An article by Ben Wong
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwongvt/
Many organisations see channel partners as a necessary ‘evil’ thus, do not accord the level of respect and enthusiasm required to build a solid relationship that allows accelerated growth in revenue over time. We must recognise that relationships are built over time and like a marriage, requires nurturing and effort to make it effective. Both the organisation and partner must not only sing the same song, they must also sing it in the same key.
In my years of doing business, I have seen many organisations with big channel teams not succeed as they should because of certain apprehensions towards partners that ultimately result in stunted revenue growth. Let’s take a look at 3 that are pretty high on the list.
Loyalty - Many organisations fear that the loyalty of a partner can and will be easily compromised once they are approached by another vendor who supposedly can show them better value from product and/or revenue perspectives. The onus is on the vendor to ensure that a solid enough relationship has been built with the partner so that they see things beyond just product and revenue. Be very aware that to satisfy customers needs, they maybe carrying products by your competitor as well.
We have to realise that we as vendors, do not own the partner, and in many cases, need them more than they need us because of the relationships that they have with their customers. We can be very successful leveraging on this in the right way.
Value is key. What value are you bringing to the table?
Put your efforts into building a solid relationship rather than fearing your partner’s loyalty.
Commitment - Given that your channel partner does many projects in a year, it is only natural that they pick and choose their priorities very much like we as vendors do. As a vendor, we would need to identify the gaps between our expectations and what the partner can deliver. We then have to decide if the gap can be closed, or in some cases, are acceptable. We would then work with them to commit the resources needed to run the business with us. Not all your loyal partners will have the same level of commitment, place your bets on those with most potential and work with them to build a great business together.
Competence - Providing resources alone is not enough, these resources must have the foundation and skills to be competent. I have been in situations where a number of resources were provided by a partner but none had the necessary skills to be successful.
Partners with the right skills can be trained and deemed competent after initial hand holding and support. Some may take a little longer to train than others but the effort will be well worth it. Have faith!
Margins - Many organisations see partners as a margin dilution element that is constantly asking for business but not growing the market with you. Oftentimes, partners have the customer relationships we want but lack the know how in pitching our products, we need to work with them as a team to jointly win.
If you are truly seeing partners as a margin dilution element, then you would need to ask yourself if they necessarily have the right attitude, skills and addressable market based on your goals. If not, are they the right partner? Otherwise, What are you doing with them to grow the market?
Admittedly, there is a list that you channel managers out there have tucked away somewhere, but the goal here is to represent the fact that many organisations lack the stamina, more importantly, time required to build an effective channel. My argument is that with the right attitude, framework, training, measurements and management processes in place, building an effective channel ecosystem is a matter of consistent execution once all the bits are in place.
Do not try to do everything at once but a bit at a time. Bite size is the right size, as you will see in our next chat about the bits that will help your channel transformation efforts.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwongvt/
Many organisations see channel partners as a necessary ‘evil’ thus, do not accord the level of respect and enthusiasm required to build a solid relationship that allows accelerated growth in revenue over time. We must recognise that relationships are built over time and like a marriage, requires nurturing and effort to make it effective. Both the organisation and partner must not only sing the same song, they must also sing it in the same key.In my years of doing business, I have seen many organisations with big channel teams not succeed as they should because of certain apprehensions towards partners that ultimately result in stunted revenue growth. Let’s take a look at 3 that are pretty high on the list.
Loyalty - Many organisations fear that the loyalty of a partner can and will be easily compromised once they are approached by another vendor who supposedly can show them better value from product and/or revenue perspectives. The onus is on the vendor to ensure that a solid enough relationship has been built with the partner so that they see things beyond just product and revenue. Be very aware that to satisfy customers needs, they maybe carrying products by your competitor as well.
We have to realise that we as vendors, do not own the partner, and in many cases, need them more than they need us because of the relationships that they have with their customers. We can be very successful leveraging on this in the right way.
Value is key. What value are you bringing to the table?
Put your efforts into building a solid relationship rather than fearing your partner’s loyalty.
Commitment - Given that your channel partner does many projects in a year, it is only natural that they pick and choose their priorities very much like we as vendors do. As a vendor, we would need to identify the gaps between our expectations and what the partner can deliver. We then have to decide if the gap can be closed, or in some cases, are acceptable. We would then work with them to commit the resources needed to run the business with us. Not all your loyal partners will have the same level of commitment, place your bets on those with most potential and work with them to build a great business together.
Competence - Providing resources alone is not enough, these resources must have the foundation and skills to be competent. I have been in situations where a number of resources were provided by a partner but none had the necessary skills to be successful.
Partners with the right skills can be trained and deemed competent after initial hand holding and support. Some may take a little longer to train than others but the effort will be well worth it. Have faith!
Margins - Many organisations see partners as a margin dilution element that is constantly asking for business but not growing the market with you. Oftentimes, partners have the customer relationships we want but lack the know how in pitching our products, we need to work with them as a team to jointly win.
If you are truly seeing partners as a margin dilution element, then you would need to ask yourself if they necessarily have the right attitude, skills and addressable market based on your goals. If not, are they the right partner? Otherwise, What are you doing with them to grow the market?
Admittedly, there is a list that you channel managers out there have tucked away somewhere, but the goal here is to represent the fact that many organisations lack the stamina, more importantly, time required to build an effective channel. My argument is that with the right attitude, framework, training, measurements and management processes in place, building an effective channel ecosystem is a matter of consistent execution once all the bits are in place.
Do not try to do everything at once but a bit at a time. Bite size is the right size, as you will see in our next chat about the bits that will help your channel transformation efforts.
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