Constant Innovation makes for a Winning Channel Organization

September 27, 2009

September was a whirlwind for me personally:  several exciting client projects, bride’s maid (or matron, a term which I hate) in my friend’s wedding, moving my house, and several trips.  All good things but just the same, when you’re wrapped up in what’s currently going on, you are not focused on building that pipeline or [...]

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Channel Partners make Strategic Hires thanks to Cisco

September 17, 2009

Last week stocks soared after Federal Reserve Chairman, Barnanke, said recession “Likely Over”.  Is the channel feeling the rebound?  How has the recession effected how/where/when our partners are hiring talent?  A few weeks ago I was invited to hear Celia Harper-Guerra, Sr. Director of Worldwide Channels, Partner Talent Acquisition, and several Cisco Partners talk about [...]

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Incentives Article in Loyalty 360 Magazine

August 31, 2009

While many “loyalty” programs for the channel track the financial relationship between the distributor/dealer/VAR – real loyalty is built by tracking other things in addition to the exchange of money.  Which incentives to use when and other use information.
In partnership with I2I Incentive Intelligence, I contributed an article for Loyalty Management magazine (published by Loyalty360) [...]

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Are you a Cow, Dog, Star or Problem Child?

August 22, 2009

We all know the BCG matrix with Cash Cow, Dogs, Stars, and Problem Children but how does that play out in reality?  How should vendors cater their partner programs to each of these product groups?
Cash Cows are product lines that have high market share in a slow growth industry, they basically sell themselves, think Microsoft [...]

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What would ask Cisco’s VP of Worldwide Channels Marketing about Social Media if you got the chance?

July 29, 2009

I have the pleasure of interviewing Luanne Tierney, Vice President, Worldwide Channels Marketing at Cisco during a pre-recorded webinar I’m doing for Lemon Operations.  Luanne will share how Cisco has used Web 2.0 and how they will leverage it going forward.
I will also be giving an overview of why you should care about social media [...]

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Windows 7…Just what the Partners Ordered?

July 28, 2009

Stepping away from my Channel Maven shoes for a moment, as a consumer, when I first used Vista I was, well, beyond frustrated.  Not being a technical person myself the only person more frustrated then me was my IT guy.  “Steve, it’s doing the thing again!” “Steve I lost the file I was just working [...]

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Differentiating your Program – Start with the End in Mind

July 22, 2009

Someone asked recently if I had some information on how to differentiate their partner program from other partner programs.  Very interesting question. My answer was, not exactly.  Many of my posts have some information on how to design a program to attract a certain type of partner, but to truly differentiate your program you need [...]

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Cloud Partners: A New Breed of VAR

July 7, 2009

When asked recently what’s the hottest topic in IT effecting the channel I didn’t have to think twice…the Cloud.  I wrote ‘What Does Cloud Computing mean for the Channel’ a couple of months ago talking about the ability for just about anyone to write an application in the cloud and market it.  Google, Force.com, and [...]

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Reseller or Value Added Reseller? Benefits to both.

June 30, 2009

Somehow in the last few years the term “Reseller” has become an insult.  It’s not enough anymore to just sell a product, now to be a true Value Added Reseller (VAR) partners must provide services.  None of this is news but many partners are promoting themselves as a VAR when they may still be just [...]

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Adding a New Vendor to your Arsenal – A Partners Perspective

June 16, 2009

Last week I wrote a post on recruitment from a vendor’s perspective, today I’ll look at it from a Partner’s perspective. While the vendors are looking to recruit new partners, the partners are analyzing the cost/benefit of taking on a new vendor’s product. There are more considerations than one would think.

Is the [...]

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