During 2002, the office products giant has taken original work carried out in 2001 by its channel strategy manager Richard Gibbs and extended it over Europe, interviewing over 1,000 dealers on how they perceive Xerox.

Gibbs says Xerox now has a short, simple questionnaire, which allows it to profile its channel:  "We found a number of dealers who may sell a lot of product but who have real concerns about the channel strategy and marketing."

He argues that suppliers need to take action to stop problem children from turning into what Gibbs terms "Potential terrorists, companies which are still heavily committed, but who rate the value proposition poorly and distrust the vendor."  The danger is that such companies will switch to competitors.