Move the Channel 1.0—Marketing Guide & RIMES Chart is becoming the gold standard for channel marketing tips and insight.

October 9, 2013 by

Move the Channel CoverI have some great news to share with the Move the Channel community. Our Channel Marketing Guide & Rimes Chart has greatly surpassed our initial expectations in terms of total number of downloads. Nearly 600 of you have now downloaded 1.0, and that number continues to rise steadily. That’s more than 20% of the entire community! But what might be even more impressive than the quantity of downloads is the quality of who’s downloading it:

  • 244 Program Managers
  • 75 Directors
  • 39 Executives

All across the channel industry leaders are talking about Move the Channel’s Marketing Guide & RIMES Chart. Are you listening?

Check out this exclusive Move the Channel video for more information.

Download the Guide and Chart Here:

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Filed Under: Channel Incentive Programs, Channel Marketing Guide, Global Channel Incentive Programs, RIMES Chart

Channel Conduit of the Week: 1 in 3 Babies…will Live to 100

September 3, 2013 by

The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge Leave The Lindo Wing With Their Newborn Son

Yesterday I was driving a prospective client back to Boston Logan airport after a terrific meeting. Coming into the downtown area, I saw a billboard that caught my eye.  “1 in 3 Babies…” it read, and obviously at that point, as a father of two, it had my full attention.   I thought for sure it was going to be an important health awareness message like those that we are used to seeing. Curious to read on, I saw that the entire message was “1 in 3 Babies will Live to 100” (the billboard is right on the Mass Pike if someone can send me a picture of it that would be great)

As I was wondering exactly how one might go about measuring this long-term prediction, I was struck by a story I had heard earlier that day. The meeting we were coming from had to do with a channel incentive trip and the potential strategies that could be deployed for it.  At the end of the meeting our very impressive client told us a story about how a participant on an incentive trip he had run SIX YEARS AGO was still commenting today on how much of an effect the trip had had on him and his business.  I found it incredible that not only had this particular program yielded a 700% Return On Investment (ROI), netting over $75 million in incremental revenue; it had also continued to impact business on a long-term basis.  Don’t get me wrong, the immediate ROI figures were remarkable, and I know how important it is to show this analysis in order to justify the budget for such a program.  But the fact that customers still continued to be affected by the trip six years later got me thinking about how we might possibly measure this impact. Ultimately, this is something I like to call Return On Experience (ROE), a statistic that is difficult to calculate but strategically vital.  After seeing the billboard, I wondered if this client and his business would have seen the same ROE if he’d given his customers a cash-equivalent bonus instead of the trip of a lifetime.

Please send your experience where you were a participant or delivering such an incentive trip.  Send you comment or thoughts on Return on Experience ROE direct to my email!

Move the Channel,
Travis

Filed Under: Channel Conduit of the Week, Distributor Prospective, Global Channel Incentive Programs, Group Incentive Travel, Investing in Your Channel, Return on Experience, Return on Investment

Channel Conduit of the Week: Growing Partner Sales with Team Incentive Programs

August 27, 2013 by

Andy BernardI recently watched the rerun of the “incentive” episode of the“The Office” on NBC.  Goodness, I’m going to miss that show! 

While I was watching, I couldn’t help but notice another great lesson from the episode.  Yes, everyone was inspired to win the grand prize.  The Grand Prize was Andy Bernard (the manager) agreeing to tattoo himself with something regrettable, but what really got the office going was the fact that only as a TEAM could they achieve this goal.

As many of you know, I specialize in channel incentive programs and work with around many world-class channel organizations around the Globe.  We have seen a recent trend and request to offer the functionality for teams or business partners to pool their points to earn rewards as a team.   There are number of reasons for this request:

1.)     The business partner principal wants to have control or visibility into what the vendors are offering their employees.

2.)    The sale is complex and takes a team to identify, qualify, spec, present, and implement, and therefore it takes a team to close.  In the tech world we see a lot of VAR sales and sales engineers working together for a joint sales effort.

