The New Channel Chief: An increasing Responsibility

October 30, 2013 by

As the economy starts to slowly pick itself up, most industries and companies, in terms of investment, are leaning on the channel for their go-to-market strategy. Organizations are making the decision to grow their business through their channel because they know that the best way to deliver their solutions is through loyal, vested, and well-trained business partners who are local (or specialized) in relation to the end-user. With all of the advancements now in social media, LMS (Learning Management Systems), PRM technology (Partner Relationship Management), and motivating Channel Incentive Programs, companies can penetrate and impact the channel more economically than ever. 

With this channel momentum, comes great responsibility to our Channel Chiefs. Gone are the days of the channel serving simply as a distribution arm for products. Today, more and more companies are beginning to see it as something more and the channel is considered part of the entire organization. As these companies continue to transform their approach to the Channel, all departments, whether it be product development, marketing, sales, etc., now must have the channel in mind.

As a result of this burgeoning commitment, the role of today’s Channel Chief has expanded.

Channel Chief Image

Internal Focus:

Sales & Marketing Harmony: Now more than ever it is crucial to align your sales and marketing teams.  We all know this is easier said than done. Dissonance between these two major branches of your organization is to be expected. That’s because the sales team is tasked with closing the business right in front of their noses, and the marketing team is challenged with casting a vision that creates future opportunities down the road. Spending time in both departments, I have been on both sides of this dissonance, and what it really is at work here are long-term goals and planning versus short-term action. Both approaches ultimately work toward the same goal end game—driving business growth—but they each go about it in very different ways. Now, organizations are rolling both departments up to one executive, our Channel Chief.  This help with cross department goals and teamwork.  For proven solutions that can close this loop between your sales and marketing teams, click here http://movethechannel.com/?p=254

External Focus:

End-User & Partner Harmony: Channel Chiefs are now more sensitive—and they should be—to the ways in which they can more effectively sell to the end-user, not just through the channel partner, but with them as well. This involves excelling at both building relationships with your partners and managing the best interests of the company.

Building Relationships:  Many Channel Chiefs are effectively using Channel Incentive or Reward Programs as just one of the tools to create loyalty and motivate channel sales and technical people to invest their time in both training and recommending the right solutions to the end-user.

Closing Business:   Many channel marketing professionals fall on the right side of the graph above. It is important to remember that all of our efforts boil down to one goal: Selling more while continuing to create happy customers—a challenge that is once again tasked to today’s Channel Chief.

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Move the Channel,
Travis

Filed Under: Channel Chief, Channel Marketing Guide

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.

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

A great reminder to the Channel from Mrs. Disney: “He did see it, that’s why it’s here.”

September 10, 2013 by

walt-disney-florida-mapwalt-disney-with-map-of-florida-olp-travel---news-viewsolp-zzuys1w3On October 1, 1971, five years after the great Walt Disney passed away; Disney World had its grand opening. During the dedication ceremony, someone turned to Mrs. Walt Disney and said, “Isn’t it a shame that Walt didn’t live to see this?” Mrs. Disney replied, “He did see it, that’s why it’s here.”

Walt Disney World sits on forty-three square miles—nearly twice the size of Manhattan—of some of the most valuable property in the state of Florida. Originally, it took seven years to plan, and more than four years to build. Such an enormous undertaking, I think you’ll agree, could never come to fruition without a great mind having a clear vision.

When a channel professional lacks vision we lose in two ways. One is not having a vision at all, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” I think we can all agree this is true for every aspect of business and life. Many times I have seen good companies with good products try and go-to-market through a new channel. But they don’t have a plan; they haven’t refined their vision beyond the basic premise of selling and distributing their products to a larger universe. They don’t know what to expect from their partners, nor do they fully realize what their channel program could become. It seems like 100% of the time these new channel efforts fail. WDW Opening Day 01

For the more mature channel we can fall short in a different way. Often times we as manufacturers or distributors will fail to cast or properly communicate our goals to our partner. If we don’t explicitly show them the mutually beneficial vision of the partnership and the larger channel ecosystem, we risk leaving partners behind or worse: they switch to a competitor that has more effectively communicated a strategic vision.

How do we know Walt Disney effectively communicated his vision to his partners? It’s a fact that he spent seven years planning and communicating his dream of Disney World to those people who could turn it into a reality. And that’s exactly what they did. Five years after he passed away, his partners continued to carry on the relentless pursuit of Walt’s amazing vision. Today, Walt Disney World is one of the most recognizable icons in the world.
Have you shared your goals and vision with your channel partner? Do they understand how they are an important component of that vision, and why it is exciting for them to share it with you?

