Channel Management Best Practices

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I have written a series of ten posts that give my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned (both formally and informally) and have implemented with success in my career.  

Part 1:  Channel Recruitment

Part 2:  Onboarding and Enablement
Part 3:  Business Planning
Part 4:  Business Planning (Continued)
Part 5:  Incentives
Part 6:  Partner Positioning
Part 7:  Partner Marketing
Part 8:  Opportunity Management
Part 9:  Channel Data Management
Part 10:  Channel Relationships

Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.

Channel Management Best Practices: Channel Relationships (10/10)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the 10th and final in a series.

Channel Relationships

Good channel management is critical for businesses relying on partnerships to help sell solutions and services.  This final installment of my series on Channel Management Best Practices focuses on channel relationships, emphasizing conflict management and fostering partner loyalty.  I will explore the cause of, types of, and mitigation strategies for channel conflict.  I will also share methods to build strong, lasting relationships with channel partners.

Channel conflict arises when you bypass partners (distributors, retailers, or dealers) by selling directly to buyers. Disruptive forces, such as the evolving buyer’s journey, exacerbate tensions. Modern buyers research independently, often bypassing traditional dealers, while inbound marketing shifts the roles of vendors and partners. Causes of conflict include vendors ignoring deal registration rules, shifting to direct sales, or competing with partners through their services arm, leading to lost deals and territorial disputes.

Two primary types of conflict: direct and inter-channel. 

Direct conflict occurs between vendors and partners due to misaligned goals, such as when vendors prioritize direct sales over partner networks. Inter-channel conflict emerges among competing partners within the same segment, often due to geographic density or unfair pricing. These conflicts impact your customers, who may delay purchases seeking better deals, and partners, who may start having waning morale and engagement. For your company, unresolved conflict results in missed revenue targets and strained relationships.

According to the Channel Institute, conflict progresses through stages: “latent” (minor), “perceived” (noticeable but not alarming), “felt” (concerning), and “manifest” (open confrontation). Structural indicators, such as market transitions, changes in channel strategy, or declining margins, signal potential conflict. 

While eliminating conflict entirely is unrealistic, mitigation is essential. A certain level of conflict can drive constructive competition, but destructive outcomes must be avoided through clear communication, partner training, performance management, and collaboration. Setting explicit rules for account coverage, deal registration, and conflict resolution ensures transparency. You should commit to investigating and resolving disputes promptly, compensating partners for losses caused by direct sales.

Effective conflict resolution involves understanding the conflict’s nature, tracing its source, assessing its impact, and developing a resolution plan. Resolution styles range from avoidance (postponing issues) to collaboration (a win-win approach requiring maximum effort and resulting in the best outcomes). It goes without saying that collaboration is the best path to resolution.

Deal registration programs further mitigate conflict by establishing clear guidelines, timely approvals, and aligned incentives.

Building partner loyalty is equally important. Partners may leave due to complex processes, uncompetitive programs, poor communication, or insufficient profits. Loyalty is fostered through joint business and marketing planning, co-marketing programs, profitability enhancement, and structured progression paths (e.g., Bronze to Gold tiers). Strong relationships are built on mutual trust, aligned goals, and simplicity in business dealings. 

Key skills in building loyalty include:

• listening to partners, 
• educating cross-functional teams, 
• simplifying processes, 
• analyzing data to prevent churn, 
• and aligning objectives. 

Managing channel relationships requires balancing conflict mitigation with loyalty-building strategies. By addressing conflict collaboratively and prioritizing partner success, your company can cultivate robust, mutually beneficial partnerships that drive long-term growth and market success.

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I hope you have enjoyed this series of posts on Channel Management Best Practices.  These are based on things I learned formally and informally over the years.  Once again, comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged!

Thank you.

Channel Management Best Practices: Channel Data Management (9/x)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the ninth in a series.

Channel Data Management

Over the years, I've come to understand the importance of effective channel data management. What I've learned is that channel data management is about transforming sales data from all my channel partners into actionable intelligence that drives business decisions.

Companies with access to timely and accurate channel sales data consistently outperform their competitors. With actionable intelligence from your channel data, you can easily review channel partner performance, identify opportunities to add new partners, and systematically grow sales. More importantly, you can begin to choose the most suitable partners for target markets - those that provide the best penetration, fastest sales cycles, and maximum value to my organization.

