KNOWLEDGESTREAM AT-A-GLANCE
The Future of IT Partner Marketing and Channel Strategy
ABSTRACT
We are exploring how IT firms can boost product revenues via channel partners. How can vendors broaden their partner ecosystem, stand out better in the portfolio & operationalize company relationships to expand profit? How can multi-vendor & multi-partner alliances add unique value? What best practices, opportunities & pitfalls affect vendor & partner abilities to maximize results from partnerships?
PARTICIPANTS
OBJECTIVES
1. Expand Partner Ecosystems & Impact: - Adding more/new partners
- Multi-partner or -vendor contexts
- Near-term tactics vs. strategic or multi-step
2. Visibility in the Partner Portfolio : - Boosting presence, awareness, preference
- Portfolio, marketing, or operations
- Ways to differentiate
3. Operationalize Multi-Company Alliances: - Approach for design, implement & scale
- Guidance, playbooks & support
- Metrics (ROI, track leads/deals, health)
4. Partner Marketing: Do's & Don'ts: - Best practices, unique wins or risks/to avoid
- Trade-offs, timing, dependencies
- Priorities for support & 3rd-party services
End Date: Mar 15, 2021
CONTRIBUTIONS
ACTIVITY
110 Days
5 Themes
39 Contributors
414 Posts
89 Comments
159 Followers
OUTPUTS
4 Infographic
6 Slide Deck
4 Blog Post
4 Video
12 Social Post
2 AMP Story
CALLS ATTENDED
• 2021-02-18 - Theme Interview for Theme #3: "Putting Multi-Company Alliances into Action"
THEME #1
Expanding Your Partner Ecosystem and Impact
THEME SUMMARY
The #1 priority is for vendors and their partners to be clear and tightly aligned on goals. Otherwise, rising complexity hampers turning strategies into tactical wins. Evidence shows up in lost oppportunities, extra costs and dissolved trust.
- Vendors and their partners must be in sync on goals and expectations: strategy, portfolio, GTM/sales model, culture and operational discipline. Today plus evolving over time.
- Use discipline and creativity to actively manage against competing priorities. Constantly communicate facts and gain emotional favor among partner reps.
- Proper fit and strong execution by any partner are critical, to truly close GTM gaps. Accept that adding partners comes with costs/tradeoffs for the vendor.
- At a transaction level, incremental changes can work to go tying in 1-3 partners. But, a top-down, different design is key with t complexity of an ecosystem GTM or linking 3+ partners.
RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
Formalize and communicate services to help vendors pursue marketing tactics aligned with today's disruptive strategies, market/customer context and underlying challenges.
Vendors and their partners must be in sync on goals and expectations: strategy, portfolio, GTM/sales model, culture and operational discipline. Today plus evolving over time.
Often, channel programs tend towards "one size fits all", "more is better", and timing should match direct sales. But, a vendor and partner's metrics/KPIs might not align. While partners need training and some margin they also might compete with direct sales, if have relationships with target buyers.
IT Vendors should frequently refine product roadmaps, in light of disruptive technologies. Make partners aware of directions. Service partners should invest in building solutions that harness future deliveries.
People sometimes blur the lines between partnership, sales & business development. For partnerships, work backward from goals to set expectations and KPIs. Assess culture and whether the partner can make operational changes needed for great execution (includes IT for real-time collaboration).
Use discipline and creativity to actively manage against competing priorities. Constantly communicate facts and gain emotional favor among partner reps.
When trying to boost revenue & reach with partners, the #1 challenge is to execute on competing priorities. Also, even with a great product, the payback must be attractive. Few vendors ask what a partner can gain from working with them. Inertia often favors status quo vs. introducing a new vendor.
Securing a partner is a big effort, so, it's easy to think sales will just flow. But, you must consistently communicate. Remind the partner's front line of your value & unique differences. Beyond facts, reach people's hearts & minds so they think "wow, this is great" vs. just another thing to do.
