2. Strategic Considerations
Review sales plan to ensure channel fit.
Determine type of Channels to be pursued.
Determine Cannel Revenue & Contribution Margin
Expectations/Timeline.
Confirm operating requirements ultimately required to
manage Channel Program.
Review key rules of engagement to ensure alignment.
3. Product Positioning & Messaging
Gather and review the Competitive product positioning &
messaging.
Review Channel sales programs for competitive offerings.
Develop marketing messaging targeted at Channel
Recruitment.
Develop closer integration of account planning to include
joint strategies with partners based on certain geographies
and coverage models.
Build and launch Survey of potential Channel targets for
reaction to offering, positioning, and channel program
variables.
4. Channel Recruitment Readiness
Confirm goals and set success criteria for channel
recruitment.
Build ”Channel Partners” micro site inclusive of
messaging and channel program elements, purpose
- Generate interest in the Offering
- Recruit Channel Partners to the program with
reporting and admin functions.
Profile and identify sales resources needed for the
channel program.
of the micro site is to:
tailored call to action.
- Offer landing spot for broader prospect, including
5. based on strategic Readiness profile.
Set up sales force automation (SFA) function including reporting
Acquire/import a minimum of Channel Partner prospects into SFA
( Sales Force Automation )
Set weekly and monthly objectives to ensure plan is tracking
Develop scripts, tools, spec sheets and key selling points for the
Solidify strategic sales approach, value proposition, and
Recruitment campaign.
Train the recruitment team.
Channel Recruitment Readiness
Create Channel Partner Priority List of ideal channel prospects
and admin functions
offering.
6. Tell-tale signs of company’s channel management is under performing:
Poor alignment between how sales, product teams and the partner
program define “best” partners.
Weak performance by significant number of top-tier partners.
Unclear ROI due to lack of how partners deliver value.
Unsuccessful attempts to drive new partner behavior through existing
partner relationships.
Passive execution that reacts to rather than fuels business outcomes.
Often, the root cause of a company’s channel management
problems is not its people or its positioning, but its approach…
Recruit - Develop- Grow-Prune
7. Manage your ecosystem to maintain the right mix of partners.
Coverage. The number of partners by segment. Ecosystem
capacity is influenced by the mix of partner types, number of
partners in each segment, and partner attributes such as
customers served, business models, and solutions offered.
Capability. The required knowledge to sell and support the
companies offerings. Without this knowledge, partners cannot be
effective in the market.
Capacity. The velocity of sales per partner per year.
Commitment. The percentage of partner deals that include the
company’s offering. Most partners work with multiple vendors, so
partner loyalty is a key determinant of channel revenue…
Coverage-Capability- Capacity- Commitment
8. Ideal Target List:
- Independent Agents
- System Integrators
- Master Agents of Telecom and other service
providers.
- Value Added Resellers
9. Business Partner Recruitment Readiness
The importance of using well-defined criteria for identifying, qualifying, and recruiting business partners that align to KDDI corporate
objectives specific channel development initiatives cannot be overstated…
Gather partner profiles then carefully study each available potential partner and assess which among them will be suitable.
Set recruitment goals and rank the desired competencies and business models we are seeking in potential new business partners.
Lay down specific recruitment goals and criteria for success.
Define PDV compelling business partner program benefits, product positioning and messaging.
Acquire business partner prospect lists and sort business partner prospects that align to our specific recruitment objectives.
Train PDV business partner sales teams about partner programs and objectives.
Create standardized documentation to streamline partner management.
Develop collateral to market to qualified channel partner candidates.
Establish metrics and reports for benchmarking recruitment campaign performance.
10. Post-Recruitment: New Partner Nurturing, Development and Support
Partner Training - Provide in-house, on-line, onsite training to partners
Partner Solution Development - Enable partners to easily and quickly port solutions on vendor’s
platform/product portfolio to accelerate go-to-market capabilities.
Support for Partners - In order to cost effectively support base of partners at a later stage look into
high-touch, high-volume and low cost support programs provide seamless live on demand chat
support, email support and one-on-one live support with subject matter experts.
Partner Go-To-Market Plans - After the partners have been indoctrinated, interface with the partners to
accelerate their sales activities to ensure the partners are fully engaged and are actively marketing and
selling partner products and services.
Other sales assistance may be in the form of offering partners sales lead telemarketing campaigns,
webinars targeted at prospects located in their geographic sales territory and other assistance designed
to begin generating quick revenue with partner products and services.
11. Partners
- The VAR Partner program typically enables VARs, Master Agents,
Independent Agents, Systems Integrators and OEMs to create a
residual revenue stream while selling more of their core products
and increasing revenues and profits through improved customer
retention. Leading companies in almost all verticals can be
targeted to sell services into. The technical, operational and
strategic partnerships form a collaborative ecosystem focused on
one thing; providing customers with the best value added
services to major industry verticals.
Establish a reward program to reward partners for achieving specified sales
targets over a set time period to drive attainment of partner revenue goals.