Successful channel data management allows you to accurately identify your strongest, most loyal partners while simultaneously spotting "at-risk" relationships before they become problems. You can segment partners by industry codes to create highly targeted campaigns, find occasional buyers and convert them to more consistent purchasers, and identify partners who could broaden their product mix.

The best places to focus your data collection efforts are on six critical areas: 

1. Recruitment: track new partner acquisition rates and compare target numbers to actual conversion rates.
2. Enablement:  monitor training completion across technical and sales categories, measuring the impact by comparing training completion to deal sizes and partner specialization.
3. Demand Generation, 4) Sales Performance, 5) Adoption, and 6) Incentives:  demand generation metrics help distinguish between business developers and account farmers, identifying which partners excel at winning "white space" deals. You can establish benchmark conversion rates and track ROI per partner on co-marketing spend, which directly informs my MDF allocation decisions. 

"Garbage in, Garbage out."

Poor channel data can create a ripple effect of adverse consequences throughout your organization. Inaccurate data leads to flawed revenue reporting, incorrect balance sheet numbers, and inadequate audit trails that can ultimately result in compliance failures.

Best practices should include collecting channel sales data in real-time from partners in their preferred format, incentivizing them to provide end-customer data, and ensuring they can track their progress in near real-time. Verify all data to improve program performance through analytics and maintain regular data cleansing routines.

By following best practices, you should be able to answer four key questions: 

1. Who are we selling to? 
2. What are our partners' selling patterns? 
3. How do we communicate results to the field? 
4. How are we performing? 

By maintaining a global partner master database, analyzing partner buying behavior, linking reseller sales data to CRM systems, and providing dashboard views of weekly partner sales, you should be able to answer these questions confidently.

Channel data management is not just a necessary administrative function; it is a strategic advantage that drives channel success.

In my next installment, I’ll wrap things up by discussing channel relationships…

Channel Management Best Practices: Opportunity Management (8/x)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the eighth in a series.

Opportunity Management

In any successful sales organization, opportunity management is key.  It is no less important in channel sales, as it provides structure and clarity to the sales process between your company and your channel partners. Essentially, opportunity management is a systematic approach of tracking and nurturing potential sales.  It is often incentivized through cash rewards or special discounts offered to resellers for registering sales activities before the transaction is finalized. Early registration enables you to gain valuable insight into your resellers’ sales engagements, improving your ability to forecast and support deals throughout the pipeline.

There are essentially three primary goals of opportunity management:

1. to enhance pipeline visibility,
2. to minimize channel conflict, and 
3. to encourage proactive sales behaviors

By achieving these objectives, you and your partners can identify, qualify, scope, price, propose, and ultimately close deals more efficiently and with greater success.

A quality opportunity management program includes several best practices. First among these is the establishment of a standardized, repeatable process that all parties can follow. Effective sales enablement tools and consistent enforcement of program rules are essential.  So is a strong sales qualification process. Also, co-developing accounts and building compelling business cases help ensure that the right solutions are positioned for the right customers, increasing the likelihood of success. 

Protecting and Motivating Partners

Deal registration is an important component of opportunity management. It is designed to protect partners who actively promote your solutions by limiting direct competition from your company’s own sales team  - or your other resellers -  for a set period. During this protected window, only the registering partner can pursue the deal, which both rewards their investment in generating new business and discourages opportunistic behavior from latecomers who might undercut the deal on price alone.

The advantages of deal registration are significant. Your partners are more motivated and loyal, knowing their efforts are recognized and protected. Your company benefits from improved pipeline visibility and higher win rates, since early identification of opportunities can allow for targeted support and tailored pricing. The buyers are also shielded from aggressive sales tactics from multiple parties. It is critical to design a well-functioning deal registration system.  A poorly designed sytsem can lead to miscommunication, duplicate registrations, wasted resources, and even a breakdown in trust between you and your partners.

To ensure the effectiveness of deal registration, you must address key operational questions, such as program funding, approval processes, product coverage, participant eligibility, and incentive structures. The program must also integrate well with lead distribution and comply with any antitrust and price discrimination laws.

