Channel Lessons From 'National Lampoon’s European Vacation'

Are you thinking about expanding your channel program into Eastern Europe? Are you stumped because you don’t have channel partners currently in the area or even a channel team who speaks the language? When I think of all these potential pitfalls of channel expansion to the area, I often think of the 1985 slapstick comedy “National Lampoon’s European Vacation.” If you’ve never seen the movie, Chevy Chase plays the always optimistic but ultimately accident-prone patriarch of the Griswold family who, after winning a European vacation on a game show, sets out a curious set of misadventures with his family in tow…

Before you take off on a channel expansion tour of Eastern Europe filled with business misadventures, here are my tips on getting the most out of your programs the right way:

Hire a Channel Consulting Company That Specializes in Eastern Europe

Clark Griswold experiences countless embarrassments and troubles in his pursuits to explore Europe. He fails to realize his cultural SNAFUs are mainly because of cultural differences (in one scene of the movie Clark manages to turn a Bavarian folk dance into a street brawl and in another scene he drives his family around in circles for hours because he doesn’t know how to maneuver a rotary). Though Clark always means well, one could say his worst flaw is his unwavering certainty that what he’s doing is normal and right.

The first step in expanding your channel to Eastern Europe is to admit you can’t do it yourself. Instead, hire a consulting firm that focuses solely on growing and building channels in Eastern Europe. There are several companies that can help you recruit partners and make them sales-ready, such as FeedAbo, which specializes in helping technology companies build and manage sales channels in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Work With Your New Consulting Company on Partner Recruitment

Poor Clark Griswold, though he brings calamity wherever he goes, he also has a knack for picking the worst service providers throughout his trip (a thieving cameraman and a sloppy hotel clerk spring to mind).

Learn from Clark’s mistakes and once you’ve on-boarded with your consulting firm, start working with the consulting company to recruit capable partners. The right consulting company will already have a robust understanding of the partner market in the area and also have a good idea of some potential partners who will be a good fit for your business.

Bring the consulting company up to speed on how you currently recruit your partners and discuss your recruiting process in depth; there may be cultural differences in how partners are maintained and nurtured. Set up expectations regarding when to cut loose inactive partners and what type of partner business models will fit your business model. My blog post, The Channel Partner Recruitment Dilemma, might also be a good checklist for assessing your consulting firm’s partner recruiting style before going into business with them.

Localize Your Marketing Materials, Webinars and Training Programs

Communication is often a serious problem within the Griswold family. While Clark Griswold is perfectly happy to stick with the itinerary given to him, his family is miserable as they visit sites and places they have no interest in.

Partners in Eastern Europe want the same consideration. More so than in Western Europe, these partners want to communicate with people who speak their language and understand their unique position. At this point you should bring on an internal team member or continue using a consulting firm as an extension of your team to communicate your company values and speak to your partners in their own language.

FeedAbo, for example, will localize your marketing materials, set up incentive programs and organize webinars and conference calls to train partners according to best practices. They also provide continuous support for partners signed on to your program and will communicate any new changes to the program as such.

What are some roadblocks that you’ve experienced while trying to expand your channels to Eastern Europe?

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