Archives for April 2017

If Channel Chiefs had a clue, they would write this letter. But they won’t…

AAEAAQAAAAAAAAm6AAAAJDhjODgzY2UzLWI5ZDUtNGI3OC1iMTFkLTZjY2Y1Y2E2OTQwMwDear Channel Salesperson,

As you know, I often join Channel Sales in the field to get a better feel for our channel partners’ business and challenges. Last week I accompanied one of our Channel Salespeople on a call with a prospective channel partner. I heard something disturbing when the Sales Executive was asked by the partner’s leadership about specific trends in the market and how it was affecting other channel partners? This person, who will remain nameless, responded, “I’m not sure, I’m just a salesperson”.

Being in Channel Sales, do you have what it takes to be a Trusted Advisor to our Channel Partners?

In today’s rapidly changing market, if you are going to sell successfully through & with our channel partners, you mustn’t be “just a salesperson,” or “just a vendor.” You need to be someone with the 1.) business acumen and 2.) situational knowledge that is positioned to help our partner grow their business while also growing ours.

What sort of business acumen do you possess? As a Channel Salesperson, you have a unique vantage point and access to the broader sales channel. Your knowledge of the industry should cater to both the micro and the macro elements of business. This means mastering the language of both our business (i.e. the manufacturer) and the language that is unique to our channel partner’s business. Do you understand the unique business of our business partner? Obviously, their goal will not be just to sell more of our products–after all, their loyalties lie first with their shareholders and employees. However, if we can align our goals with those of our partners, then be deliberate in the achievement of their goals, it will result in the selling of our products. In other words, we want to be a (big) part of their overall solution and offering. Thus, if we can understand our channel partner’s goals, we can better position our products and services to help them achieve those goals.

How much situational knowledge do you possess? To sell effectively, you need more than just experience. You need to know which choices are available to your channel partner and the end customer, including their products options to buy, which services are available, etc. Even if we are the industry leader, our channel partners have choices. As our partner’s trusted advisor, you need to be an expert not just with our products, but with your partner’s overall solution as well, and you need to know which options are available to their end customer. There should never be information parity between you, our channel partner, and the end-customer. Obviously, you are expected to be the expert when it comes to your products; but in order to be true Trusted Advisor to our partner and their end-user, you also need to know all of the choices that are unique to them.   

As our Channel Salesperson, what are you going to do this week to develop your business acumen? Can you apply your situation knowledge & empathy to our partners’ and end-customers’ situation?

Let’s go Move the Channel!

Sincerely,

Travis Smith

Channel Chief, Any Leading Company, Inc.

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About the AuthorTravis Smith is the CEO & Founder of Move the Channel, a worldwide network, and community of channel marketing & sales Chiefs and channel thought leaders. He also is a leader at HMI Performance Incentives, a channel engagement and incentive company focused on Channel Incentive Strategies. Travis helps some of the most respected companies in the world design, implement, and manage their channel incentive strategies.

Thinking about building a partner channel… Don’t bother.

grass-greener-where-you-water-it-life-quotes-sayings-picturesWhen it comes to go-to-market strategies, sales organizations suffer from “the grass is always greener” syndrome. Organizations that go-to-market ‘direct’ to the end-user want to go-to-market through a ‘partner’ channel. And ‘partner’ channel organizations are always envious of the ‘direct’ sales model.

Recently a CEO approached me after a “Move the Channel” sessions. After the presentation, she wanted to know how to acquire a partner channel.  They dominated a couple verticals, but they were a distant 3rd and 4th in the biggest industries and therefore a partners channel in those industries could come in handy. My response is always the same, “don’t bother”!

Of course, that only sparked more interest and curiosity. So I explained it simply, it’s not in a ‘direct’ channel organization’s culture to be successful with ‘partner’ channel. Noticing that she felt insulted by this, I tried comforting her by explaining this doesn’t make them bad.

And then I put into less offensive terms. I asked her if she could, “give me one example or case study of a ‘direct’ organization that has been successful at finding, onboarding, and … oh yeah successful selling through a ‘partner’ channel?”

The conversation made me think of the late Peter Drucker’s infamous quote, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. On the surface, we might think he’s suggesting that a company should focus on changing their culture before implementing a new strategy. But after more research and considering the context of the statement, he isn’t suggesting changing culture at all. In fact, Peter also said, “Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you’ve got”.

Not many success stories exist about ‘direct’ sales organization acquiring and growing the business through a newly seized ‘partner channel’. There are some more stories of organic success, but those take time. And CEOs don’t want to consider strategies that take time. This is a Transformation which is by definition very difficult.

You need two things to acquire a profitable ‘partner’ channel:

1.)  Partner Culture: The mindset that our partner is our customer… how do our products and support help our partners be more successful? This is very different than thinking the only customer you need to satisfy is the end-user.

2.)  Trust: Channel partners are instinctively untrusting and suspicious. And for good reason! If you are a known ‘direct’ organization, the apprehension for the prospective partner is even deeper.

Conclusion: Culture is slow to change and makes transformation difficult. And Trust is earned over time. If you acknowledge these facts, you might be successful at building partner channel.

The grass really is greener where you water it… eventually.

As always, comment or send me a note to further this dialog!

Move the Channel,

Travis

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About the AuthorTravis Smith is the CEO & Founder of Move the Channel, a worldwide network and community of channel marketing & sales Chiefs and channel thought leaders. He also is a leader at HMI Performance Incentives, a channel engagement and incentive company focused on Channel Incentive Strategies. Travis helps some of the most respected companies in the world design, implement, and manage their channel incentive strategies.

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