Turning Potential into Performance

Lead management encompasses the methodologies and systems used to generate, nurture, and convert new potential customers. The process involves lead generation through marketing campaigns, profiling to capture key data, qualification and scoring to prioritize opportunities, and nurturing through targeted communications. Effective lead management ensures that only qualified and developed leads enter the sales pipeline.

Closed-loop reporting is an essential.  It enables your company to measure the impact of demand generation activities, identify the most effective partners, and determine which incentives yield the best results. By linking effort to outcomes, you can optimize their return on investment and continuously refine your channel strategies.

Again, opportunity management is vital for channel organizations seeking to maximize sales effectiveness and partner engagement. Standardized processes, consistent rule enforcement, and robust deal registration and lead management systems drive growth, foster partner confidence, and ensure that both your and your partners achieve your business objectives.

In my next installment, I will discuss how to handle channel data...

Channel Management Best Practices: Partner Marketing (7/x)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the seventh in a series.

Partner Marketing

Channel partner marketing is more than just a checkbox on your go-to-market plan—it’s a strategic lever for growth. But to unlock its potential, channel managers must approach campaign planning with structure, focus, and a deep understanding of their target market. Below is a practical guide for creating partner marketing campaigns that deliver results.  It is informed by best practices from the Channel Institute, from whom I have a Certificate in Channel Management.

The P.A.C.K.A.G.E.S™ Methodology

The P.A.C.K.A.G.E.S™ framework taught by the Channel Institute is a step-by-step approach that ensures no critical element is overlooked:

• Priorities: Start by defining clear objectives. What does success look like? Set S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Based) and determine the KPIs and analytics you’ll use to track progress.
• Audience: Identify your target segments and buyer personas. Effective campaigns are built on a deep understanding of who you’re trying to reach and what matters to them.
• Content: Develop materials that resonate—case studies, white papers, and research tailored to your chosen audience.
• Key Concept: Craft messaging around your partner’s value proposition. Focus on solving customer pains and highlighting tangible gains, not just product features.
• Analytics: Plan how you’ll measure results and ROI. Set up tracking before you launch.
• Germinate: Decide on your communication tactics—email, events, social media, telemarketing, and more.
• Educate; Nurture and convert leads by providing relevant information and support throughout the buying journey.
• Scrutinize: Regularly review campaign performance. Be prepared to adapt & optimize as you go.

Segmentation

Not all customers are created equal. Market segmentation divides your audience into subgroups with shared characteristics, enabling you to focus your efforts where they’ll have the most impact.

Segmentation Strategies:

• Undifferentiated: One-size-fits-all messaging.
• Focused: Zero in on a specific segment.
• Differentiated: Multiple tailored campaigns for distinct segments.
• Hypersegmentation: Highly granular targeting, often enabled by digital tools.

What Makes a Good Segment?

A viable segment is measurable, substantial, accessible, differentiable, and actionable. Consider segment size, growth, competition, and your own strengths when making choices.

Crafting a Compelling Value Proposition

Your campaign messaging should be more than a product pitch. Anchor it in the real challenges and goals of your audience. This a formula I learned in my certification process:

"We help [ideal prospects] that [have a specific problem] succeed by [delivering specific results]. Unlike [alternatives], [our solution] offers [main benefit] as demonstrated by [evidence].

By following a structured framework and focusing on targeted, value-driven messaging, you’ll empower your partners to run more effective marketing campaigns—and drive better results for everyone involved.

In my next installment, I will discuss opportunity management...

Channel Management Best Practices: Partner Positioning (6/x)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the sixth in a series.

Partner Positioning

Establishing a strong market position is crucial for success. Positioning is the deliberate process of shaping how your brand is perceived in the minds of customers, especially in relation to your competitors. This identity should be clear, unique, and offer a distinct advantage to the potential client. For your partners and resellers, who often represent multiple brands, developing an effective market position is particularly critical for differentiation and success.

The Imperative of Positioning for Channel Resellers

Many channel marketing campaigns do not succeed not because of the solutions / services themselves, but due to a failure in positioning. Without a clear strategy to stand out from the competition, your reseller's marketing efforts can become lost in the noise. Inconsistency in messaging leads to a diluted or non-existent brand position in the customer's mind.  This can result in your reseller appearing undifferentiated and failing to capture interest. 

