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I've been spending some time at the gym recently and have
noticed that channel partnerships are a bit like muscles. If
you work at them, they grow and do more for you. On the other
hand, if you ignore them, they become flabby and useless.
How are your channel partnerships doing? Are you constantly
working to improve them or are you hoping to live off your
initial investment?
Partnerships take years to develop
Just like your muscles, you can't work at a partnership for
a short period and expect to get fabulous long term results. You must keep working at the partnership to ensure that it
provides you with the results you want.
And working at the partnership requires commitment at
several different levels.
- Senior management must be committed to support the
partners and to defer direct revenues to partners.
- Senior management must understand the long term nature
of the investment and be committed to several years
of investment.
- Sales people must be "partner-friendly", willing to
defer direct sales in favor of partners.
- Partners must have multiple points of contact, not just
field sales people.
Partner Goals
Partners will have different business objectives and
goals than you'd expect. For instance, not all partners want
to resell your product. Many will seek to retain their
position as "trusted advisor" to clients and remain vendor
neutral. Sure, they'll work with you on individual accounts,
but don't expect all partners to resell your product or even
to take a referral fee.
Do not assume that prospective partners want to have a
financial relationship with you. Some may want a
co-marketing or service delivery relationship but not be
contractually bound to you.
Some partners may not even want leads from
you. Many resellers have told me that vendor leads are
worthless. They'd rather focus their energies on joint
marketing activities rather than trying to chase down dead
leads.
In my experience, prospective partners will be very clear
about their expectations and requirements...it's up to you to
listen to what they want and need. Of course, you may not like
what you hear.
I've also found that services firms are getting quite
inventive in their partnering activities. After all, their
long term goals are similar to yours - to drive revenue
growth.
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However, their short term strategies to achieve those goals
may be quite different than what you've come to expect and
they're not waiting around for their vendors to give them the
answers.
Critical success factors - the heavy lifting!
It's not about channel programs. Those are merely a check
off item...unless of course your programs are substandard, in
which case your partner recruiting activities will be
fruitless.
The rules of engagement with partners must be known
and honored. If you're going to take all big deals direct,
that's fine. That's your decision. Just let your partners know
in advance.
Value proposition. Why should a reseller or service
provider partner with you? Hint - it's not what you think and
it certainly has little or nothing to do with the value
proposition you're using to attract direct customers.
Long term view. Partnerships take several years to
bear fruit. You can't join a gym today and expect to develop a
buff bod overnight. In the same way, you must invest time,
energy and resources in your partnerships. Over time, you will
see a payoff.
Multiple points of contact. This is perhaps the most
important of all. If you ask sales people to act as the
primary point of contact between your company and your
partner, the partnership will fail.
Sales people focus on what they can sell next. Partners
want to develop long term relationships built on trust. They
want to develop programs that benefit both of you long term.
Successful companies appoint marketing people
as the strategic contact for each partner, helping to ensure
the development of longer term strategies and plans.
Getting this right is difficult
The thought of multiyear investments is alien to most
vendors. It's a lot of work. Not every partnership proves
fruitful.
When you do get it right, however, the benefits are
substantial. Good partnerships can help you to establish a
presence in markets otherwise unreachable, to grow your
business more quickly, and to build a stronger market position
overall.
For
more information on how the Acelera Group (http://www.aceleragroup.com)
can help you to market your technology product or service
offerings, please contact us at 617 737-7100 or at
info@aceleragroup.com.
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