Beyond "Best new partner solution" awards, offer a 1-year preferred discount to 'winners'. While vendors must focus on great pre-sales support. services partners should pursue "land and expand" at enterprise accounts. Also, make better use of sales and marketing analytics to increase sales.
Proper fit and strong execution by any partner are critical, to truly close GTM gaps. Accept that adding partners comes with costs/tradeoffs for the vendor.
Complexity goes up as organizations try to do more things. Fewer and bigger actions tend to drive better and faster results. While adding a partner may appear simple, it's often quite involved. You might need to add resources or even reorganize to get the most of the relationship.
Selecting the right partners is critical. I've used a matrix approach to uncover where we needed to fill in for direct sales coverage gaps. First, we identified geo or customer gaps. Then, chose partners for product or industry knowledge, balancing time required to "spin" them up.
Vendors often aren't clear on their market position and the ecosystem around their products. This hampers both partner selection and analysis of GTM ease vs. value to the company. Which ecosystem firms are complementary? Ex: For on-prem security devices, what's the fit w/applications, DB and other SW?
At a transaction level, incremental changes can work in tying in 1-3 partners. But, a top-down, different design is key to handle complexity of an ecosystem GTM or linking with >3 partners.
With multiple players, use a game-theory-like matrix. Maximize benefits and limit negatives for vendors, partners and customers. I favor defined ecosystems with known outcomes for each value-chain player vs. an ad-hoc opportunistic model. Customers prefer ecosystem solutions over one-offs.
It's hard to align competing priorities among customer, partner and vendor. With more parties complexity goes up, plus the chance someone starts to drag down collaboration. I rarely see multi-party setups work strategically. But they can be useful to close capability gaps in a transaction.
I saw a successful, strategic multi-vendor GTM play emerge from market demand for an integrated solution with two product suites from two large tech vendors. The partnership was required to win the deal, given how businesses structured workflows to handle and process data.
Strategic or tactical channel wins depend on clear goals and efficiency. Vendors and partners should jointly assess and agree on the complexity involved with the solution, GTM and client adoption.
With limited resources, organizations must carefully assess each opportunity for potential revenue and new customers -- while understanding the people, time, dollars and processes required. Keep attention on meeting goals with the fewest partners/channels -- maximizing resources.
Use holistic planning when selling complex solutions, like ERP. Client adoption usually requires process and other changes. If a simple referral agreement can't work, offer partners marketing funds or higher margins for productive leads. Be clear on steps a partner must execute to qualify for fees.
Firms must be clear about the partnership: Strategic or tactical? To enable transactions or pool resources & collectively invest for growth.? To what degree? It's really bad when one partner strives to build while the other limits engagement. It's like dating: looking for a good time or soul mate?
THEME #2
Standing Out In a Partner's Portfolio
THEME SUMMARY
Panelists noted that vendor and partner personal connections are the most powerful component. Portfolio/ program details, marketing content, incentives and joint selling rely on trust as the starting point.
- Vendor/partner teamwork starts with the right people, relationships and trust. Programs and content rely on this foundation.
- Be clear on vendor/partner coverage for executive items and day-to-day focal point. Interactions at multiple levels allows for alignment, as partners evolve with vendors.
- Ensure channel marketing basics are in place, including a solid financial case. Build off standards when tailoring programs or support for specific partner needs..
RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
For each phase/major activity in the channel marketing lifecycle: 1) Identify vendor and partner roles and relationships that should be present 2) Draft a simple set of questions or framework/tool useful to assess the strength vendor/partner human connections or interactions. 3) Highlight how relationships or trust impact results across different channel design or execution aspects (what's the level of sensitivity? How are expectations set and/or lifted up? 4) Draft marketing services, training and related options for providing value along this people-theme.
Human connections are crucial for effective vendor/partner marketing and sales. Relationships and trust are needed, before vendors add testimonials and content that proves channel and customer value.
