Top 10 Things Making Channel Chiefs into Insomniacs

And What to do About It

pg 2

It is said that if you have nothing to worry about at 3 in the morning, you are truly at peace.Our market intel says that’s rarely the case for today’s channel chiefs. We know the pressures are intense to stay on top of a rising number of business dynamics that are causing chiefs like you to redefine insomnia, as you search for solutions to take on today’s market challenges and win.

In this eBook, we’ve asked some of the top channel industry experts to take on the key issues channel chiefs are facing. With decades of cumulative channel experience working with and for companies like Dell, EMC, Fortinet, Sun Microsystems, HP and Extreme Networks, these channel veterans have provided insights and recommendations that will help you put these issues to bed, transform your channel operations, accelerate your indirect sales – and sleep peacefully. Read on for their answers.

pg 3

The Top 10 Questions Causing Channel Chief Insomnia1. Am I giving the right margin to the channel?

2. Do I have the right number of channel partners?

3. Does deal registration work/make sense for me (protect margin for partners)?

4. Is my channel effectively closing leads on their own, or am I still spending my resources on closing channel deals?

5. Are my demand gen efforts impactful and do they work?

6. Am I getting ROI on my MDF investments?

7. How loyal are my partners, and how do I know?

8. How is “cloud” changing the game in my channel?

9. Do I have the analytical tools needed to gain insight into my channel performance?

10. Am I recognizing and incentivizing the appropriate partner behaviors?

Or a dose of reality

Or a dose of reality

pg 4

Margin, as defined as the difference between buy price and sell price, is probably not the right question. The right question takes into account the partner’s entire economic model; “Do I offer my partner a profitable business proposition?” is a better question. Partner profitability is dependent on quite a number of factors and to understand the margin question you need to look at each of the following:

1. Am I Giving the Right Margin To the Channel?

Continued »

Norma Watenpaugh, Founding Principal, Phoenix CG

pg 5

1a. How do partners make money with respect to your products/services? In the technology market, resellers are getting squeezed and products are maturing and commoditizing. Software is going SaaS, with a very different revenue model. As one “born in the cloud” partner manager once told me, “If they ask, ‘How much margin will I make?’ then I know they are not the right partners. In this scenario, his partners made money in selling application development and management services and his SaaS offer enabled partners to make more profit at less risk on application development. His SaaS offer was essentially a pass through for the channel partner. He was selling a razor; his partners were selling razor blades. Are you the razor or the razor blade…or some of both?

1b. How do your channel programs impact profitability? Your channel programs are probably a mix of cost offsets, incentive discounts and rebates. All have an impact on partner profitability. If structured appropriately they will motivate partners to make the right investments in your business, build loyalty and drive revenue.

Continued »

pg 6

1c. Cost offsets are programs such as market development funds Partners are typically reimbursed for expenses they incur in promoting your products. Training and certification, whether they are provided at no cost or are reimbursed upon completion, are offsets to investments partners need to make to be successful. One partner once told me that they reported the dollar amount of “free training” to their management as a benefit of a partner relationship since it had tangible impact on their business.

Other programs provide incremental margin through incentives and discounts. Deal registration is among the most common and generally provides additional discount and some competitive protection resulting in enhanced margins. Other incentives are often paid on the back end of the sale. These are more difficult to flow to the street and generally reward partner investment in the business. They can contribute greatly to partner profitability for this reason. Volume rebate is one of the most common but vendors also offer rebates for reaching customer satisfaction goals, sales within authorized territories, or other performance criteria.

1d. Is there value in your brand and reputation that enables partners to sell more or command a premium? Having a strong brand is part of the channel economic model. Partners sell what customers want. Cisco resellers have been beneficiaries of a strong and powerful brand. When I’ve spoken to Cisco partners in years past, they say they partner with Cisco because that’s what their customers ask for. These same partners often partnered with Cisco competitors that treated them better offered better incentives and marketing programs, and while they appreciated that #2 tried harder, at the end of day, they sold what their customers wanted.

pg 7

Understanding if you have the right number of channel partners can be a tricky question – and it’s just as important to ask if you have the right type of partners. You may have thousands of partners but they may not be productive for you or they may not have the right skills. Plus, assuming they are the right partners with the right skills, there is still a possibility of too much of a good thing. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

