SMB: Margin on Hardware?

I know most SMB IT service providers are fans of Dell hardware pricing – and I’m not knocking it, we still do quite a bit of volume with them. But if you do have a consistent volume of hardware purchases, you might be surprised by HP’s pricing. Check out HP Smartbuys with your distributor, and spend some time learning about the HP PartnerONE program (I know it’s no fun – but take a look ). I’m not saying that HP is the solution, but in my experience there's more opportunities to find margin. Some of the partner pricing and quarterly internal benefits are interesting too.

Another thing to consider – if you’re consumed with running your business - hire someone to do the vendor management piece. When it was just me ordering everything though Dell – we got by. But since adding someone to manage the vendor piece, we’ve easily covered their cost, and now someone is incentivized to work the pricing.