Even with history, partners may not know vendor value or offerings (may think highly without direct experience). Human, emotional stories best convey value to partners & customers. Use templates to capture wins by industry & compose stories. Share this content broadly in newsletters & social posts.
When ISVs play a channel role, their focus depends on financial value or ROI. A vendor could reach customers directly, through partners, or both. It's important that vendors notice when they perceive a product sale, while partners see the deal as a solution bundle.
People like to work with others who care and make them feel appreciated. Create testimonials where vendors and partners share what it's like to work together. Perhaps highlight partner employees who deserve recognition, or just stand out.
Ensure vendor/partner each have Executive sponsors and day-to-day focal points. This allows joint work to promote and execute programs that fit partners as they evolve.
Vendors need two roles at each partner: an executive sponsor for C-level support & champion for day-to-day work. Seek guidance from both roles -- there's no single answer. For services, small players may be more flexible than larger ones or SIs, where campaigns & structured marketing work better.
Programs should fit channel maturity & scale (ex.: SPIFFs and MDFs make sense for established partners). Help partners adapt as customers demand multi-vendor solutions. Stay in sync as resellers transform for cloud, usage pricing, new LoB buyers and hybrid or remote workforce,
No surprise that only 5% of partners say incentives are good levers. Vendors like incentives, since they're often easy to implement. Channel reps favor programs/vendors they trust and really understand. This requires commitment and effort beyond turning on an incentive.
Ensure strong design and execution on channel marketing basics, with win-win ROI/financial case. Retain standards, even when tailoring support for partners or trying to innovate.
Vendors should balance consistency with tailored attention to channel firms. Treat partners fair and equal - no favorites. Customize support to the partner's (1) target market/customer focus and (2) unique needs for training, marketing/sales aid and operations/financial.
Vendors who correctly align value with channel firms are more competitive & attractive. Partners want to work with vendors for (1) direct financial incentive; commission, resell, and services revenue or (2) indirect benefit via differentiation, filling gaps or retaining customers.
Interesting that vendors try to showcase innovation in 'customer centricity' and 'commercial agility'. You must retain the basics. These areas inherently demand core strength to meet customer needs, deeply understand buyer journeys, and prove your products deliver clear value.
THEME #3
Putting Multi-Company Alliances into Action
THEME SUMMARY
Success with multi-firm partnering requires better focus, broader measurements/feedback, clearer communications and teamwork which enables flexibility and responsiveness.
- Vendors should be intentional and focused when choosing partners and setting go-to-market approaches - generic designs won't win the day.
- Don't overplay focus on financials metrics; retain balance with feedback on operations, people/organization effectiveness and customer impacts.
- Clear, well-written vendor-to-partner communications are the best vehicle to convey expectations and ease of doing business.
- Vendors get channel results by demonstrating teamwork with their channels, while being flexible and responsive to unique partner needs.
RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
Draft a framework with examples of elements that contribute to multi-partner arrangements, including: - intentional go-to-market design, - balanced financial / operational / customer metrics, - communications and ease of doing business - vendor/partner teamwork and - flexibility, creativity and responsiveness to partner needs For this framework, identify a 3-4 levels of 'maturity' or complexity. For example: vendor with 2-3 partners, mixed set of vendors and partners (more complex solution), and ecosystem (network of players). Highlight a few questions or challenges that are likely to trigger interest for 3rd party assistance.
Vendors should be intentional and focused when choosing partners and setting go-to-market approaches - generic designs won't win the day.
As it's hard to change selling behaviors, vendors must align with partner go-to-market models. SIs like Accenture have a C-level client lead and x-account horizontal abilities for GTM campaigns. ISVs may tie reps to a business unit or broad function, C-level to SMEs.
Vendors should prioritize time invested with partners and focus on content to address needs. The right content depends on goals: ex: revenue, impact to community or customer acquisition. Also, stack partners on potential and actual short- and long-term returns.