2. Do I Have the Right Number of Channel Partners?

Norma Watenpaugh, Founding Principal, Phoenix CG

Continued »

pg 8

2a. Are you over-distributed? If you have too many resellers you may see the destructive results of hyper-competition in the market. This can quickly break down into a street price war that erodes partner profitability and commoditizes your brand value. Some vendors take a very Darwinian view and let the survivors prevail, but that can have serious downsides. Partners who compete only on price rarely have the resources to invest in technical skills, customer service, or demand generation. Meanwhile your brand may now be positioned as the low-cost and low-quality offer. Is this the business you are in?

2b. Are you under-distributed? Customers who might want your products and services never have a fair opportunity to buy what you have to offer because you are not on the radar. It will also put you in the position of having to do all the market development, demand generation and services delivery yourself, straining your resources and ultimately impacting customer experience and, again your brand.

Continued »

pg 9*Praeto principle, known as the 80/20 rule.

2c. How does distribution vary by market, industry, and geography? Ahhh, here’s a clue to solving the distribution question: rarely do you have an even distribution of partners across market segments. The right number of channel partners is dependent on the demand in any particular segment and how many partners with the right capabilities are needed to service that demand. Having the right tools to analyze your channel capacity is key. For example, can you profile your channel coverage for partners with banking expertise and managed services capability in London, New York, and Zurich? When you can break down the distribution into more granular segments, it’s easier to get a handle on the right number of partners.

2d. How does driving engagement change the picture? Many channel programs suffer from the 80/20 rule.* Their top 20 percent of partners drive 80 percent of revenue. What is more productive: partners who sell more or more partners who sell? By creating a strong engagement experience for your partners, you can motivate more revenue generating activities, not just from your top partners, but from partners already in your channel. There is a cost to recruiting and onboarding new partners, so unless your current partners are not the right fit for you, then showing a bit more TLC to your “next 20 percent” is likely to have much better ROI.

Many channel programs suffer from the 80/20 rule. Their top 20 percent of partners drive 80 percent of revenue.

pg 10

Doing the Math There are many ways to “calculate” channel capacity. The right way depends on what capabilities your partners are bringing to the customer value proposition. A calculation for online retailers would be very different than for a product requiring a significant service component. For one SaaS client, we determined that there was approximately a one to one ratio of subscription dollar revenue to implementation services. Without the services component, customers would not be able to implement their SaaS offer or at the very least retention would be in jeopardy. Services was the bottleneck in the business.

Extrapolating from that, if a sales region determined they had the demand to sell $100M in new subscriptions, they needed the channel to be able to deliver $100M in services. At an average professional services rate of $200/hr and 1000 hrs year utilization/per professional, they would need 500 consultants. Most of their channel partners were small operations and so they guestimated each had on average 5 consultants who could be trained and certified to provide the necessary services. So in this area they needed 100 skilled, active, and engaged channel partners. The qualifiers are important in this equation. If your channel mimics the 80/20 rule, you may realistically need to recruit, on-board and activate 500 partners to truly achieve the service capacity needed to support your business. (See graphic at right.)

Doing the MathDesired Revenue Level $100M subscription i.e., quota

Service Ratio 1:1 $100M services

Service Rate $200/hr

Utilization/Consultants 1000hr/year

Consultants Needed $100M/($200/hr *1000hr/yr)= 500 consultants

Avg # Consultants/Partner 5

Number of Active Partners 500 consultants/5 per partner =100 partners

Apply 80/20 rule Potentially 500 partners

pg 11Gina Batali-Brooks, President, Is Inspired

Deal registration programs were introduced over 30 years ago to accomplish two main goals: provide deal visibility to vendors and provide deal and investment protection to partners. In exchange for partners providing early visibility to deals, vendors provide additional discounts over other partners who might be competing for the business. Although simple on the surface, deal registrations come with a number of landmines. Here are two main issues I’ve seen a lot lately that can thwart your program and what you can do to get it back on track:

3. Does Deal Registration Work/Make Sense for Me (Protect Margin for Partners)?

Continued »

pg 12

3a. Special pricing undermines deal registration objectivesSpecial pricing can be the internal gremlin that undermines your deal registration program, even in an organization that claims to be 100 percent channel. These two programs are often developed in a vacuum

by different parts of the organization with similar but different goals. This often results in special pricing discounts that are higher than the deal registration discounts being offered to partners who don’t

own the registration, thus nullifying the value of the deal registration. In this ultra-competitive market, the use of special pricing is on the rise, exacerbating this issue.

