(Speaking Topics for Corporate Events):
Fellow Techies,
Not fair (in this economy) to keep great industry minds a secret...
Here’s my latest take with the CHANNEL community on a crucial topic.
1. Your product can be PACKAGED and easily sold..
A. Exhausted from Spec sheets with 150 configs? Pricing via sliding scales according to multiple factors? – oy, a headache! Whether it’s HW, SW, PS or subscriptions, you gotta be able to package up just a few variations and hand it over to the VAR to sell.
B. Golden Rule: if you can sell it, they can sell it… really worried it’s too technical, requires nuances, services, or tricky billing? Well Mr. CRO, if all of that is worth solving, (& since you’re reading this the answer must be yes) you can craft a version for the Channel to sell.
2. Offer EXCELLENT MARGINS
A. No Channel partner gets excited over 15% ... sorry, board members. If we want the Partner community to put skin in the game, we start by putting some of ours in first; 30-45% of incremental biz (that you weren’t going to reach anyway) x 100 VARs will create incalculably more biz than the direct sales force can produce alone. Just ask the big boys who do it well.
B. There’s no harm in tiering the margins you offer based on criteria: partner status, share of work, or lead source… Just create the appropriate sizzle & incentivize your channel to ‘sell with’!
3. REGISTRATION with integrity: bulletproof, reliable, trackable
A. As market forces drive acceptance of our killer new product, channel conflict is inevitable – heck, it’s desired. As long as the VAR world can trust 100% that their registrations are exclusive for 30 – 90 days, the machine will stay greased and work perfectly. When everybody knows and follows the rules set out in the Partner Portal, the machine works!
B. The better you track them, the better you drive them. The theory of the upward spiral works here—the better the system works, the more work the system gets.
Comments always crucial & welcome
Leadership Consulting
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