Strategies for Effective Market Positioning

To avoid these issues, channel partners can adopt several positioning strategies to carve out a unique space in the market. The foundation of a strong position is a Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA), which is an attribute that cannot be easily replicated by competitors and is highly valued by the target customer. According to strategist Michael Porter, SCAs can be categorized into three main types:

• Cost Advantage The business positions itself as the low-price leader. 
• Value Advantage The business offers a differentiated product or service that customers perceive as superior value.
• Focus Advantage The business concentrates on a specific niche market, creating a tailored offering to meet that segment's unique needs. 

For most channel partners and resellers, a Value or Focus Advantage, built upon unique product features, team skill sets, or other resources, is the most effective approach.

Building on these foundational advantages, resellers can implement several specific positioning tactics:

• Category-Based Positioning: This involves targeting a specific market segment, such as a geographical area, an industry vertical, or a particular customer size like SMB versus enterprise. It can also be based on pricing models.
• Product or Skill-Based Positioning: Partners can emphasize their technical expertise, such as the number of certified professionals on their team, their tier-level within a vendor's partner program, or their track record of successful deployments.  Winning industry awards can also be a powerful differentiator. 
• Usage-Based Positioning: This strategy focuses on serving specific use cases. 
• Culture-Based Positioning A company's identity and values can also be a point of differentiation. 

To help your partner identify their unique advantage, you can ask probing questions about their business, such as asking about the types of customers or projects where they have the highest win rates and the reasons for that success.

Visualizing the Market with Perceptual Maps

A very effective tool for developing and understanding market position is the Perceptual Map (a/k/a Market Map). This visually represents the perceptions of customers, showing how your company's product or brand is viewed relative to your competitors. 

Creating a perceptual map involves selecting two key criteria for the X and Y axes (for example, price vs. quality, or scope of market vs. type of advantage) and plotting the positions of competitors based on market research or estimates. This exercise helps your partner visualize market gaps, understand their current standing from a customer’s viewpoint, and strategically guide their positioning efforts.

Conclusion: Building a Lasting Position

Ultimately, a strong market and competitive position is defined through the eyes of the customer.  It is not a one-time effort.  It is built gradually through consistent messaging and repeated reinforcement. This is why isolated, short-term marketing campaigns often fail to make a lasting impact.  By identifying their sustainable competitive advantages and applying consistent, targeted positioning strategies, your resellers can differentiate their offerings (including your solution), create a unique identity, and achieve long-term success.

In my next installment, I will discuss partner marketing...

The Complete Guide to B2B Partnerships Masterclass

I am please to announce that I have just completed The Complete Guide to B2B Partnerships Masterclass by instructor Dr. Mark Brigman via Udemy.

Channel Management Best Practices: Incentives (5/x)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the fifth in a series.

Incentives

Incentives for your channel partner play a crucial role in aligning reseller behavior with your company’s strategic objectives and goals (e.g., increasing sales volume, market growth, margin). Properly constructed incentive programs boost motivation and cooperation between you and your resellers. This is particularly important in competitive markets, where they can foster greater loyalty from channel partners to the vendor.

Several types of funding are used in channel incentive programs:

• Market Development Funds (MDF): These funds are typically offered locally to drive specific campaigns and initiatives. Access to MDF is generally restricted to partners who align with local initiatives, and decisions are often made by channel marketing teams on an ad-hoc basis. MDFs are typically not announced in advance but are negotiated to achieve particular goals. They often require less complete Proof-of-Performance documentation compared to traditional co-op programs.
• Accrual-Based MDF: Earned marketing funds based on a straight percentage of license sales. This is not that common since it is not performance-based.
• Proposal-Based MDF: Funds allocated based on the merits of your partner's proposal and their track record for generating growth.
• Co-op/Proposal-Based MDF: Funds are jointly allocated by your company and your partner based on your partner's proposal and track record.
• Discretionary MDF: Available funds are allocated on an ad-hoc basis.
• Co-Op Funding: Often a percentage of a rebate, co-op funds are typically matched by your company to cooperatively achieve marketing goals. These funds are accrued as a percentage (usually 1%-5%) of past sales performance.
• Bonus Payments (SPIFs/PoC): Sales Performance Incentive Funds (SPIFs) are usually short-term and paid directly by you to your partner’s sales representatives. These incentives target key activities and strategically important behaviors. Proof of Concept (POC) involves additional discretionary funding for upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
• Partner Rebates:
• Performance Rebates: Given to encourage channel partners to meet sales performance targets.
• Special Rebates for Strategic Products: Aim to encourage more marketing for specific products.
• Management By Objective (MBO) Rebates: Provided to encourage key performance behaviors, such as capacity building rebates for certifications.
• End-User Rebates: Rewards offered directly to consumers for purchasing a product. These can be instant discounts at the time of purchase or reimbursed after the transaction through a claiming process.

