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The biggest challenge for any business is revenue. For
most that means sales (for some it means investment).
In the last few years, it has gotten harder to cold call or
door knock. One survey says 92 percent of buyers ignore
unsolicited contacts, which results in longer and longer
sales cycles (and discouraged sales reps). Buyers are
more educated today and pricing is transparent (thanks
to the Internet), with many buyers making up their minds
before they even contact a vendor. Yikes.
In the last three years, numerous service providers
have entered the indirect sales channel, hoping to lever-
age channel partners and their relationships. There are
some erroneous assumptions here.
One of the assumptions is that the channel is a free
(or at least inexpensive) alternative to a direct sales
force. It isn’t free to sell via channel partners. It is more
difficult to sell indirect, especially for companies that
weren’t very successful selling directly.
A service provider needs the same support for indi-
rect that it would provide direct; support that includes:
product management, marketing, sales tools, sales
engineering and sales management. Oft times, these
components are missing.
One of the best practices is to keep the direct sales
team separate from the indirect. I have seen different
versions of co-sales, and it usually ends up grim (es-
pecially when you are paying two sales teams for each
sale). Even a referral model whereby the direct team
takes leads from the partner can go awry due to con-
flicting priorities.
A channel program should have its own marketing per-
son, since marketing to partners is dissimilar to marketing
to customers. Other support personnel can be shared,
including sales engineers. Quoting, pricing and promo-
tions should be the same for both sales teams; otherwise
customer confusion and channel conflict will erupt.
The channel can take up to three years to pay off on
the investment. (And there will be a line item on your
balance sheet for commissions that may be evergreen,
which your CFO will hardly like or understand!) Does
the vendor have a long term view and the persistence
to see it through? I have seen programs come and go –
even at very large companies.
One of the hardest aspects of indirect is the lack
of control. Cisco, Xerox, IBM and Microsoft have a
semblance of control over their “Gold” partners, but
that can be attributed to the certification and training
investment, gold level support that comes with a quota
and – just as important – the co-marketing dollars.
Many partners of the Big 4 have a business reliant on
by
Peter
Radizeski
Chapter 1:
The Beginnings
Editor’s Note: The following chapters originally appeared in ChannelVision magazine as a series of columns by noted blogger and channel
veteran Peter Radizeski.
TheChannelManager’sPlaybook
By
Peter
Radizeski
6
THE CHANNEL MANAGER’S
PLAYBOOK