Archive for the Blog Category

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 […]

Leading Partner Executives Say CAMs can be the Secret ingredient to their Success

By Gary on April 6, 2017 / Attract, Blog / 1 Comment

I thought it was about time we heard from a person who is more qualified to advise vendors on their channel programs and go-to-market strategies than just about anyone else. Luanne Tierney has been one of the most successful Silicon Valley channel executives in the industry, holding […]

Have Channel Sales Executives Forgotten Why We Have a Channel?

By Gary on March 16, 2017 / Architect, Blog / 2 Comments

Have channel industry sales executives forgotten why we need a channel to build business? Is this even a legitimate question to be asking? Of course, we all know the reason for a channel. It is to expand a vendor’s reach in the market through capable, enabled, and […]

Six Questions to Determine if Your Channel Needs Partner Planning

By Gary on February 16, 2017 / Activate, Blog / Leave a comment

“Partner business planning is a hassle. No partners or CAMs like to do it, and it’s difficult to measure performance-to-plan.” That is the prevailing sentiment from many channel executives that struggle with partner business planning and an effective process for managing it. So why bother? The reason […]

The Five Most Important Factors for Building Partner Loyalty

By Gary on January 25, 2017 / Attract, Blog

Finding a way to motivate your partners is just like motivating any team. Vendors need to figure out what partners are looking for to build a more successful business. Most successful business partners are motivated by two things; a strong relationship with a vendor and the ability to […]

8 Reasons CAEs Can Drive More Channel Revenue than CAMs or PSMs

By Gary on January 4, 2017 / Advance, Blog / Leave a comment

The days of traditional channel roles are numbered due to the growth pressure on vendor brand sales and a partner’s expectations for improved profitability. A CAM (Channel Account Manager) is a role focused on helping partners achieve their sales goals through a range of enablement and sales-assist […]

Partner Planning: Nine Key Factors for the Buy vs. Build Decision

By Gary on December 14, 2016 / Activate, Blog / Leave a comment

In the indirect channel industry, most executives agree that partner planning is an important task to execute. Partner planning has several components, and this table breaks down the four elements that are required. Planning is done so executives can estimate the revenue their channel will contribute […]