Structuring MDF Programs

An MDF process typically involves:

• Partner MDF Request Process: Guides your partner in selecting tactics and estimating sales leads and projected revenue from marketing activities.
• MDF Review & Approval Process: Provides you with ranked ROI estimates for partner MDF requests. This helps with prioritizing investments.
• Marketing Program Execution: Your partners and marketing teams focus on achieving the approved plan's goals.
• Marketing ROI Dashboard: An MDF dashboard system shows actual outcomes from each investment to effectively measure performance.

Typically, an MDF program structure includes a 12-month partner business plan, quarterly marketing plans, campaign assessment, campaign modification/approval, and ROI analysis.

How Incentives are Used

Incentive program goals often fall into three categories:

• Business Development: Programs like email campaigns, outcall campaigns, and events aim to increase the number of - and quality of - leads as well as deal wins.
• Market Awareness: Programs involving advertising, social media, blogs, and content syndication focus on increasing views, likes, clicks, impressions, and sales wins.
• Capability Development: Programs like training, demos, and enablement tools focus on improving competency levels, the number of demos, and sales wins.

Incentives can target both pre-sales & post-sales behaviors. Pre-sales behaviors commonly rewarded include:

• lead follow-up,
• lead nurturing,
• lead generation activities,
• vendor SE engagement,
• portal engagement,
• customer event hosting,
• joint business planning,
• participation in marketing programs,
• sales/technical/marketing training,
• deal registration/management, and
• social media participation. 

Post-sales behaviors that are incentivized include:

• closed deals,
• net new business,
• sales to priority verticals or solutions,
• cross-selling/upselling existing clients,
• sales growth,
• lead/deal conversion percentages,
• customer satisfaction, and
• overall sales targets.

The ideal mix of incentives depends on various factors:

• Go-to-market strategy,
• Channel strategy and channel segments, and how the program enables your partners' go-to-market strategy,
• Product category and sales process,
• Competitive environment and established industry standards, and
• Geographic scope and local government regulations.

Improving Effectiveness of Incentive Programs

To improve performance, it is important to quantify expected outcomes before investment.  It is also crucial to provide partners with confidence that payments will be made with limited administration (red tape) once targets are met. 

A significant challenge is aligning incentives with your partners’ priorities. While incentives are designed to motivate behaviors important to your company, your partners may ignore offers that don't align with their own goals. Incentives are embraced when they align with your partner goals.

Incentives are a powerful tool for aligning your partners’ behaviors with your company’s strategic goals.  They can also enhance partner loyalty. Again, it is essential to quantify and agree upon goals before making an investment. Increasing reimbursement percentages for strategically important activities while reducing them for less crucial ones can optimize program effectiveness. Finally, ensuring that the payment disbursement procedure is easy and efficient for your partners is vital for their sustained participation and overall success of your channel program.

In my next installment, I’ll discuss partner positioning…

Channel Management Best Practices: Business Planning, Part 2 (4/x)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the fourth in a series.

Partner Business Planning, Part 2

In Part One of this post on Partner Business Planning, I defined some terms and discussed overarching goals and the importance of deep understanding between vendor and partner and the alignment that comes with it.

Here, in Part Two, I'll take a deeper dive...

Explicitly documenting expectations for things such as product integrations, product/marketing/sales/technical support, pricing, communication methods, and reporting is extremely important.  A clear definition of success and the KPIs to measure it are also must-haves. Your company should leverage your access to data across the partner ecosystem by sharing success benchmarks and best practices.  This helps in setting realistic KPIs and informing effective campaign strategies. 

