel partner sales program.
With over 20 years in the industry developing channel programs and strategies, I’ve built a deep understanding of how to recruit the right partners, foster lasting relationships, and drive mutual growth. For over half that time, I was with a competing rugged computer company, where I specialized in working with partners to sell a premium product – rugged – into targeted vertical markets. Selling higher-end solutions requires a clear value story, and a deep understanding of both end user customer pain points as well as reseller motivations.
Durabook’s sales strategy is partner focused, all about collaboration with our resellers and channel partners. Our sales team’s attention is spent on the enablement of our partners to make sure they have the knowledge and the tools to be able to successfully sell rugged.
When you say Durabook is partner-focused, what does that mean?
Durabook doesn’t sell anything directly to end users, our products are purchased exclusively through our reseller partners. The primary reason for this is we believe that our regional and national reseller partners are specialists and the experts in selling to end user customers. We may be involved in the process of the sale, we may assist our partners in a sale, but they are the ones who will deliver quotes, negotiate pricing and terms, and work on a roll out and delivery schedule. Partners are key to our model. When they succeed, we succeed, and that’s a big deal. We truly value the relationships we’ve built.
How do you go about finding and selecting reseller partners?
A big part of my role is building and supporting a geographically diverse network of reseller partners who serve end users with specific needs that align with our products. When it comes to selecting new partners, it’s not about size it’s about fit. We look for partners who are genuinely interested in what we offer, who take the time to understand what sets our products apart, and who are committed to effectively communicating that value to their customers. And that can be divided into a number of different vertical markets. We try not to pigeonhole ourselves into any specific marketplace because we learn every day about new kinds of businesses that need our products.
What is the reseller market like?
There are literally thousands of computer resellers in the United States, and they’re all a little bit different from one another. Most of those resellers are generalists, they sell all kinds of things to all kinds of people. They may not be focused on any particular product line or vertical market. Their focus is what is best for their customer and part of their value-add is trying to find products that fit their end user customer’s needs.
Some are laser focused on a specific vertical market and they know that customer inside and out from preferences and buying habits to typical budgets and roll out demands. They know their market like the back of their hand.
There is a small subset of them that focus on just rugged products.
Part of your job is to look at that massive group of resellers and decide which ones would make a great channel partner for Durabook?
Right now, we’re looking for partners with a sales team that can clearly communicate our message and value proposition. That can take many forms as resellers come in all shapes and sizes each with their own unique characteristics. We work with different resellers for different reasons, depending on their strengths and how they align with what we are doing in a specific vertical or geography.
Some of our resellers are more transactional in nature, they are focused on quick sales, largely based on price. Others take a more proactive approach by attending trade shows, networking, and building relationships with new customers. For our business, having a mix is not only okay, it’s healthy. End users discover resellers in all sorts of ways: some through a simple Google search and others through long-standing relationships.
How important is it to a potential reseller partner that Durabook does no direct sales to end users?
Selling directly to end users while also selling through reseller partners creates immediate conflict. It undermines trust and puts partners in a position where they’re competing with their own vendor. Maintaining a clear, “No Direct” model and a consistent channel only approach is essential.
And it’s part of your job to educate the reseller on the benefits and how they can speak about Durabook in a knowledgeable way.
Yes, every day, a good part of the day. I would say that we spend maybe 70% of our time with our partners and 30% with end users. We spend that partner time doing training, answering questions, and offering support during pricing negotiations. Even our most experienced partners who know our products well, can’t be expected to know everything. Questions will always come up, and we’re here to support them whenever they do.
When you’re talking with a new reseller, what do you want them to know about Durabook?
There are a handful of bullet points that capture our value proposition
- Durabook strictly sells through reseller channel partners and not through direct sales.
- Customization. Durabook is flexible and can provide unique customer specific configurations
- Lead times. Durabook’s faster delivery time – as little as six weeks for small customizations – is half the lead time of competitors.
- Durabook offers a lower Minimum Order Quantity.
- We have a single location for warehousing parts, pieces, and finished product. This is also where we have tech support, break-fix, and product customization. All of this is under one roof. This is a huge advantage over our competition, which outsources to multiple locations. We don’t outsource any of these functions.