3.)    A cultural norm dictates that individual rewards are not feasible. In a number of our programs in countries like Japan it is not appropriate to reward one person for a clear group effort.  In this case the manager would pool the team’s points.

Our client’s teams don’t have the option of tattooing their boss, but we are seeing teams redeem for a group incentive travel event, ping pong tables for the office, loge suites at an NFL game, or group experiences like Richard Petty Driving Camp or an afternoon with a golf pro.  Not only are these rewards memorable, but they continue to build a team atmosphere for the company and help to foster relationships beyond the workplace that have been shown to positively impact productivity.

As usual, send me a note with your experience or thought on team incentives!

Move the Channel,
Travis

Filed Under: Channel Conduit of the Week, Global Channel Incentive Programs, Team Incentive

Channel Incentive Programs: Are You Implementing Soft Benefits?

August 1, 2013 by

Hotel and airline rewards programs undoubtedly have their issues. For one, their currency is so diluted these days that it takes over a year to earn a single reward. With that being said, there are certain things that they are doing well. For starters, they do a terrific job of offering “soft benefits” to their customers. These are the little extra bonuses that keep us talking and always keep us coming back.

fisrt class

These soft benefits come in the form of First-Class upgrades, complementary luggage allowances, priority boarding privileges, free access to their VIP lounge, or maybe even a chance to fly the plane! Okay, so they aren’t exactly letting us fly the plane…yet, but you get my point.

I mean think about it–what keeps you engaged with your preferred airline carrier or hotel chain of choice? Great prices, sure, but what else? It’s the soft benefits! We are always encouraging our clients to

incorporate these soft benefits into their channel incentive programs, and the strategy is continuing to pay gigantic dividends.

So what are some examples of these benefits as they pertain to channel incentives? Let’s take a look at a few that can have a huge perceived value to your potential program participants:

  • Platinum Customer Service
  • Invitation to a Leadership Roundtable
  • Participation in Beta product builds & testing
  • Partner locator privileges
  • Hotline to the CEO or CTO
  • Penthouse Upgrade at a Partner Conference
  • Dinner with the CEO
  • Priority-status for low availability Rewards like a Rolling Stones concert in London!

fine diningBy integrating soft benefits into your channel incentive program you can distinguish your business from the competition and deliver a personal touch that leads to deeper, stronger relationships with your partners. Not all soft benefits are published or explicit, but even these can still act as qualifiers for which partner deserves the reward. One way to ensure this is to create Partner Tiers (Platinum, Gold, Silver) for your program, which can help you easily determine which partners qualify for which soft benefits. Regardless of the method, it’s important to have a system in place that selects the partners who especially deserve the high-value rewards. By establishing this system as a prime component of your channel incentive program, you will be able to acknowledge these exceptional partners with minimum hassle.

 

Here is a good tool or checklist to compare your current soft benefits:

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Filed Under: Channel Incentive Programs, Channel Marketing Guide, Global Channel Incentive Programs, Key Performance Indicators, Soft Benefits, Steps-to-the-Sales STTS Tagged With: , , , ,

It’s a Good Time to be a Channel Pro!

July 11, 2013 by

Its good to be channel Pro

We have heard some positive news about the economy although the outlook is still a lil muddy.  However it is crystal clear that Channel Chiefs are making aggressive moves.   Companies have made the decision to grow their business through their channel partners because most industries know the best way to deliver their solutions is through loyal, vested, and well-trained business partners that are local to the end-user. Thanks to social media, LMS (Learning Management Systems), PRM technology (Partner Relationship Management), and enhanced ways to motivate the partner sales team through Channel Incentive Programs, companies are finally realizing that channel strategy & channel programs are the most profitable model.

Top Three Indicators of a Channel Economic Rebound:

1.)     Channel Hiring Spree!  Although companies aren’t ready to build up their direct sales forces yet, they are investing in channel pros. We continue to hear about companies like MSFT, Red Hat, Oracle, CISCO, EMC, and NetApp, just to name a few, are hiring for Sr. Channel Leadership positions.

