Channeling a better approach to the channel
March 19th, 2010 by Hugh Kennedy
It makes up 80% of Cisco’s business.
It makes up 60% of most technology companies’ revenue.
It’s not health care insurance costs: it’s the channel.
Yet even in 2010, the channel remains the ugly stepchild of direct and inside sales. Even as office overhead and direct sales salaries continue to rise and companies are in search of more highly efficient ways to burnish their brand equity and market share out in the world, value-added resellers and distributors remain an afterthought for too many companies.
If it seems like there’s an internal contradiction going on here based on the benefits the channel can offer, there is: most channel marketing managers and channel sales managers report to, wait for it, the corporate Sales Manager, who controls both direct and channel sales. Channel sales managers often have to fight harder for budget, are expected to tell the partners to sell identical solutions faster than direct sales, and are often directed to survey (and re-survey, and re-survey) their partners every six months, and yet provide only the barest sustenance of marketing support.
What kind of marketing support do channel marketers need? Here’s a short list we commonly use:
* Well-constructed pull campaigns versioned for the channel to establish the value proposition to end users and build demand for the channel partner
* An implementation guide to help channel partners identify and quantify how various marketing materials work
* Counsel on how to write a great marketing plan at the local and regional level
* Ideas and training on how to frame technologies as solutions to business challenges and brand yourself as an industry expert
* Steps on how to incorporate social media into a marketing mix
* Instruction on how to tell the difference between marketing leads and sales leads
* A process to put together effectiveness metrics and track a campaign, including what the metrics should be capturing and recording
This is not an exhaustive list, but it should get any channel marketer started. And if you’re looking for a best practice, look no further than Cisco. They know how to treat their channel. For validation, see under “Generating 80% of your revenue with the channel.”