Special pricing and deal registration programs can work together to both strengthen your program and drive sales, but sales, marketing, finance and channels need to be on the same

page around some core values. The exclusivity granted as part of the deal registration needs to be respected and the programs need to be simple and consistent. Special pricing discounts should be

additive to deal registration discounts. This protects the investment the partner has already made in the deal. It also allows you to document the process and provide consistency to the partners, creating trust and respect with your partner community.

Special pricing and deal registration programs can work together to both strengthen your program and drive sales, but sales, marketing, finance and channels need to be on the same page around some core values.

Continued »

pg 13

3b. The deal registration program supports the vendor more than the partnerRemember the two goals of a deal registration program: vendor visibility and partner protection. There is a healthy tension to those two goals. If the vendor starts getting too greedy about the visibility, the result can be an overly complicated program that is no longer worthwhile to the partner.

It’s OK to ask for data as long as it meets your objectives and makes sense for the partner. For instance, if your goal is to get registrations earlier in the process, asking for SKU level data when a deal registration is entered may be counter to your goal. Partners may wait until later in the sales process when they know what products the customer is going to buy and there isn’t any added value to the partner to provide that data. However, if you asked them to register a deal early to obtain ownership of the deal, then allowed them to provide SKU information as they are ready to close, they can guarantee their pricing and don’t have to send it to distribution for pricing separately. You are asking for what you need, the partner gets what they need and you’ve simplified the ordering process.

Remember, managing a deal registration program is expensive. If you can’t get the organization behind you to support the main objectives and core tenets of a deal registration program, deal registration may not be right for your organization.

pg 14Gina Batali-Brooks, President, Is Inspired

You are in a quandary. On the one hand, your partners complain you are not providing enough leads. On the other hand, they complain that the leads aren’t sufficiently qualified. No matter what you do, leads go untouched by the channel. Does it seem like providing leads to the channel are like those mythical magic beans? They could either be a waste of money or pay dividends. Let’s explore four ways to make your leads pay off:

4. Is My Channel Effectively Closing Leads On Their Own, Or Am I Still Spending My Resources On Closing Channel Deals?

Continued »

pg 15

4a. Identify your goal That’s simple, right? Sell more stuff through the channel. While that’s the ultimate goal, leads should be looked at as a process, not a transaction. Be selective about who you provide leads. I suggest you use them for two purposes, to ramp up new partners and to retain your top performing partners.

4b. Make leads a key part of your onboarding process Combined with account planning, leads provided to new partners create the foundation to bring training to life. Conduct a virtual “ride-a-long” to help them qualify and close their assigned leads, as well as the opportunities they’ve identified on their own. It may take some extra time, but you’ve invested money in recruiting the partner and generating the lead. Taking the time to make both efforts pay off makes good business sense.

For your top performing partners, qualified leads are a reward for their focus on your business, and are typically recognized by these partners for their true value. They are already well engaged in your channel processes and are more likely to follow through on their assigned leads.

If you are selective in assigning the leads you’ve cultivated, leverage them to foster and grow your partner relationships, and appropriately reward success, you just might find your golden goose.

Continued »

pg 16

4c. Make it personal Becoming too reliant on your partner management system(s) can be dangerous. Partners are busy and you are one of many product lines they sell. The simple truth is they will not provide updates on leads in your system. You are often fortunate if they just accept or reject leads. Use systems as a platform to provide information to the partner regarding a potential customer’s specific areas of interest, including documents they’ve downloaded, or pages they’ve visited. Think of the background needed by the partner to start a relevant conversation with this prospect. Then personally reach out to the partner to make sure they’ve received their leads, confirming with them that you are there to help with the process. The most successful salespeople I have seen use systems as a way to facilitate communication with a partner rather than expecting the system to serve as the primary method of communication.

