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Much of the demand that drives quotes from the
channel originates from the customers. And in a Pavlov-
ian response, partners jump to get a quote. All too often,
however, this is done without doing much discovery at all.
“The customer is hot! Let’s get the quote quick and win
this one!” This often turns into hurry up and wait.
If the customer says, “I want broadband,” how often is
the question that follows, “Why? What are you using the In-
ternet for?” Or “How vital is the Internet to your business?”
One reason that this question: “How much would a
thirty minute outage cost?” isn’t asked often enough is
because the answer may be, “We’ve never had an out-
age.” And then the dialog is stifled. Or is it?
“My job is to sell you productivity and efficiency. The
whole purpose of moving to the cloud for a business is
to make that business more flexible, efficient, productive
and competitive. We do this by getting you back time in
seconds or minutes. On a congested pipe, all that waiting
for pages causes delay and frustration.” (The same can
be said for malware, viruses and older computers.)
“Let’s take a look at what you are using the Internet
for, so that we can get you the right pipe. Fair enough?”
One responsibility of channel managers is to educate
your partners. The education is often about products; it
is rarely about how to sell it, what questions are working.
When was the last time a channel manager provided a
script to a new partner?
When the partner gets better at selling, he will sell
more stuff – some of it will be yours, some of it won’t.
Another component of education is on the Solution Sale.
The customer asked for an Internet quote, did you ask what
he was doing with it? We have options beyond managed
router for the customer. We have hosted email, backup,
collaboration, conferencing, etc. Telling your partner these
options may help him keep them in mind for when the cus-
tomer doesn’t want a quote (for he is stuck in a contract). He
can ask what they do for hosted email or backup – or even
what conferencing bridge they use.
If anyone likes fishing, you use different lures for differ-
ent fish on different days. The service portfolio is a tackle
box filled with lures that the partner can use to go fishing
for prospects. Many businesses have a contract for three
years for phone and Internet. Getting in the door with
something such as email or conferencing gives you a billing
by Peter Radizeski
Chapter 3:
“They Aren’t Selling My Stuff”
Editor’s Note: Following are the third and fourth chapters in a series on best practices for managers of indirect sales partners by noted
blogger and channel curmudgeon Peter Radizeski. Chapters five through eight of the series will appear in subsequent ChannelMagazine
issues. To sign up to receive the full series upon completion, contact us at .
TheChannelManager’sPlaybook
By Peter Radizeski
68 ChannelVision | May - June 2015