Developing a partner-specific Profit and Loss (P&L) statement, using historical data from other partners helps manage expectations, especially regarding the time to achieve profitability. If you choose to use a two-tier model, it's important to determine if distributors are conducting effective business planning with lower-level "volume" partners and what support you can provide to enhance this process. 

The initial kick-off meeting for planning should involve key personnel from both the partner (executives, heads of marketing, business development, technical support, customer support) and your company (Partner Account Manager, Partner Marketing Manager, Head of Partner Marketing, Partner Tech Support) to review products, launch plans, partnership plans, and marketing plans.

Joint Marketing Planning (JMP) is a critical output of the overall business plan, serving as a detailed blueprint for collaborative marketing efforts designed to achieve specific objectives within a set timeframe. This begins with establishing a long-term vision (5-30 years) and a medium-term mission ( ~ 5 years), followed by S.M.A.R.T. goals and KPIs. From these, a joint strategy can be developed, outlining how the goals will be achieved together.  This, in turn, translates into specific tactics and actionable campaigns. The JMP itself typically includes...

• the go-to-market strategy, 
• sales forecasts, 
• expected ROI, and 
• a comprehensive launch plan
• press releases, 
• trade shows, 
• events, 
• webinars, and 
• content co-branding. 

Central to effective joint marketing is a compelling Joint Value Proposition (JVP). A strong JVP clearly explains how the combined offering...

• solves customer problems or improves their situation (relevancy), 
• delivers specific, quantified benefits (quantified value), and
• tells the ideal customer why they should choose this offering over competitors (unique differentiation). 

The JVP must:

• be easy to understand, 
• communicate concrete results, 
• highlight differentiation without hype or jargon, and 
• be digestible within about five seconds. 

Complementing the marketing efforts, a Joint Sales Plan is essential for translating strategy into revenue. This plan should agree upon quarterly goals and incorporate joint account planning, the development of joint presentations and proposals, and a system for ongoing sales pipeline reporting. It's also crucial to formalize an opportunity qualification process and establish a best-practice sales process. You can support this by providing partners with benchmark sales data from across your entire partner network, such as typical win rates and funnel progression rates, to help set realistic targets and refine sales approaches.

Once the joint business plan is in place, effective management and accountability are key to its success. It is important for your company to trust your partners and to avoid micromanagement. Partners are separate entities and should be allowed the autonomy to do their job. Regular review meetings are critical to assess whether both parties met the plan's goals, if the goals were realistic, and if all intended actions were accomplished. These reviews should also identify obstacles to success and how they can be addressed in future iterations of the plan.  This should lead to revisions and the agreement of next steps, goals, campaigns, and the schedule for subsequent reviews. Mutual accountability is vital; an escalation and resolution process should be established during the initial planning phase. The integrity of the entire partner program relies on both your company and your partners delivering on commitments. Partners who consistently fail to deliver should not be allowed to progress within the program, and funding or resources allocated to them may need to be minimized.

Successful channel partnerships are built on a foundation of thorough and collaborative joint business planning. Recognize that your partner is a separate business with its own objectives. Before planning, your must invest time in understanding your partners' firmographics, financials, and relationship dynamics. Sharing benchmark data and best practices empowers partners and sets realistic expectations. Crafting a compelling joint value proposition is critical for market differentiation. Success must be clearly defined with associated KPIs. The joint business plan should be treated as a "live" document, continuously adapted and adjusted to changing market conditions and learnings. 

Finally, holding both your company and your partner accountable for your respective deliverables ensures the long-term health and productivity of the partnership. This comprehensive approach to partner business planning transforms the vendor-partner relationship into a strategic alliance geared for sustained growth and market leadership.

In my next installment, I’ll discuss channel incentives…

Channel Management Best Practices: Business Planning, Part 1 (3/x)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the third in a series.

Partner Business Planning, Part 1

Effective channel management hinges on effective collaboration between your company and your partners.  Partner business planning is the basis for mutual success. This process is vital for aligning the business goals of both parties. It clarifies the strategic rationale behind the partnership and facilitates informed decisions about resource allocation. By engaging in joint planning, you can identify potential gaps in market coverage or partner capabilities. Both your company and your partner benefit from planning across sales, marketing, finance, operations, and technical departments. This collaborative foresight ensures that plans are grounded in realistic expectations. Key concepts in this planning include things like:

• Joint Marketing Plan (JMP):  a blueprint for shared marketing efforts
• Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy:  an action plan for reaching customers and achieving competitive advantage
• S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Based) Goals.