4d. Incent success One of the most common phrases I hear is, “We don’t allow partners to register leads. We’ve done all the work and handed the lead to them so they shouldn’t get an extra discount.” You are asking them to take a lead that may or may not be qualified to their standards, insert themselves into a buying process that they haven’t been involved in until now, and then close the loop for you so you can track the results. Why wouldn’t you want to pay them the deal registration discount for that? Can you reliably track where the lead came from anyway? Experiment with offering the additional discounts to see if you can improve the overall return on your lead investment and increase your channel revenue. Partner leads are one of the most requested partner benefits, while being the most under appreciated by partners. Therein lies the quandary. However, if you are selective in assigning the leads you’ve cultivated, leverage them to foster and grow your partner relationships, and appropriately reward success, you just might find your golden goose.

pg 17

Driving demand and increasing revenue through the channel is one of the biggest challenges facing channel executives today. You’ve spent millions of dollars on co-brandable materials, marketing automation tools and your own demand generation to acquire leads but none of it seems to be working. Or if it is working, it should be or could be better. Meanwhile, partners continue to demand more leads, but what are they doing with them? Smaller partners aren’t using your resources and nationals are asking for more money for activities you both know drive demand. So how do you catch more Zzz’s when this is weighing on you? Here are a few suggestions:

Heather Margolis, President and Founder, Channel Maven Consulting

5. Are My Demand Gen Efforts Impactful and Do They Work?

Continued »

pg 18

5a. Categorize partners differently Up to this point you’ve been giving marketing support to partners based on tiers. Take a step back. Think about them in terms of “marketing rank.” True, some partners need a one:many solution because, let’s face it, they aren’t your core. Forget about them for a minute and look at your other partners. Put them in marketing categories like Top partners (don’t need as much help), Growth partners (hungry and use your resources), and Sales partners (won’t execute on marketing without a lot of handholding). Once segmented, it’s easier to see how to put the right information in front of them.

5b. Help partners with the last mile It’s one thing to give marketing resources and qualified leads to partners, but knowing they work with you and up to 25 other vendors, can you expect them to execute effectively? When it comes to your most important relationships – the growth partners primed for success – you may want to consider holding their hands even more. When we work with partners on behalf of vendors, we’re often taking pieces of marketing or sales execution off their plates. These are the details normally dropped by busy partners but are integral to success. A little handholding goes a long way to putting vendors top-of-mind and influencing partners’ excitement towards demand gen marketing activities.

When it comes to your most important relationships, the growth partners primed for success, you may want to consider holding their hands even more.

Continued »

pg 19

5c. Start with education and awareness Simply handing partners the same old resources isn’t enough. First, they need to see the bigger picture. Understanding integrated marketing in the digital landscape is not their forte and it gets complicated fast. Educating partners is key but you have to do it in the way that works best for them. Sure, they want to know how to engage prospects on social media, how social selling puts them in front of the right decision makers and why blogging matters. Partners are busy and pulled in many directions – always – and they need these lead generation resources and tools positioned correctly before they will use them. When educating them, take their time limitations into consideration. Create bite-sized educational materials like short videos and webinars vs. lengthy or written alternatives.

Create bite-sized educational materials like short videos and webinars vs. lengthy or written alternatives.

pg 20

6. Am I Getting ROI On My MDF Investments?

Raegan Wilson, Chief Channel Officer, Channel Squared Consulting

Many channel programs offer Marketing Development Funds (MDF) but not all of these programs are created equal. Some channel leaders are getting more bang for their MDF bucks by knowing just how those MDF dollars are performing. Here are the 4 critical components needed to determine which MDF activities pack a financial punch and which ones fall flat:

Continued »

pg 21

6a. Automate and manage with MDF technology The foundation of a successful MDF program is technology. It is critical to deploy something to manage the MDF process start to finish. Partners need a centralized place to manage their MDF activities and you need the ability to track and report on your partner spend. Your MDF technology should include the ability for partners to request, update, claim, upload, and manage their MDF activities. This system should also integrate with your CRM system for lead management and tracking. A well deployed MDF technology will provide you with the tools needed to manage your MDF program and start you down the path towards tracking ROI.

