Value-added resellers (VARs) are no strangers to the constant pressure of differentiation. In a crowded market, where products can quickly become commoditized, the true edge lies in offering more value, deeper expertise, and tailored solutions. That’s why forward-thinking VARs are increasingly partnering with Learning Management System (LMS) vendors—not just to resell software, but to drive real outcomes for their clients and win more deals in the process.
Done right, an LMS partnership can open up new revenue streams, boost customer retention, and position a VAR as a strategic advisor rather than just another tech vendor. But it takes a smart approach. Here's how VARs can leverage LMS vendors effectively to close more deals and grow their business.
Why LMS Is a Strategic Add for VARs
Let’s start with the obvious: the LMS market is booming. As organizations double down on employee development, compliance, customer education, and partner training, they need systems that can scale learning and track performance. This demand is cutting across industries—healthcare, finance, manufacturing, retail, tech—and the need isn’t going away.
For VARs already serving clients in those industries, an LMS offering fits naturally into broader digital transformation initiatives. It's a chance to sell not just software, but a solution tied to business-critical outcomes: onboarding speed, compliance rates, sales enablement, customer retention, and more.
Here’s what makes LMS a smart play for VARs:
Recurring Revenue: Most LMS platforms use subscription models. That means recurring revenue and longer-term customer relationships.
Sticky Value: Once implemented, LMS platforms are hard to rip and replace. They become deeply integrated into the client’s workflows and culture.
Upsell Opportunities: LMS sales often lead to opportunities around content creation, integrations, analytics, and consulting.
In short, LMS is not a one-and-done sale. It’s a foot in the door—and a way to stay in the room.
What LMS Vendors Want from VARs
Not all VARs are created equal, and LMS vendors know it. When evaluating partners, vendors are looking for resellers who can do more than move licenses. They want VARs who understand client pain points and can help guide customers through the entire lifecycle—from discovery to deployment and beyond.
Top traits LMS vendors look for in VARs include:
Industry Expertise: Do you understand the client’s vertical and how training fits into it?
Consultative Sales Approach: Can you uncover the real problems the LMS is meant to solve?
Implementation Capabilities: Can you help configure the system, integrate it with HRIS or CRM tools, and onboard users?
Ongoing Support and Enablement: Can you stay involved post-sale and keep the customer growing?
If you check those boxes, you’ll be much more attractive to vendors—and they’ll be more likely to invest in co-selling, marketing, and lead-sharing efforts with you.
Smart Strategies to Win with LMS Vendors
Now let’s get tactical. Here’s how to approach LMS partnerships in a way that helps you win more deals and grow faster.
1. Pick the Right LMS Vendor(s)
The LMS landscape is crowded. Don’t try to partner with every vendor—narrow your focus to one or two platforms that fit your client base and align with your capabilities.
Ask:
Does this LMS serve the verticals we specialize in?
Is the UI modern and easy to demo?
How flexible is the pricing model?
Can we handle the implementation complexity?
Does the vendor offer strong partner support?
Your credibility depends on the quality of the platforms you recommend. Make sure your LMS partners can deliver.
2. Build Use-Case Specific Bundles
Clients don’t want a platform—they want a solution. You can win more deals by packaging the LMS with services and positioning it around a specific business problem.
Examples:
Compliance and Certification Management: For healthcare or manufacturing clients.
Sales Enablement: For tech companies training their salesforce.
Customer Education: For SaaS firms onboarding new users.
Franchise Training: For retail or food service businesses with distributed teams.
Frame the LMS as part of a complete solution—one that solves a real, painful problem. That’s how you break through the noise and justify the investment.
3. Co-Sell Strategically
The best LMS vendors will work with you, not just hand you a brochure and a partner login. Take advantage of co-selling opportunities by:
Participating in joint discovery calls
Sharing target account lists
Developing custom demos together
Collaborating on proposals
When both sides bring deals to the table and close together, everyone wins. Make sure your partnership includes real joint selling motions—not just referral links.
4. Own the Implementation
One of the biggest weaknesses in many LMS vendor models is post-sale implementation. This is your opportunity to shine.
If you can offer implementation services—configuring the LMS, integrating it with other systems, uploading course content, and training admins—you become indispensable. And you can charge accordingly.
Don’t just sell licenses. Sell outcomes. Own the setup process and help your clients start strong.
5. Offer Content Services
Technology is only half the battle. Most clients also need help creating, curating, or converting training content.
If you can provide:
Instructional design
Course authoring
Video creation
Content strategy
…you’ve just unlocked a new revenue stream. Even if you don’t build content in-house, you can partner with specialists and white-label the services.
This kind of added value sets you apart from other VARs and makes you harder to replace.
6. Provide Ongoing Optimization
Many clients get an LMS set up but then let it stagnate. That’s a missed opportunity—and a risk to long-term success.
Position yourself as a continuous improvement partner by offering services like:
Quarterly performance reviews
Learning analytics and reporting
User engagement strategies
New feature rollouts
Admin training
This helps you stay engaged with the client, uncover upsell opportunities, and build stickier relationships.
Real-World Examples
Let’s bring this to life with a few examples of how smart VARs are winning with LMS partnerships:
Case 1: Healthcare Compliance Training
A VAR focused on mid-sized healthcare providers partners with an LMS vendor to offer turnkey compliance training bundles. They pre-load courses on HIPAA, OSHA, and anti-harassment, and offer ongoing support to track completions and manage audits. The result? Faster sales cycles, higher close rates, and a recurring service revenue stream.
Case 2: SaaS Customer Education
Another VAR works with SaaS companies to build out customer education portals. They sell the LMS, help clients design onboarding journeys, and create high-quality training videos. Clients reduce churn, and the VAR stays involved as a trusted advisor—earning both license revenue and consulting fees.
Case 3: Franchise Workforce Enablement
A VAR specializing in multi-location businesses partners with an LMS to create standardized training programs for franchises. From new-hire onboarding to manager certification, they help clients deliver consistent training across dozens or hundreds of sites—unlocking scalability and quality control.
Metrics That Matter
To know if your LMS partnership strategy is working, track these key metrics:
Deal Size: Are LMS deals increasing your average deal value?
Time to Close: Are these deals moving faster due to stronger value positioning?
Attach Rate: Are you consistently bundling services or content with LMS sales?
Renewal Rate: Are your LMS clients sticking around and growing?
Services Revenue: Are you monetizing implementation, content, and ongoing support?
If these numbers are trending up, you’re doing it right.
Final Thoughts
In a shifting landscape where clients want outcomes, not just tools, VARs need to evolve. LMS partnerships offer a powerful way to deepen value, expand revenue streams, and build more strategic client relationships.
But it’s not enough to add an LMS to your line card. You need to embed it in your solution stack, own the outcome, and position yourself as an expert in training and enablement.
Partner smart, sell strategically, and you won’t just win more LMS deals—you’ll win more business, period.
About LMS Portals
At LMS Portals, we provide our clients and partners with a mobile-responsive, SaaS-based, multi-tenant learning management system that allows you to launch a dedicated training environment (a portal) for each of your unique audiences.
The system includes built-in, SCORM-compliant rapid course development software that provides a drag and drop engine to enable most anyone to build engaging courses quickly and easily.
We also offer a complete library of ready-made courses, covering most every aspect of corporate training and employee development.
If you choose to, you can create Learning Paths to deliver courses in a logical progression and add structure to your training program. The system also supports Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) and provides tools for social learning.
Together, these features make LMS Portals the ideal SaaS-based eLearning platform for our clients and our Reseller partners.
Contact us today to get started or visit our Partner Program pages
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