CHANNEL MANAGEMENT CHECKLIST
- 1. CHANNEL MANAGEMENT CHECKLIST Pradeep Banerjee DST Communications
- 2. Strategic Considerations Review sales plan to ensure channel fit. Determine type of Channels to be pursued. Determine Cannel Revenue & Contribution Margin Expectations/Timeline. Confirm operating requirements ultimately required to manage Channel Program. Review key rules of engagement to ensure alignment.
- 3. Product Positioning & Messaging Gather and review the Competitive product positioning & messaging. Review Channel sales programs for competitive offerings. Develop marketing messaging targeted at Channel Recruitment. Develop closer integration of account planning to include joint strategies with partners based on certain geographies and coverage models. Build and launch Survey of potential Channel targets for reaction to offering, positioning, and channel program variables.
- 4. Channel Recruitment Readiness Confirm goals and set success criteria for channel recruitment. Build ”Channel Partners” micro site inclusive of messaging and channel program elements, purpose - Generate interest in the Offering - Recruit Channel Partners to the program with reporting and admin functions. Profile and identify sales resources needed for the channel program. of the micro site is to: tailored call to action. - Offer landing spot for broader prospect, including
- 5. based on strategic Readiness profile. Set up sales force automation (SFA) function including reporting Acquire/import a minimum of Channel Partner prospects into SFA ( Sales Force Automation ) Set weekly and monthly objectives to ensure plan is tracking Develop scripts, tools, spec sheets and key selling points for the Solidify strategic sales approach, value proposition, and Recruitment campaign. Train the recruitment team. Channel Recruitment Readiness Create Channel Partner Priority List of ideal channel prospects and admin functions offering.
- 6. Tell-tale signs of company’s channel management is under performing: Poor alignment between how sales, product teams and the partner program define “best” partners. Weak performance by significant number of top-tier partners. Unclear ROI due to lack of how partners deliver value. Unsuccessful attempts to drive new partner behavior through existing partner relationships. Passive execution that reacts to rather than fuels business outcomes. Often, the root cause of a company’s channel management problems is not its people or its positioning, but its approach… Recruit - Develop- Grow-Prune
- 7. Manage your ecosystem to maintain the right mix of partners. Coverage. The number of partners by segment. Ecosystem capacity is influenced by the mix of partner types, number of partners in each segment, and partner attributes such as customers served, business models, and solutions offered. Capability. The required knowledge to sell and support the companies offerings. Without this knowledge, partners cannot be effective in the market. Capacity. The velocity of sales per partner per year. Commitment. The percentage of partner deals that include the company’s offering. Most partners work with multiple vendors, so partner loyalty is a key determinant of channel revenue… Coverage-Capability- Capacity- Commitment
- 8. Ideal Target List: - Independent Agents - System Integrators - Master Agents of Telecom and other service providers. - Value Added Resellers
- 9. Business Partner Recruitment Readiness The importance of using well-defined criteria for identifying, qualifying, and recruiting business partners that align to KDDI corporate objectives specific channel development initiatives cannot be overstated… Gather partner profiles then carefully study each available potential partner and assess which among them will be suitable. Set recruitment goals and rank the desired competencies and business models we are seeking in potential new business partners. Lay down specific recruitment goals and criteria for success. Define PDV compelling business partner program benefits, product positioning and messaging. Acquire business partner prospect lists and sort business partner prospects that align to our specific recruitment objectives. Train PDV business partner sales teams about partner programs and objectives. Create standardized documentation to streamline partner management. Develop collateral to market to qualified channel partner candidates. Establish metrics and reports for benchmarking recruitment campaign performance.
- 10. Post-Recruitment: New Partner Nurturing, Development and Support Partner Training - Provide in-house, on-line, onsite training to partners Partner Solution Development - Enable partners to easily and quickly port solutions on vendor’s platform/product portfolio to accelerate go-to-market capabilities. Support for Partners - In order to cost effectively support base of partners at a later stage look into high-touch, high-volume and low cost support programs provide seamless live on demand chat support, email support and one-on-one live support with subject matter experts. Partner Go-To-Market Plans - After the partners have been indoctrinated, interface with the partners to accelerate their sales activities to ensure the partners are fully engaged and are actively marketing and selling partner products and services. Other sales assistance may be in the form of offering partners sales lead telemarketing campaigns, webinars targeted at prospects located in their geographic sales territory and other assistance designed to begin generating quick revenue with partner products and services.
- 11. Partners - The VAR Partner program typically enables VARs, Master Agents, Independent Agents, Systems Integrators and OEMs to create a residual revenue stream while selling more of their core products and increasing revenues and profits through improved customer retention. Leading companies in almost all verticals can be targeted to sell services into. The technical, operational and strategic partnerships form a collaborative ecosystem focused on one thing; providing customers with the best value added services to major industry verticals. Establish a reward program to reward partners for achieving specified sales targets over a set time period to drive attainment of partner revenue goals.
- 12. Channel Sales Agreements: A- Master Agreement B- Agent Agreement
- 13. Partners