6b. Get the lead data from your partners Before we can get to MDF ROI we need to understand the results of the MDF spend. With a MDF process and system in place you can start tracking what your MDF spend is generating. It is crucial to require partners to provide you with the details of their MDF activities as part of your proof of performance (POP). Activity details could include a list of attendees, the leads generated from a banner ad, names from a tradeshow or a list an email blast was sent to. This information should be added to your CRM system and related back to your partners via your partner relationship management solution (PRM). This process is commonly referred to as lead distribution.

Continued »

pg 22

6c. Setup campaigns to analyze the data Now that you have the MDF lead details, you need to track your MDF leads just as you would track traditional marketing leads: via a campaign. MDF generated leads should be added to a campaign within your CRM system. Campaigns need to be setup with ROI in mind so start thinking about how you want to measure ROI. This could be based on individual partner activity, by activity type or something else relevant to your business. The campaign should include the activity spend and the leads generated so the leads can be tracked as they move through your sales process. Keep in mind that the way you set up the campaign will determine how you will be able to measure your ROI. As your partners work their leads through the sales process, the campaigns will populate with the detail needed to understand which activities are performing.

When implemented as described, an MDF program will provide the data needed to understand which activities and partners are performing and which ones are not. Within a matter of months, you will start to understand what activities make the most sense to spend your money on. You will also be able to tell which partners you should spend your money with. When it comes to MDF, always remember that the focus should be on your partner’s business success and that will get you the ROI you are looking for.

When implemented as described, a MDF program will provide the data needed to understand what activities and partners are performing and which ones are not.

pg 23Raegan Wilson, Chief Channel Officer, Channel Squared Consulting

Loyal partners lead with your products and solutions, and can successfully win over the competition. Today’s partner landscape is ever changing as more and more companies recognize the opportunity an indirect channel offers. The new reality is that today’s channel partners are free agents representing more solutions than ever before. With the competition for your partner’s mindshare increasing how can you stay top of mind? You can probably identify your top partners, but what is going on with the rest? These 4 tips will help you better understand your partner and their loyalty to your offering:

7. How Loyal Are My Partners, and How Do I Know?

Continued »

pg 24

7a. Know your partners The first step in understanding your partners is knowing who actually makes up your program. Who are your partners and what do they look like? When was the last time you looked at all that partner profile data you have been gathering? What does your partner profile data tell you about your program? If you don’t have the necessary profile data, get it! Key information could include: primary business model, products/solutions sold, other programs they are a part of, and anything else that would be crucial to your unique program. This detail will help you understand who your partners are and what they care about. The data will also indicate how much they care about your offering and if you are aligned to the things that are important to them.

7b. Put yourself in your partners’ shoes Think like a partner. How easy are you to do business with? Do your partners have to jump through fiery hoops to work with you? Is your program stuck in the 90’s or have you adjusted to the changing market? Your partners do business with companies that are easy to do business with and have solid solutions that fit their business goals. Knowing your partners will help you align your program to the things that they care about and help them accomplish their business goals. If you don’t know what your partners care about, ask them!

If you don’t have the necessary profile data, get it! Key information could include: primary business model, products/solutions sold, other programs they are a part of, and anything else that would be crucial to your unique program.

Continued »

pg 25

7c. Look at the data It is likely that you have some technology in place to manage your partner program. If you don’t, get it! Engaged partners are loyal partners. The data collected from your technology platform or partner relationship management (PRM) system will provide you critical data around partner engagement. How are your partners engaging with you? Are they leveraging the things you are providing? If your content, training or program elements are not being utilized, change them. Do you know who you are recruiting and are you retaining new partners as well as existing partners? Analyzing these details should be a quarterly activity with action items to increase your stickiness.

7d. Incentivize more than the company Now more than ever, solution decisions are being made at the partner-rep level. While incentivizing partner sales reps can be tricky, it is key to align your incentive programs with the results you want to obtain. Things to consider are: rep training, lead/opp registration and closure, joint marketing efforts, and rep engagement. Consider gamifying these pieces and any others that may be crucial for your program success. Successful gamification will make it rewarding and transparent for the rep and manageable for you.

