Getting Channel Sales Right

Getting Channel Sales Right:from The Sales Challenger™ by Stacey Smith
As members re-evaluate their sales cost structures and go-to-market strategies today, the indirect channel offers a paradox of options. From a supplier perspective, all the desirable outcomes of expanded distribution and outsourced sales cost are often complicated by the leverage of an empowered channel partner with other options.
While symbiosis may be the aspiration, both benefiting and requiring the other equally, these relationships can sometimes feel more one-sided. Rather than ‘We’re in this together’, suppliers may hear: ‘You’re not the boss of me.’
Supplier wants to tap new markets and hunt new customers? Channel finds it easier to pick up a new product line from a competitor. Supplier offers training courses to teach partner how to sell its complex solutions? The channel feels paid to focus on volume-only outcomes; what’s their incentive to take their guys off the field?
How do you get someone not on your direct payroll to do what is in their best interest—and yours? For all the challenges of partnering with third parties, getting it right can truly pay off. The journey starts with identifying what good looks like and getting consensus around priorities.
Based on best-practice contributions from dozens of companies across the network, SEC has captured the 16 attributes that define excellence in the Anatomy of a World-Class Channel Sales Organization. This diagnostic allows companies to rate the importance of their biggest effectiveness gaps across four major categories:

• Channel Design—examples from IBM and Cargill offer guidance on how to select or deselect partners and plan jointly for growth in end-customer markets.

• Policy, Process, and Procedure—how well you enable communication of mutual expectations, share data and support efficient transactions.

• Channel Support and Education—for those familiar with SEC’s guidance on insight-based selling, see Challenging in the Channel for the types of conversations you enable your partners to have with end customers. Gore and Autodesk share examples on how to train and coach to the right selling behaviors.

• Metrics and Rewards—beyond short term volume-based SPIFF-type rewards, the best channel partner incentive programs focus on long-term sustainable growth. Apollo shares how to set objective, clear expectations for partnership on both sides—and calibrate investment appropriately.

As with all of the SEC’s suite of Anatomy surveys, SEC members have the option of running this survey across the organization to benchmark where you stand and prioritize where to invest next (contact your SEC Account Manager for details).
Do you know where your channel program gaps are and what to fix first?
SEC Members, to learn more about channel sales, read the full study, Enabling Channel Partner Relationships, and visit the Indirect Sales Topic Center.