2.)    The leading global channel companies are bulking up their programs.  MSFT says it best in one of their job descriptions: “Microsoft is rapidly developing its incentive programs to support growth across all business segments in SMSG by improving alignment of multi-billion dollar incentive programs with new customer segmentation and sales models.”

3.)    Channel Ecosystems are on the rise – Companies aren’t just saying they are committed to the channel but they creating environments that make their channel partners part of their biology.   Lincoln Smith of HMI Performance Incentives says, “It used to be that companies incentive programs would reward for only behaviors determined by the manufacturer (sales goals, training modules, STTS, etc.), but now our program are rewarding for collaboration or sharing of ideas and best practices through surveys.  These actions are made exciting through incentives and gamification.”.

If you are a Channel Pro it is time to take action and take advantage of these exciting times.  Chances are that your company’s C-Level folks are strategizing on how to creatively capture more mind and market share of the channel partners.  Don’t wait for the increased budget or positions to come to you, make bold recommendations on where and how to invest and create channel loyalty.  If you’re not seeing increased attention or channel priority you might be with the wrong organization.  The good news is that proven channel pros are in high demand!

Check your Channel Marketing Program against the Move the Channel Marketing Guide and RIMES Chart and make some exciting adjustments today.

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Filed Under: Channel Incentive Programs, Channel Marketing Guide, Global Channel Incentive Programs, Investing in Your Channel, Return on Investment, RIMES Chart, Steps-to-the-Sales STTS

LinkedIn Group collaborates to deliver a very unique Channel Marketing Guides& RIMES Chart.

June 25, 2013 by

It wasn’t easy to organize hundreds of ideas from a network of thousands of people from all over the world. But we did it. Move The Channel’s unique Channel Marketing & Sales 1.0 eBook is now available for you to download exclusively on movetheChannel.com.

MTC 1.0 CoverWhat makes 1.0 the first of its kind? As most of you know, this project started over a year ago as a simple discussion in the Move The Channel LinkedIn group. It grew from there to an all-out deluge of ideas from all across the Move The Channel community.

As we began organizing all of the different ideas and channel best practices that were coming our way, distinct categories started to become clear.  These categories are what we now refer to as “RIMES” — Relationships, IT, Marketing & Communications, Enablement, and Sales — and they are what we at Move The Channel consider to be the pillars of any successful channel marketing campaign.

Our goal is to begin to create a line of literature that can be referenced as a valuable tool in the planning and implementation of any channel marketing program. We hope you find this guide to be useful and informative. You can download it right here at movethechannel.com

Enter your name and email address to download Move the Channel Guide and RIMES Chart

Name: Email:

Please provide feedback so we can continue to enhance the Guide & Chart. MoveTheChannel 1.0 is the first step in an ongoing line of literature about channel marketing and sales. Our plan with 1.0 is to throw a net around a wide range of industries and promote the basic tools that have been proven to generate success across multiple access points within the channel. Enjoy!
Move the Channel,
Travis
travis@movethechannel.com

Filed Under: Channel Incentive Programs, Channel Marketing Guide, Distributor Prospective, Global Channel Incentive Programs, Investing in Your Channel, Key Performance Indicators, Return on Investment, RIMES Chart, Smart Channel, Soft Benefits, Steps-to-the-Sales STTS, Tough Economy, Tough Economy - Smart Channel, Trackable Marketing Initiatives Tagged With: ,

Mobile Up! Top 5 reasons why it’s time for Channel Marketing Mobile Apps

June 12, 2013 by

The iPhone 4#1:  Everyone has a smartphone today.  Almost all of your channel partners, channel partner sales, and their sales engineers—basically EVERYONE you want to engage—have a smartphone.  According to a report by NBC News last week, 56% of US adults are using smartphones, up from 35% two years ago.  What’s more, when we segment high-earning professionals like our channel partner’s sales and sales engineers, that number goes even higher.