With the channel landscape morphing, it is time to take a look at where your program is and make the changes to set the table for success in 2016 and beyond. If you do the same things, you will yield the same results. If you want loyal partners, make sure your program is inline with their business goals.

pg 26Theresa Caragol, Founder, TCC Consulting

Channel Chiefs today are required to have and build knowledge in cloud more than ever before. 2016-2017 are expected to be significant years of widespread maturity in public, private, and hybrid cloud deployments across all markets: small business, mid-tier market, large enterprise organizations and governments according to CompTIA’s 2016 Cloud research.

It’s also a big year for the channel in cloud; traditional business models are evolving in the channel. There are new types of channel partner companies emerging and most solution providers are investigating and/or deploying new types of cloud services in 2016.

What can you do as a channel chief to evolve and scale your cloud business?

8. How Is “Cloud” Changing The Game In My Channel?

Continued »

pg 27

8a. Ensure you, as a leader, are up to date on the cloud market, landscape, the industry definitions and acronyms, and your company’s cloud opportunity In addition, it’s important that you have a plan to develop your people in the cloud market. Having the right cloud expertise across sales, strategy, channel marketing, and programs will be very important in the coming years. It may also mean deliberately searching for and hiring cloud talent and expertise onto your team. This could require new avenues for recruitment, amended hiring profiles, and often new or expanded roles in the organization. According to several cloud studies, finding and maintaining cloud talent is a top issue for end user customers and channel partners. So it’s important that channel chiefs have a proactive plan in cloud hiring and cloud employee development practices.

According to several cloud studies, finding and maintaining cloud talent is a top issue for end user customers and channel partners.

Continued »

pg 28

8b. Build a cloud channel strategy and plan for your company that includes key answers the following questions:

8c. Think about including a separate partner program track, different types of incentives within your existing partner program, or a whole new cloud program Regardless of the path you choose, incenting long term annuity revenue partner models, rewarding cloud customer renewals and customer loyalty: and partners’ success expanding cloud solutions within established customers are keys to success.

a. What cloud solutions will or should our company take to market through partners?

b. What types of partners that I have now will go with us on the cloud journey?

c. What types of born in the cloud or other partner types do I need?

d. What types of business models must I deploy and what is my ramp timeline to revenue and at what costs?

e. How will my other offers need to change? Partner communications, demand generation, automation, and partner programs?

f. How should I build or migrate my partner program for cloud to accommodate the new business models? I may choose to deploy a new cloud track with annuity type incentives, or modify my existing program with additional requirements/incentives for selling and deploying cloud solutions.

pg 29

For the last decade, organizations with direct sales teams have perfected the analytical tools necessary to predict results, track performance of individual reps, and bring an atmosphere of sophistication and control to direct sales. Unfortunately, the indirect sales channel, which by most estimates makes up as much as 80 percent of technology sales, has flown largely under the radar.

In 2015 and 2016, Impartner has seen a dramatic shift in this area. As more companies turn to indirect sales to deliver on their growth needs, the level of scrutiny with which they manage their channel partners has matured. In an effort to bring predictability, repeatability and scalability to their indirect channel, data and analytics have taken center stage.

We recommend that modern-day Channel Chiefs focus on four key deliverables:

Dave R Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer, Impartner

9. Do I Have the Analytical Tools Needed To Gain Insight Into My Channel Performance?

Continued »

pg 30

9a. Telemetry! The primary key to unlocking performance is knowledge; data on as many aspects of your channel program as you can track. Begin tracking and reporting on the metrics that you intuitively think will map to your success, but keep in mind that even metrics you may not immediately have a need for will become useful over time as you build a stockpile of data to analyze.

9b. Dashboard With good telemetry flowing in, the next key step is building a dashboard of what’s critical to your business. While it may feel unnatural at first, setting goals in key business areas and tracking progress to those goals will really move the dial in the right direction. We suggest a few key metrics that must be in the mix: how long it takes your partners to engage with leads that are passed to them; how many deals they generate on their own vs. using your leads; and what ROI your individual marketing programs are generating, (P.S. You’d be amazed at how few vendors effectively track ROI. Most devolve into “yes, it seemed like a good event, we had lots of people there...”)