- More margin. Durabook offers resellers greater margin than generic or commodity products
What are the benefits to a reseller that does not have rugged mobile computing devices in its product mix?
One of the first value-adds we offer to a new reseller is the opportunity to sell a product that stands out. Rugged notebooks and tablets are a distinct category. Unlike many commoditized laptops that look and perform similarly due to shared specs like CPU, RAM, storage, and operating system, rugged is based on MIL-SPECs, IP Ratings, and drop specifications.
We then offer the benefit to them of selling a product that has a higher resale value and a higher margin expectation. Rugged devices like ours allow end users to maximize their productivity out of the office and, when channel partners include rugged devices in their portfolio, they are helping their customers expand their set of tools.
What are the advantages to a channel partner of working specifically with Durabook?
Generally, what resellers are looking for are vendors that clearly offer them an opportunity to make money and vendors that make it easy to do business with. They’re looking for those kinds of partnerships. They’re also looking for technology that’s different from what they may already have in their portfolio from other vendors.
For our company and our specific product set, there’s steady demand because people rely on our products to get their jobs done in challenging places and environments. Product performance (ruggedness) is critical and expectations are high.
Reseller salespeople want to sell products that don’t take too long to ship because they usually can’t get paid until the item is delivered and invoiced. It’s incredibly frustrating to close a sale and then wait 90 days to see revenue. They prefer inventory that’s in stock, and if it’s not, they expect a fast turnaround. Otherwise, they’ll likely sell something else.
Nobody wants to wait two months for their new things.
Right. And we try to do it within a month, but worst case six weeks, many times it’s next day. If we have it in stock, it’s right away. Our partners love that. They want vendors that are fast and responsive, with a lot of in-stock product, and short lead times for out-of-stock items.
What about customization?
The reality of our business is that a lot of times the end users want something that’s custom. And custom does take more time, of course, but we strive to beat expectations. If everyone else is going to take eight to 12 weeks, we are going to try and do it in four.
How does the reseller strategy benefit the end user?
There are a couple of different ways, and part of it depends on the reseller. If the reseller specializes in a specific vertical market there’s real value in helping the end user understand: Why Durabook? Why would a particular model product work better for them than another? And even more specifically, why a certain feature or attribute could deliver more added value for their needs.
For a reseller with a broader focus who is selling other items such as servers, storage, networking, printers, and accessories; their value-add is offering one-stop shopping. They provide convenience to the end user by consolidating purchases through a single vendor, which is often far easier than dealing with multiple suppliers.
How many reseller companies does Durabook work with?
That number fluctuates. It is a balancing act week to week, month to month, year to year. We are always looking for new partners, the right new partners, absolutely. At the same time, we don’t want to over-saturate the market. We want to be careful to ensure that we don’t have too many partners that they would be competing for the same projects.
I would say that right now Durabook is in a spot where we are still growing. We’re still looking for new partners. We still can add partners without hurting our existing ones.
But that that is something that we watch and we try to keep an eye on.
Do you see demand increasing?
Absolutely. Demand is growing across the rugged computing market and we are seeing even stronger momentum for Durabook. This increase is driven by greater workforce mobility, more field-based operations, and the rapid adoption of AI. Teams in utilities, public safety, energy, logistics, and defense now depend on real-time decision making in environments where standard devices simply cannot perform.
As organizations modernize their workflows and introduce AI tools such as predictive maintenance, automated inspections, and real-time situational awareness, they need hardware that can support these applications reliably in harsh conditions or when connectivity is limited. Rugged devices are about so much more than durability. They are becoming intelligent field systems that improve speed, accuracy, and consistency.
Customers today are not just purchasing hardware. They are investing in workflow reliability and operational intelligence. They want technology that helps their professionals in the field work smarter and stay productive wherever the job takes them. This is exactly where Durabook stands out. We build solutions that empower workers to excel, equipped with reliable tools that give them greater resources and power to creatively tackle worksite challenges. As AI and data-driven operations continue to expand, the demand for rugged high-performance tools like ours will continue to grow.
Ben Baum,
Vice President of Sales, Durabook Americas