#2:  Access to your Audience:  Much of our audience is in the field—right where we want them to be. Because of this, Mobile allows us unprecedented access to our partners. In fact, most don’t even need to come back to the office to check their emails anymore. That probably also means they aren’t going back to the office to browse what’s new on your partner portal, either.

#3:  Communication:  Your partner program lives where your audience lives, and nowadays that life is mobile, on their smartphone. Your channel marketing logo (http://movethechannel.com/?p=292) can now sit next door to their Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn apps, like one big happy community. Making your channel program mobile enables your audience to quickly access key information that can help them sell more, determine what to sell, and close more frequently.  In addition to giving them access to these tools, we can also push communications and text messages to them, which comes in handy with promotions and channel reward programs.

#4:  Motivate and Engage:  We’re all familiar with the maxim “out of site, is out of mind.”  With a channel program app, we’re never out of sight. Talk about mindshare! Also, a mobile app means we don’t have to wait for the participant to come to us; now we can come to them.  For example, we can now push notifications about incentive promotions for certain products, offer leaderboard updates, let participants know their percent to goal, and send them an alert when they have enough points to redeem for that family vacation on their program Wish List!

#5: Capture Key Insight:  With mobile apps you can also capture key data that is critical to your business.  One challenge of a channel go-to-market strategy is that you lose a little bit of direct access to the end-user. But now, you can reward your channel partners for uploading pictures of the solution or the competitive product that needs replaced. Do people still talk about conversions as a KPI?  You can also have a claims process on the app so helps ensure you are giving credit to the right sales person or SE at the right partner.

 

The biggest question in terms of going mobile: Where do I get started?  To develop a simple iPhone or Android App starts at around $45,000 and goes up from there. If you are working on a partner platform it is a much smaller investment for Mobile Apps features.  For example we will soon be offering a “Starter App” for our client’s channel incentive reward program that starts at around $10,000.

Looking for some mobile ideas? Shoot me an email with any questions.

Do you have a Mobile App for your Channel Marketing & Channel Incentive Program?

 

Filed Under: Channel Incentive Programs, Global Channel Incentive Programs, Key Performance Indicators, Steps-to-the-Sales STTS, Trackable Marketing Initiatives, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

IBM Loves Its Channel–And It Shows

March 28, 2013 by

Sports FansEarlier this week I talked about how companies that have continued to invest in their channel despite the down economy have wisely adopted a big-picture attitude in the face of potential cost-cutting decisions. I’d like to point to IBM as one example of a company who has evolved into a leader of channel dynamics, the very same dynamics that are promoted daily here at Move The Channel.

A recent article published by Larry Walsh in the portal Channelnomics discusses how IBM has begun to establish itself as a forerunner of holistic channel behavior. Despite its stature in the tech world, the company felt it could maximize its value in the channel more completely as a component player rather than as a one-stop solution. As Walsh remarks, “IBM sees value in driving business to solution providers who won’t necessary lead with the IBM brand.” He continues, “As the theory goes, IBM will gain sales if it [is] providing marketing support, lead generation and technical solutions to business partners who develop solutions based on IBM’s technologies.”  This all-for-one, one-for-all channel strategy has allowed IBM to establish valuable, intrinsic bonds with its partners, and helped contribute to the overall evolution of the business.  It must be tough as a leading innovator to accept the fact that conventional technology and cloud services will quickly become a commodity.  Since its products are a component, they have wisely found partners that specialize, overlap, and provide complimentary solutions built on an IBM platform. And with this approach they have added new incentives, certifications, technologies and marketing programs that continue to enable their partners to grow their businesses, to the benefit of all. As Walsh concludes, “the more business partners grow, the more they’ll consume IBM products.”

This is the new foundation for IBM’s channel strategy, along with its more than 130,000 business partners worldwide. Think they might be onto something?

Filed Under: Global Channel Incentive Programs, Investing in Your Channel
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