With good telemetry flowing in, the next key step is building a dashboard of what’s critical to your business.

Continued »

pg 31

9c. Leaderboards Your channel partners are by nature an extremely competitive group. If you don’t believe me, try turning on a “Community” type of feature and expecting partners to share tips and tricks with each other, as your customers probably currently do. What works for a customer community will simply not work for the channel – they’re way too competitive with each other. But you can and should turn that into a benefit for you. Publishing key metrics to the entire channel where a set of 10 partners show up as “leaders” in certain areas will whip them into a competitive frenzy.

9d. Cull the herd Don’t follow the advice on a shampoo bottle: lather, rinse, repeat. (In the channel that equates to recruit, harvest, repeat…) Too many vendors recruit and onboard new partners, sell to their existing customer base, and then move on to the next partner. You must make the tough choice of cutting the non-productive partners out of your program. It’s good for the overall health of the group, and you don’t realize until you’re done what a drag non-productive partners can be to your business.

Don’t follow the advice on a shampoo bottle: lather, rinse, repeat. (In the channel that equates to recruit, harvest, repeat…)

pg 32Daniel Hawtof, VP, Business Development and Channel Solutions, Blackhawk Engagement Solutions

Motivating indirect sales channels has always been difficult. After all, your channel partners are not your employees, and, as a result, they aren’t easily influenced by your wants and needs. What’s more, your channel partners are inundated with new products, programs and news from their other suppliers — making it more difficult for you to earn the attention you might deserve. To help drive mindshare and channel engagement, vendors offer a variety of incentive program, including: SPIFs, MDF and Co-op, deal registration incentives, quarterly rebates and more. Many vendors design these programs to “meet the competition.”

These programs are often ill-conceived and without a strong strategic foundation. As a result, poor ROI is often associated with such programs, and they are dismissed as the cost of doing business. To drive success, how you implement your program is just as important as your strategy. Properly designed and executed, your incentive program should help improve channel loyalty and provide a competitive advantage.

10. Am I Recognizing and Incenting the Appropriate Partner Behaviors?

Continued »

pg 33

10a. Identify which types of behaviors drive your business Start by making a list of the key behaviors practiced by your most successful channel partners. Then add the key behaviors your channel partners need to achieve your go-to-market objectives, including training or improving pipeline visibility through deal registration and more.

10b. Introduce incentive engineering to your channel program Most channel incentive programs focus on post-sales rewards in the form of SPIF programs (targeting sales personnel) or rebates (rewarding channel partner companies for attaining sales goals). Ideally, your incentive strategy should have the flexibility to drive long-term incremental performance while providing levers you can use to adapt to business challenges as they arise. Expand the focus of your incentive strategy beyond sales. Consider rewarding your channel for performing the behaviors that generate mutual success.

10c. Implement both individual and headquarter rewards and rebates Rewards are no longer just for sales personnel. Rewards are issued for behaviors performed by other roles in a reseller organization, including advertising and marketing, program administrators, SEs and more. As you focus on both pre-sales and post-sales incentives, remember that recipients can be individuals or the company itself. Using the different program types — individual rewards and channel rebates — you can build an effective and affordable incentive program.

Continued »

pg 34

How Impartner can helpIn 2016, the indirect channel has climbed into the revenue driver’s seat, replacing direct sales as the primary sales vehicle for businesses worldwide – and it means mean tackling these key channel challenges is ever more critical to business success. However, at the end of the day, without updating to a contemporary PRM solution, you WILL lose out to competitors who have.

Still not convinced of the perils of not upgrading your Partner portal? Consider these two stats:

86% of partners choose their vendors primarily based on their partner portal.

Companies who adopt off-the-shelf commercially available PRM tools see an average of $8 million to $9 million in incremental revenue.

pg 35

Impartner can help. For nearly two decades, we’ve been helping companies like Xerox, Rackspace, Fortinet and National Instruments manage their worldwide partner relationships and accelerate revenue and profitability through indirect sales. National Instruments alone has used the power of Impartner and PRM to increase their channel sales by 120 percent and their channel program net promoter score by 30 percent. Their Partner Portal is the nucleus from which they drive their channel’s success.