The structure of a joint business plan typically relies on a standardized template that is then customized for each partner. Core components include

• partner-specific data
• Joint Marketing Plan (JMP)
• Joint Sales Plan
• Review and Renew Plan. 

The overarching goals are to bring about a mutual understanding of each party's vision, mission, and strategy and to align them where possible, minimizing conflicts. This involves setting joint business objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), devising strategies and action plans to meet these objectives, allocating budgets, and establishing a review schedule (e.g., monthly or quarterly) to ensure the plan remains a dynamic, "living" document. 

Essential elements within the plan include a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for both your partner and your company to identify overlaps, synergies, and gaps. The plan should detail partner core competencies and differentiators, articulate a joint value proposition, define target audiences, and establish performance milestones. It should do this with specific, measurable outcomes and criteria. Future investments should be made contingent on achieving these milestones.

A deep understanding of each partner is extremely important before you begin joint planning.  A generic "boilerplate" approach can undermine the relationship from the outset. This involves gathering background data on

• the partner's firmographics (e.g., years in business, core competencies, number of employees)
• their financials (e.g., annual revenue, average deal size, sales incentives)
• the existing relationship (e.g., key contacts, competition, potential conflicts). 

Aligning on several key areas is also critical for success:

• economic alignment, such as how the partner derives margin from the your product versus their own services and the percentage of their total margin from the vendor's product
• sales focus alignment, determining whether the emphasis is on net new customers, upgrades, cross-selling, or account maintenance
• sales cycle alignment, ensuring that sales processes are harmonized, especially for products with long sales cycles. 

Planning often varies by partner tier, with different levels of commitment (e.g., revenue targets) and support (e.g., frequency of joint marketing plans, dedicated vendor resources, annual vs. semi-annual business plans) for Bronze, Silver, or Gold partners. 

In my next installment, I’ll continue on the topic of partner business plans…

Channel Management Best Practices: Onboarding and Enablement (2/x)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the second in a series.

Onboarding and Enablement

In my last post, I presented my perspective on the best practices in Channel Recruitment.  Now, I would like to address one of the most crucial aspects of growing a success channel ecosystem:  Partner Onboarding and Enablement. Onboarding and enablement of new partners is vital to the overall success of the vendor-partner relationship and, ultimately, to the bottom line of both parties.

Partner onboarding is the initial and foundational stage of the relationship between vendor and partner. Done correctly, onboarding methodically integrates the partner into the operational framework of your company. On a practical level, it should include providing partners with essential resources.  In a mature model, it includes access to a Partner Portal (including a Marketing Portal and Training Portal). 

A carefully structured onboarding process typically follows the 30-60-90 framework with each phase setting clear and incremental goals. Effective onboarding is indispensable since it first rung on the ladder to partner success. Partners typically collaborate with multiple vendors simultaneously.  This means that your company is competing with many others for attention, loyalty, and engagement. A smooth, well-planned onboarding experience can significantly influence a partner’s commitment and subsequent performance. Studies have shown that partners who are well-nurtured during their initial three to six months demonstrate higher longevity and productivity - and, thus, more revenue.

The onboarding process should be formalized; however, it must be straightforward to encourage easy compliance and participation. Using things such as automated learning emails and accessible training videos are effective tools. Offering optional personalized training sessions is also beneficial; this allows for flexibility and accommodates different learning speeds. Additionally, an onboarding checklist that covers things like contract execution, conflict management, credit approvals, portal setups, and initial planning for training and marketing can be a valuable tool for completeness and clarity.

The onboarding process also requires the establishment of clear legal frameworks through a comprehensive yet concise Business Partner Agreement. This ensures uniformity across all partnerships to prevent potential confusion and/or disputes. Another crucial aspect involves personnel mapping that explicitly defines the responsibilities of individuals at both your company and your partner’s. This should cover areas from technical support to financial administration.

