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MSPs invest more deeply in vendors that act like accountable partners after the sale: they provide dependable support, understand the MSP’s clients and operating model, listen to feedback, keep commitments, communicate honestly, and connect their programs to measurable MSP growth. That conclusion comes from nine leaders interviewed at The Channel Company’s XChange August event in Washington, D.C. Their comments are qualitative perspectives, not a representative survey or a ranked scorecard.
What the interviews actually asked
The direct question was: “What’s one vendor behavior that makes you more likely to invest in a partnership?” Each participant named a behavior that signals whether a vendor is prepared to share responsibility for outcomes rather than simply close a deal. The answers cover the full partner lifecycle, from evaluating a tool for a particular client to getting effective help when a deployment goes wrong.
The interviews were published by CRN. The accessible page, checked October 13, 2026, does not display a publication date. Because the sample consists of nine event interviewees, it can reveal useful decision criteria but cannot establish how often any behavior occurs across the MSP market.
The nine MSP perspectives
Claude Bird: service that continues after the sale
Claude Bird, founder and principal consultant at BirdNest IT Services Training & Consulting, puts after-sale customer service first. For an MSP, the vendor relationship affects the end user as soon as a product is deployed. Bird’s standard therefore extends beyond a smooth sales process: the vendor should help the MSP look after its customers, respond when problems appear, and remain engaged with the practical work of delivering service.
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Michael Tanenhaus: continuity, understanding and delivery
Michael Tanenhaus, principal at Mavenspire, values stable contacts who understand the MSP’s experience and can identify what it actually needs. A familiar account or technical contact reduces the time spent re-explaining context. Tanenhaus also ties relationship quality to delivery: a vendor’s promise matters only when the promised action arrives in the agreed form and timeframe.
Ross Feldman: leadership that shows up
Ross Feldman, chief technology officer at Better Call IT, looks for vendor leaders attending industry events alongside account managers. Executive presence is evidence that the partnership matters beyond a single quota-carrying contact. It also gives MSP leaders a route to discuss strategic issues, product direction and recurring friction with people who can influence decisions.
Melissa Swann: product improvement with the partner, not merely for the partner
Melissa Swann, senior vice president of strategic growth and client success at Covenant Technology Solutions, favors vendors that work with MSPs and improve products in response to partner feedback. Her idea of “true partners” is collaborative: the MSP contributes field knowledge, the vendor acts on relevant input, and both sides can see how that input affected the product or program.
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Paul Anderson: certification that proves useful competence
Paul Anderson, founder and CEO of Novacoast, distinguishes meaningful certification from a badge that exists mainly for marketing. Requirements should help engineers demonstrate proficiency in the technology and give the MSP a credible way to differentiate its services. Training is most valuable when it improves delivery quality, clarifies the skills a technician has, and supports a defensible customer conversation.
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Shayan Khan: respect for working preferences and client reality
Shayan Khan, senior system engineer at Preeminent Technology, wants vendors to respect his email-first communication preference. He also expects a vendor to demonstrate that a tool addresses an actual client requirement before asking the MSP to adopt it. That combination protects engineering time: the vendor communicates in a usable way and supplies evidence tied to a real use case rather than a generic feature list.
Joe Ussia: consistent investment in mutual growth
Joe Ussia, CEO of Infinite IT Solutions, values vendors that show up consistently and build programs around mutual success. “Supporting our growth” means more than offering occasional promotions; it can include planning, enablement and dependable involvement as the MSP expands. A vendor that disappears between transactions makes it difficult for the MSP to commit resources or forecast a joint opportunity.
Timothy Chenowith: listening before prescribing
Timothy Chenowith, managing partner at PDS Manage, wants vendors to listen to MSP owners and work with them to determine a useful path forward. The behavior is diagnostic rather than transactional: first understand the business constraint, service model and customer situation, then decide whether a product or program fits. Sometimes the useful path may involve a different configuration, a phased adoption or no purchase.
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Eight behaviors to test in a vendor relationship
The interviews can be translated into practical evaluation axes. They are an editorial synthesis of the comments, not a validated scoring system. Use them to structure conversations and collect evidence.
