Archive for 2017

The Biggest Gap in your PRM System – Better Scorecards, Bus Plans & QBRs

By Gary on December 21, 2017 / Activate, Blog / Leave a comment

Is your Partner Relationship Management (PRM) system helping to build partner capabilities, grow partner commitment, and drive measurable revenue? How can you tell if it is working? If you are not generating 5-25%+ growth from your partners, then the first place to look is your PRM system. […]

The Cadence of a Super Channel Account Manager

By Gary on November 24, 2017 / Architect, Blog / 1 Comment

CAMs Have the Toughest Job in the Industry It is time to officially go on record that CAMs (Channel Account Managers) have the absolute toughest job in the indirect channel industry. Tougher than their bosses, tougher than senior channel sales executives, channel operations, and channel marketing managers. […]

Channel Underperforming? – The First Place to Look is Your Channel Program Life-Stage

By Gary on October 27, 2017 / Activate, Blog / Leave a comment

There are a lot of things a channel VP can do to accelerate revenues, but choosing exactly what to do based on an honest assessment of your channel’s life stage is a great place to start. All channel organizations are at different stages in their development and […]

VPS OF CHANNELS NEED TO LET GO OF THEIR SPREADSHEETS

By Gary on October 6, 2017 / Attract, Blog / Leave a comment

The World Trade Organization (WTC) defines the indirect channel as “non-producing businesses that distribute and support the sales of other businesses’ products and services.” The WTC estimates that 70 percent of the world’s economy is sold through these indirect channel businesses. For some reason, there is a […]

The Biggest Lies Told In The Channel

By Gary on September 8, 2017 / Advance, Blog / Leave a comment

Maybe we don’t realize we are lying when we speak to each other. It is the natural tendency of both parties to make a positive impression, which leads to tall tales of how committed one is to the other. But each side has a clear motive for […]

The Top Five Wrong & Right KPIs used by VPs of Channel Sales

By Gary on August 10, 2017 / Architect, Blog / 3 Comments

Even the most sophisticated, global, multi-billion-dollar annual sales channel organizations make these same basic mistakes over-and-over again. Why do they keep choosing the wrong KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to select, measure, and track their partner’s performance? They do this because they are choosing the “obvious” metrics that, […]

Cloud Left Partners Out to Dry and Vendors Don’t Care

By Gary on July 21, 2017 / Advance, Blog / 1 Comment

It is time to stop crying over spilt milk. The days of traditional enterprise, on premise-only deals with fat margins, are slowly disappearing and there is little sympathy forthcoming from technology vendors. The changes in the IT hardware infrastructure market have been with us for a few years. […]

Partner Life-Stage Activation Has Never Been Easier

By Gary on June 8, 2017 / Activate, Blog / Leave a comment

Any experienced channel executive knows that a partner’s relationship with your brand changes over time. This is based on a range of factors – a partner’s business priorities, the brand’s fit with the partner’s strategy, and the depth of the relationship between the partner and your organization. […]

Getting More from Your #1 Investment in Your Channel

By Gary on May 18, 2017 / Award, Blog / Leave a comment

A company’s investment in its partner management team is typically its number one channel expense. This investment includes salaries, bonuses, and related costs for channel sales, channel account management, channel marketing management, and channel operations. The primary purpose of these combined roles is to help partners generate […]

If You Put One Dollar into Your Channel, How Many Dollars Do You Get Back?

By Gary on April 27, 2017 / Advertise, Blog / 1 Comment

Most channel executives are familiar with the dreaded question from the company CFO or CEO: What did we get for what we spent in the channel last quarter? Channel budgets have never been under more intense scrutiny, and the need to justify the return on investment of […]