As noted earlier, the potential for the Net to create friction between manufacturers and sales and distribution channels is very real. But when done correctly, utilization of the Internet can actually enhance those all-important relationships with your channels of sales and distribution. 3Com wisely spent money on developing and marketing its Network Designer (Figure 1.10). Turning well-qualified leads over to its resellers can only enhance those existing sales channel relationships and quite probably attract more due to the extra sales support offered. Helping your vendors locate what products are where is another tactic that can be employed.
The Lee Product Locator allows partners, or anyone else for that matter, to search for a distributor that has specific product line in the colors, quantities, and sizes needed . Once the specific item is located, users can then find out how many miles that distributor is from them. BuildSoft  sells construction management software, including tools for CPM Scheduling, Historical and Take-Off Estimating, Purchase Orders/Work Orders,Job Costing, and Accounting. The BuildSoft site also acts as a clearinghouse for building and construction information on the Web and as a gateway to BuildNet, the BuildSoft online services network.

Exide makes it just a little bit easier for its value-added resellers and sales partners to promote their products with the Exide Electronics VAR Guide . The VAR kit enables resellers to “snap in” Exide Electronic product Web pages. The kit provides product pages, including photos, a UPS buyers’ checklist, and educational information on power protection. Also included is coding for online sales and more. The kit is distributed via CDROM or from the Exide site. This is smart thinking: In addition to solidifying relationships with existing sales channels, it extends the company’s message that much further.

One of the most effective sales support case histories I’ve come across has more to do with the powers of observation than with technology Jim Roth works for Document Services Sales Support. The Web site he administers is behind a firewall, so we can’t look at it from the open Internet. The site is devoted to supporting the salespeople out in the field. He checks the logs on the search engine to see what people are keen on.

Distributed databases are another way to provide data for both customers and inhouse employees. APL StackTrain does much more than simply give departure and arrival dates of cargo ships at various ports around the world. At its Web site, you can fill out a form that can immediately be transferred into a bill of lading. It also updates you on the availability of cargo space on ships. You can pull up maps that show its shipping lanes. This is an extraordinary example of pulling information from a very diffused array of sources.

The ships, the ports, and all the links within that chain feed into this database presented to you on the Web. It’s a labyrinth of satellite feeds and land lines. This is cutting-edge use of networked customer support technology at the time of writing, but as the velocity of commerce increases, it will become commonplace and we’ll wonder how we ever lived without it. Look for the sourcing of numerous distributed databases to start gaining attention.