Click here to take a demo of how our out-of-the-box SaaS-Based Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solution can accelerate your indirect sales. We can have you up and running with a new, world-class Partner Portal in as few as 30 days, using the company’s highly engineered, multi-award winning, three-step Velocity™ onboarding process.

There’s power in the portal. Find yours.

For more information on Impartner, which is based in Utah’s tech hotbed, the Silicon Slopes, visit http://www.impartner.com, or call:

United States +1 801 501 7000 EMEA call +33 1 40 90 31 20 London +44 0 20 3283 4465 LATAM +1 954 364 7883

REQUEST A DEMO

pg 36

Meet the experts Gina Batali-Brooks, President, Is Inspired Is Inspired develops and executes channel marketing strategies, programs, processes and tools to support specific client growth goals. These strategies include the use of proven approaches to assess current channel strategies and programs, refining target partner profiles, and developing and executing specific, measurable programs to recruit, ramp and retain channel partners with an emphasis on the processes and tools needed to support the channel growth goals today and scale into the future. http://www.isinspired.com.

Theresa Caragol, Founder, TCC Consulting Theresa Caragol Consulting (TCC) brings over 20 years of strategy and implementation experience in IT, SAAS/PAAS/IAAS cloud and on premise solutions, enterprise hardware/software, and telecommunications. TCC brings together a unique blend of skills and experience with extensive IT—hardware and software to enterprise, service providers, and partner ecosystems that include resale, cloud, and managed services, as well as traditional telecommunications experience. Founder Theresa Caragol has served on multiple IT industry advisory boards and her insights are grounded in field experience, strategic design, practical application and operational expertise. She has also recently been appointed as a contributor to Penton’s channel consulting/advisory and media practice; and serves as a Comptia Keynote Presenter and Instructor nationally. http://www.theresacaragol.com.

pg 37

Daniel Hawtof, VP, Business Development and Channel Solutions, Blackhawk Engagement Solutions Black Engagement Solutions delivers a complete solution including SaaS technology, client services, customer service, and global rewards to help our clients engage their partners, dealers, distributors, resellers and customers. http://www.bhengagement.com.

Heather Margolis, President and Founder, Channel Maven Consulting Channel Maven Consulting provides strategic channel and marketing consulting to IT channel organizations of all sizes. Channel Maven™ was founded by Heather K. Margolis in early 2009. Heather has led channel programs for companies like EMC, EqualLogic, and Dell. Channel Maven’s team also includes seasoned technology, marketing, and media executives with decades of experience at companies like Dell. http://channelmavenconsulting.com.

Dave R Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer, Impartner Dave Taylor joined Impartner as chief marketing officer in 2015, and leads the development and execution of the company’s global marketing and product development strategy. Taylor brings more than two decades of marketing experience and a legacy of success in building high-tech businesses to his role. He most recently served as vice president of marketing, product and corporate strategy at WatchGuard Technologies, and was key in transforming WatchGuard into the most highly awarded company in the network security space. Prior to WatchGuard, Taylor co-founded Sparxent, a rollup of value-added service providers in the mid-market space, which grew to more than $50M of annualized revenue within two years.

pg 38

Norma Watenpaugh, Founding Principal, Phoenix CG Phoenix Consulting Group specializes in best practice partner strategies, programs and marketing. We help companies achieve profitable results through their strategic alliances, channels and partner programs. PhoenixCG brings together seasoned consultants with practical experience to help you accelerate revenue, tap new sources of innovation or open new markets through effective partnerships. http://www.phoenixcg.com.

Raegan Wilson, Chief Channel Officer, Channel Squared Consulting Channel Squared is focused on helping channel companies structure successful channel programs. With years of experience implementing PRM systems, “to and through” partner marketing campaigns, partner onboarding and sales enablement, program enhancement and design, and other critical channel program components, Channel Squared is your resource for channel optimization. http://channelsquared.com.