Following onboarding, partner enablement focuses on equipping partners with the necessary knowledge, skills, and tools to market and sell your solutions effectively. Enablement includes ongoing training in three core areas: technical proficiency, sales capabilities, and marketing expertise. Each of these has unique requirements and strategies.

• Technical enablement ensures technology proficiency and promotes skill growth through targeted certifications and competency development programs. This ensures the partner's technical capabilities align with and effectively complement your company’s offerings.

• Sales enablement revolves around syncing partner sales strategies with your solutions. This involves providing insights into customer behaviors, providing comprehensive sales tools (e.g., RFP templates, ROI calculators, case studies, co-branded demos, trials, etc.) and equipping partners to address customer objections effectively.

• Marketing enablement similarly provides partners with essential training on utilizing marketing portals, deploying co-marketing funds, and navigating customer buying journeys. Tools in this area include co-branded materials, sales presentations, branding guidelines, etc.

Continuous communication through multiple channels such as email, social platforms, telephone, and browser notifications, is vital to enablement success. Monitoring partner engagement and soliciting feedback help address any arising issue and maintain productive partnerships.

Successful onboarding and enablement rely on structured yet flexible processes that respect partner dynamics and emphasize clear, continuous communication. These practices encourage committed, productive partnerships, setting the foundation for sustained channel management success.

In my next installment, I’ll discuss business plans…

Channel Management Best Practices: Recruitment (1/x)

In order to both share my perspective and (perhaps more importantly) to elicit constructive feedback and new ways of thinking, I am writing a series of posts giving my perspective on the best practices of Channel Management.  These are things that I have learned and have implemented with success in my career.  Comments, feedback, disagreements, and additional insights are welcome, if not encouraged.  

This is the first in a series.

Channel Recruitment

The basis of channel recruitment is identifying and successfully recruiting the right channel partners to expand market reach and achieve financial goals. This process is crucial because poor partner selections can lead to significant issues. Motivated and strategically aligned partners are essential for a thriving partner program. Thus, partner selection and recruitment are extremely important to achieving maximum market coverage while minimizing channel conflict.

In order to build a strong channel ecosystem, you must (as they say) “start at the beginning”: Recruitment.  This includes understanding the landscape of your industry, assessing the current position and strategic direction of your company, defining an ideal partner profile, learning to sell appropriate personas on the value of partnering, assessing partner candidates, and preparing an onboarding strategy.

The vital first step is assessing your company’s current state and strategic direction.  This involves understanding your company’s vision, mission, and current / proposed strategies. It's important to know your target market segments as well as any planned changes to them. This assessment also determines whether or not the current partner portfolio can achieve the company's goals.

The next stage is defining your ideal partner -  including the key characteristics, strengths, resources, and expertise they need. Competitive benchmarking is essential to understand competitors' partner types and market coverage. Research your competitors’ partner ecosystems! Recognizing business transformations is also critical, as changes in business strategy or direction will impact partner needs and relevance. Your current partner portfolio must be evaluated to identify gaps in core competencies and alignment. An ideal partner profile should be reviewed and adapted on a regular basis.

Convincing potential partners to join your program involves addressing their needs as much as your own. What is in it for them? Understanding the potential partner’s perspective and how the program can help drive their business is critical.  Partners want market-leading / innovative products, support with demand generation, future demand with mutual customers, minimal channel conflict, and professional enablement in areas like operations, legal, marketing, and sales. Partners also seek ongoing training, easy ways to add value and increase profitability, and good communication. Potential partners will have questions about rewards, performance requirements, compensation, reporting, contractual obligations, resources, and joint business planning.

It is important to target the right individuals, such as CEOs, heads of sales, marketing, alliances, and product development. Different messaging and value propositions should be developed for each "persona". Marketing communication about potential partnerships should include social media, email campaigns, events, public relations, and word-of-mouth. Creating a target list involves data sources like LinkedIn and prioritizing prospects based on desirability and probability of engaging, according to the ideal partner profile. Registrations and applications should be centralized and web-based, with a clear application process.

Assessing candidates should involve meetings where both parties present their vision, expectations, and business opportunities. Early-stage legal and administrative aspects, such as Letters of Intent (LOIs) and Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), are great ways of outlining the structure of the partnership before finalizing the agreement

In my next installment, I’ll discuss onboarding and enablement...