Filed Under: Channel Marketing Guide, Investing in Your Channel, Key Performance Indicators, Soft Benefits, Steps-to-the-Sales STTS

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: , , , ,

Is your Channel Marketing Program Organized? Here is a checklist to find out.

July 22, 2013 by

Winchester_Mystery_House_San_Jose_CA_C31107The Winchester Mystery House is a well-known mansion in Northern California  This mansion is renowned for its size and utter lack of any master building plan. It once served as the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester. Under Sarah Winchester’s day-to-day guidance, the mansion’s “from-the-ground-up” construction proceeded around the clock, without interruption, for 38 years. As Sarah continued to add on rooms, hallways, and staircases, the house become a maze that was disjointed and very hard to navigate. Despite the enormous, time-consuming investment, only about  10% of the house was ever practically in use.

Why do I bring up this strange bit of trivia? Because for many of us, our channel marketing programs have become disjointed in much the same way as the Winchester Mystery House. Over the years, we have found ourselves adding on to our channel programs, not necessarily thinking about the evolution of our programs so much as reacting to various factors like changes in leadership, Go-to-Market strategies, partner segments, verticals, turnover in the channel marketing department, etc. If you feel that within your programs, some confusion or inconsistencies have naturally unfolded over the years, rest assured you are not alone.This is the nature of an evolving, maturing channel marketing program.

Stairway to Nowhere

Stairway to Nowhere

A couple of weeks ago we at Move The channel published the MTC Channel Marketing Guide and RIMES Chart 1.0. While many people have said that the eBook has given them innovative ideas for their channel strategy, one of the most surprising complements it has received is its value as an organizational tool. The entire guide, as a matter of fact, is based off of the easy-to-read RIMES chart, and it offers channel professionals a simple checklist with which they can compare their own program’s various components.

Is my program missing an ingredient?

Is there a component of my program that is no longer relevant?

Have I taken the time to reorganize my program and communicate it clearly to my channel?

What is the mission of my program?

After taking the time to sift through the 1000s of ideas and ingredients we received from Move The Channel members, we managed to organize the information in a manner that we thought might help you manage your own program. Because one of the worst things you can do with your program is keep adding to it without any real structure. You don’t want to end up only utilizing 10% of your program. So compare your important themes—your pillars—with ours. Use the RIMES guide as a checklist for your own program. And if you think of something that you feel we’ve missed, PLEASE shoot me an email so I can add it our next version of the guide.

Move the Channel,

Travis

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

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

RIMES Chart – Origin Story

July 1, 2013 by

Since last week’s release of Move The Channel’s Channel Marketing & Sales Guide 1.0, I’ve been inundated with emails and phone calls asking me, “Travis, what is RIMES and how did you come up with it?”

RIMES PicSo here’s the short story: In collaboration with the Move The Channel community (LinkedIn Group and www.movethechannel.com), we discussed what the most important components of a successful channel marketing campaign might be. While organizing all of the ideas and best practices, different categories started to become clear, and we determined that in fact the most effective way to present each would be together, as a five-pronged holistic methodology which we’d refer to as “RIMES.” We deemed these to be the 5 major “pillars” of any successful channel marketing program, and our goal was to highlight each as it relates to the greater whole. For those who don’t know, RIMES stands for:

  •  Relationships
  •   Information Technology (As in the channel professionals have access to and can use to better support their goals)
  •   Marketing & Communications (although sometimes we also refer to this pillar as “Management” – as in Channel Management)
  •  Enablement and Education
  •   Selling   – pushing product/solutions THROUGH the channel

In addition to RIMES being the pillars of a channel marking program, it is also the foundation of this living, breathing eBook, which we have called 1.0. It has been designed and structured from an outside-in perspective, so that in future versions we may start to drill down and examine all of the various sub-categories. Each pillar is a potential gold mine of information and insight regarding channel best practices, and it will be our job at Move The Channel to harvest these nuggets one step at a time. So in this way, you might even think of 1.0 as the origins of a future Channel Wiki…

Please send me your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions on where to go during the next stage of Move the Channel’s Marketing Guide.

 

2.0 awaits . . .

Filed Under: Channel Incentive Programs, Channel Marketing Guide, Key Performance Indicators, RIMES Chart, Soft Benefits, 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: ,
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