| Behavior | Evidence an MSP can request | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship continuity | Named account and technical contacts, backup coverage, and a clear handoff process | Contacts change frequently or every question starts from zero |
| Account and technical support | Support channels, severity definitions, escalation ownership and examples of post-sale assistance | Support is described only in sales language, with no operating detail |
| Listening and product feedback | A documented route for partner feedback and examples of changes made from that input | Feedback is collected but no one can explain what happened next |
| Fit with client requirements | A discovery process that maps a proposed tool to a named client problem, constraint and success measure | The vendor recommends a product before asking about the client or service model |
| Leadership access and event presence | Regular partner briefings, leadership participation or an escalation path beyond the account manager | Executives appear only for a launch or renewal |
| Training and certification value | Skill objectives, assessment standards, renewal expectations and how credentials help delivery or differentiation | Certification is a volume target with no demonstrated effect on proficiency |
| Communication style | Agreement on preferred channels, response expectations and how urgent matters are handled | The vendor insists on a channel or cadence that conflicts with the MSP’s workflow |
| Mutual contribution to growth | A joint plan with responsibilities, enablement activities and outcomes for both businesses | “Partnership” means the MSP commits spend while the vendor offers no concrete support |
How to evaluate a vendor before committing resources
1. Start with one real client requirement
Write down the customer problem, technical constraints, compliance or operational requirements, current tools and the result that would indicate success. Ask the vendor to map its recommendation to those facts. If the answer remains a generic product tour, the vendor has not yet demonstrated the fit Khan and Chenowith describe.
2. Test the relationship before you need an escalation
Ask who owns the account, who handles technical questions, who covers an absence and how a critical issue moves upward. Request a short working session with the people who would support implementation. You are testing whether the vendor can provide the stable, informed contacts Tanenhaus and Scott value, not merely collecting names.
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Obtain the support hours, channels, severity definitions, target response or update practices and escalation responsibilities. Ask how the vendor helps an MSP communicate with an affected end user. Bird’s standard is useful here: support should protect the MSP’s customer relationship, not leave the MSP to translate a vendor problem alone.
4. Ask for a feedback loop with a visible outcome
Describe a product limitation or workflow issue that matters to your technicians. Ask where feedback is logged, who reviews it, how priorities are set and how partners learn about a decision. Swann’s “true partners” test is whether the vendor can collaborate on improvement, including an honest explanation when a request will not be implemented.
5. Verify leadership access and consistency
Find out whether leaders attend partner events, briefings or roadmap sessions and what happens when an issue exceeds the account team’s authority. Feldman’s point is not that every meeting requires an executive; it is that leadership should visibly share responsibility for the channel relationship.
6. Examine certification as an engineering investment
Request the syllabus, assessment method, hands-on requirements and renewal policy. Compare the skills taught with the services your MSP sells. A credential that helps an engineer perform a task and helps the MSP explain its capability has practical value; a badge with no meaningful assessment does not satisfy Anderson’s criterion.
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Set preferred channels and response expectations during onboarding. If email is the efficient default for your engineers, document that preference while defining an urgent escalation route. Khan’s experience shows that communication fit is part of productivity, not a courtesy added after the commercial terms.
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8. Put mutual growth in writing
Create a short joint plan stating what each side will contribute: training, technical workshops, marketing or event participation, implementation assistance, pipeline reviews, and the measures used to judge progress. Ussia’s expectation of consistent support becomes testable when responsibilities and review dates are explicit.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Questions to ask in a vendor meeting
- Who will remain my primary account contact, and what is the backup arrangement?
- What happens during the first serious technical incident, and who owns communication with the MSP?
- Can you show a recent product or process change that came from MSP feedback?
- What client information do you need before recommending a tool?
- How can an MSP owner reach a decision-maker when an issue is not resolved?
- What does certification require in practice, and what capability should an engineer have afterward?
- Which communication channels do you support, and can we agree on an email-first workflow?
- What will you contribute to our growth during the next two quarters, and how will we review it?
Red flags that should slow an investment
- High-touch selling followed by low-touch delivery: The sales team is available until signature, but no implementation or support owner is identified.
- Unstable ownership: The MSP is repeatedly reassigned without a documented transfer of context.
- Feature-first recommendations: The vendor cannot connect its proposal to a specific client requirement or success measure.
- Unverifiable partnership language: “Mutual success” is used without activities, owners or dates.
- Feedback theater: The vendor requests input but provides no route to decisions or product updates.
- Certification without substance: Completion is easy to claim, while assessment standards and job relevance are unclear.
- Communication friction: The vendor dismisses the MSP’s established workflow or provides no usable urgent path.
- Escalation avoidance: Support repeatedly closes or redirects cases without a person accountable for resolution.
What vendors can change immediately
The nine perspectives point to operational changes rather than a single sales tactic. Keep account ownership stable and publish a backup path. Train support teams to understand the MSP’s customer-facing responsibility. Build discovery into every recommendation so a product is tied to a client requirement. Report back on partner feedback, including decisions not to change the product. Give MSPs access to leaders through useful briefings or events, not only renewal calls. Make certification rigorous enough to prove skills. Honor communication preferences. Finally, define a joint growth plan with contributions from both sides and review it consistently.
How to use these findings without overgeneralizing
These comments describe what nine named MSP professionals said in one event-interview setting. They do not provide percentages, a statistically representative sample, or a ranking of vendor behaviors. Different MSPs may weight support, certification, leadership access or growth programs differently according to size, specialization, geography and client mix. Treat the eight axes as a due-diligence checklist, then validate them through references, a pilot or a clearly documented onboarding plan.
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