Vendors and partners must be aligned for multi-firm situations. WHAT PROBLEM is being solved? HOW DOES THIS HELP me & others? WHAT WILL WE EACH DO to help achieve our & mutual goals/outcomes? (WHEN? What KPIs?). WHO COMMUNICATES with whom? (Specific people to audiences).
Don't overplay focus on financials metrics; retain balance with feedback on operations, people/organization effectiveness and customer impacts.
Hard financial and performance metrics are often well-defined (sales, profit, lead gen rates, cost to acquire). Don't forget softer items like feedback about how partner programs impact customer experience or satisfaction of reps, marketing specialists and others.
Design and activate programs that measure partner effectiveness and efficiency. Beyond processes and tools, be transparent with periodic reporting on improvement actions underway and outcomes.
Share stories about the overall partnership value and which firm contributed to a specific outcome. When setting strategy, think about how to grow the ecosystem/partnerships. As you design and execute metrics/reporting, keep looking for ways to expand.
Clear, well-written vendor-to-partner communications are the best vehicle to convey expectations and ease of doing business.
Run a consistent meeting cadence, to uncover change, assess impacts, set actions and confirm outcomes. Stick to the plan!. If 'nothing to cover or no red flags', use time to build rapport or brainstorm improvements. In each meeting, non-lead vendors can position themselves.
Partners have limited capacity to learn new products. Vendors should ensure they're packaged up and easy to sell. Playbooks, one-pagers, campaigns etc. are good ideas, but they're often trimmed versions of a value prop. Partners need more enablement and live projects.
Communicate desired partnering behaviors for major and smaller actions. Share front-line reps' stories about their journeys, concerns, new things tried and learnings. Details on field- and client-facing actions say more than a leader's words.
Teamwork that reflects human connections and commitment to relationships carries more weight than designed channel program elements.
Challenges arise as parties have competing priorities and unequal influence. Executives from each firm should ensure teams depict a holistic solution. And, whoever implements the core solution owns learning how major and smaller GTM players fit.
Vendors: "Focus on everyone else: Be selfish by being selfless." What are your best channel relationships? (a) partners talking about their needs and what you can do better? or (b) partners asking how they can improve or work better with you? To which did you best respond?
Markets call for data-driven and relationship-based selling. Soft skills were often overlooked in pre-COVID, design, analytics, and execution. Vendors and partners must effectively use video calls for human interactions and to motivate sellers.
To have the most effective channel programs, vendors should emphasize being flexible, creative and responsive to unique partner priorities.
Flexibility and creativity are key with multiple players, since each has their own goals. Listen, look for common ground THEN create. With understanding, you can more effectively produce better outcomes than by simply following corporate objectives.
When selecting partners, vendors need to ask the right questions, to categorize by type and behavior (industry, size, how they approach clients, etc.). Knowing everyone's place in a multi-firm strategy allows partners to set up the best kind of partnership and measure ROI.
In product distribution, human activity brings variations by team, region or country (think global, act local). Playbooks/processes are fine to set goals or targets. But, execution guidance demands creativity. Ex: drop-down options based on local sellers or manager input.
THEME #4
Partner Marketing Best Practices & Cautions
THEME SUMMARY
Best practices help vendors keep to their channel strategy and adapt to partner needs. Clear communications need to guide GTM roles, content and processes. 3rd party services provide an outside view and enable scale.
- Vendors should be proactive in harnessing strategic strengths while adjusting marketing for specific partner needs. Also, tailor sales processes, portfolio/GTM scope and communications practices.
- Firms should respond to partner expectations for incentive content, timing and non-financial aspects. Be patient for strategies to unfold. Don't overplay tactics, but seize on new drivers of buying.
- Use 3rd party marketing firms to gain a fresh perspective on execution, while uncovering formulas to realize revenue growth and profit at scale.
RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
1. Explore options to help existing clients who lag or thrive on adopting best practices. Activities fall into two categories: (a) items the vendor and partners do well, but aren't yet optimized nor deliver results at scale. (b) pick up execution evident in results of other firms but feasible for reuse/mimic (and which the client is missing). 2. Frame new 3rd party services explicitly aimed at personalizing, tailoring or adapting for specific partner needs. Vendors typically pull channels towards the brand's standard or norm, rather than maximizing results being fine in shifting towards partner preferences. 3. Identify possible 'partner best practice studies' for proposal to 2-3 different vendors. Idea is to run parallel (separate) projects for a vendor/ecosystem, while realizing efficiencies across the efforts.
Rather than using a fixed approach, vendors should tailor strategy and tactics for specific partner needs. This includes adjusting the sales model, portfolio/GTM scope and communications tactics.
To solve client problems, system integrators often draw on support from horizontal capabilities, who effectively "sell" concepts to their client lead (via internal POVs and campaigns). Instead of selling to each account, use these horizontals as the path.
Vendors must deeply understand a partner's business: What they sell, to whom, how go-to-market, struggles. Keep content simple; tailor messages to partners (don't just reuse words for end-buyers). Use case studies showing outcomes. Have partner portal live on day 1 (we had 3, targeted by role).
Vendors: Meet each partner's needs to represent you, gain prospects & create positive outcomes. 1) Communications: Email templates, phone scripts, tailored messages. 2) Media-presentations, landing pgs, case studies. 3) Process/Training/Tools (ex: qualification), 4) Support: links/contacts.
To best motivate partner sellers with incentives, vendors must deliver rewards in a timely manner, and blend in non-financial benefits.
Sometimes how and when a reward is delivered has a bigger impact than the amount. I've seen programs where reps get money a full year after the sale is made. It's better to offer a smaller immediate incentive: directly related and close in timing to the result).
Programs or discounts benefit employers/firms. You must educate and motivate the reps. Non-financial aspects may mean more than money. Ex: We had the top 20 reps in a corporate box for a sports event, at which we also gave training on soft skills (questioning and negotiations). This set us apart.
Direct and channel selling are geared to "What does the Customer Want?". For partners, you must also ask "what does the front line want?" Items around life improvement or skills might mean more than financial ones (ex. perhaps, training on how to be great with video calls).
Don't overplay tactics in isolation - sustain commitment to a vendor channel strategy. Learn and understand partners' focus and strengths, moving quickly to capitalize on new triggers for client purchases.
Partnerships shouldn't be tactical. They likely won't produce great results unless you can commit to giving continued, quality attention and effort -- and have some patience for the full range of benefits to emerge.
Don't bypass taking time to deeply understand how partners sell and customers buy. And, don't discount what they might respond to. Use events to trigger POVs and sales plays, things like COVID. I pivoted here, boosted brand visibility with great results (while cutting out weeks of extra work).
Defer celebrations until a partner hits performance milestones. Vendors over-predict impacts when a partner agreement is signed. They may be pay-to-play, with most revenue going to other vendors. Hard work starts at signing. And, partners always compete for a vendor's attention and mkt dev funds.
Use 3rd party marketing services to uncover 'formulas for success', enable scale / connections and tighten vendor/partner teamwork.
A 3rd party can bring a fresh perspective, see synergies partners are too close to recognize and suggest new best practices or tactics. To effectively integrate these services into sales and marketing execution, firms must make clear who's 'on point' at each touchpoint and to make decisions
In some cases, with 100's or 1000's of partners, <10% drive significant volume. Interview the top 5% - find out what they do to drive revenue. Package up these 'formulas' and promote/deliver as an offering (I use a methodology called "Magnet Marketing'...)
Compared to a vendor's personnel, a 3rd party can't really appreciate the value prop nor deeply know partners, unless they specialize. 3rd party value is more operational: enabling execution at scale, setting qualification criteria and making introductions to other playes.
THEME #5
Closing: Thank you, inviting any further comments