Alright, so you’ve got your highly targeted and profiled list of 1,000 partners using the “Channel Partner Recruiting Model,” we talked about in our last blog post. Now, how do you make sure that you engage them in order to recruit them? How will you manage those recruited partners that warrant such attention?
Engaging Channel Partners
What do you need to do to convince an ideal channel partner to choose your company or product over all the other alternatives? This will be based on a variety of things, among them: the size and types of partners, your value proposition, partner program details, financial modeling, third-party validation and channel partner proposition, etc.
Ask yourself this: what do you have that you can bring to the table? Remember that you need to SELL potential partners on working with you. Why should they take time out of the field to train on your solutions, to learn your value proposition, to navigate your resources? If there isn’t a longer term benefit, they won’t.
Let’s talk about managing partners in order to build successful business relationships.
Managing Channel Partners
How can we determine which partners to focus on? We asked Carlos Blanco, of Pigs on the Roof, for a little insight. “Managing partners is extremely important; it builds a systematic trust and cooperation in order to successfully drive revenue. This is reliant on the type of partner and the relative importance of that partner to you. The best way we can do this is break it down into 4 tiers to better evaluate:”
Tier 1 – This is the primary focus tier; contact with partners in this tier would be at an average frequency of two times per month.
Characteristics of these partners:
Tier 2- This is the secondary focus tier; contact with these partners would be at an average frequency of one time per month.
Characteristics of these partners:
Tier 3- This is the tertiary tier; possible contact with these partners would be at an average frequency of one time per quarter, mainly via e-contact.
Characteristics of these partners:
Putting it into Play
1. Ask, understand and adjust: take a good look at partners, competitor partners and customers, and see what changes can be made and where. Here are some examples of main criteria to consider when selecting a network supplier:
2. Field vs. Inside Sales: How do you decide if you should visit or call? This depends on the number and types of partners. Let’s take a look at this broken down into 4 tiers based off of revenue producing partners:
The critical decision is to determine how best to manage partners and what resources to use in order to maximize results vs. potential.
Before doing anything, begin with the data. Intelligent, data-driven channel management is about making smart decisions about what you are already spending or planning to spend, rather than spending more. Take a serious look at the numbers and see what you can adjust without adjusting your budget.
With data in hand, the first step is determining the type of management to be provided: Field vs. Inside Sales. This decision depends on the number and types of partners. Let’s take a look at this, broken down into 4 tiers according to revenue producing partners.
3. Insource vs. Outsource: When deciding whether to insource or outsource, it is important to first review the business needs that will drive the final choice.
Key Takeaways
In today’s highly competitive IT environment, it is important to have a well thought-out and executed channel strategy. By focusing on and analyzing the data, using the budget and resources you already have, paying attention to your partners and your competitors, and combining insourced and outsourced resources; you can engage and manage partners in the most effective and intelligent way best promote your channel.
Thank you again to Carlos Blanco for walking us through recruiting, engaging and managing partners.
Get practical tips for marketing ”To” and driving demand generation “Through” Channel Partners!
1035 Pearl Street, Suite 329
Boulder, CO 80302
Home | About | Services | eBooks | Blog | Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy