Channel Experts: One Piece of Advice for Growing Partners
New technologies, shifting customer demands, evolving buyer's journeys and emerging business models are changing the channel. What can partners do to optimize their chances for success in the "new channel?"
The VAR Guy asked eight channel experts what one piece of advice they had to offer partners adjusting to and growing in the new channel ecosystem. Here's what they had to say.
I think it comes down to just leveraging that partner and getting the training that you need. I've seen a lot of people go out and try to sell our product and fail miserably because they didn't have the training associated with it. When they go through the training process, really learning how to open the doors, how to have those conversations…then they just bring us in as that subject matter expert so that they look great. We're helping them do all the work to get it done.
[And] get involved in the industry. For instance, I'm the co-chair of SIM Women. I'm part of Cloud Girls and also a Board of Director of Kids Tech. That has honestly played a huge role in my involvement in the channel and being able to get out in the community and build relationships outside of just going to a channel expo, that's one of the most important things I think people need to do to be successful in the channel.
Stay focused on the target customer. The best opportunity for our mutual success is to remain intent on helping the target customer to see threats clearly and quickly, including obstacles to network performance, and to stop threats from inflicting extensive damage through surgical containment and elimination, securing critical assets. Because our solution works well in any size enterprise we can cast the net broadly, yet the goal must be not to lose sight of improving the speed of threat detection, simplifying the process of threat elimination and increasing efficiency of security operations for our clients.
Look for leading indicators of digital transformation in an account – is there a culture of and desire for change? Is there new executive leadership? Are they taking new products or services to market? Is their market consolidation or increased competition? Sticking with the same old same old tools and technology ensure that you’re not relevant in the new economy.
I actually think that most of the challenges that the partners face are more internal than external. This is going to sound simple, but I find that everyone knows that compensation drives behavior. The fastest way for a partner to build that minor services install base that I've seen is to change the compensation structure for their internal reps so that a dollar isn't a dollar anymore. If you really want to transition into selling services, pay them more on selling the service around the product than you do on just selling the naked product. Selling the naked product is the path of least resistance, right? For most of the partners that I talk to, that's a big change. The c-level executives are hesitant to muck with compensation, but I think that you can turn a sales organization on a dime if you optimize compensation. Really, when you want to drive services, it's about telling the reps that you'll pay them more on services.
I would offer the advice of starting early on the journey to adopt the key technologies and business models that are reshaping the world today. Just as the Internet was a disruptive transformation that brought opportunities for channel partners, the cloud and virtual networking are similarly changing enterprise IT with many opportunities for the channel to add value and become a trusted business partner of those it serves.
I strongly believe that software is truly changing the world of IT and telecom infrastructure, and the network has been late to the game. I want to tell channel partners today that the time is right to strike now and seize the $50 billion plus world of managed network services and the billions of network infrastructure product sales that can be yours for the taking.
We encourage our reseller partners to diversify and move into areas beyond their core competencies. This helps create more agility in quickly changing markets. D&H has found this to be an invaluable tactic over the years in our own experience in the channel. Diversification into different areas of technology and beyond have allowed us to quickly adapt to trends and market developments.
[Partners can engage LOB buyers] by getting a lot smarter about the challenges those buyers face. As more business shifts to the cloud, one of the big challenges for partners is that their buyers have changed. They're no longer just selling speeds and feeds to geeks, now they have to talk intelligently to business stakeholders about the problems they face, and that's often a big leap. You need SMEs who can inform LOB buyers in a way that is credible and not sales-focused.
If you help them understand their problems and the alternative solutions in a way that is reasonably objective and not predatory, the conversation will turn to your offer when the buyer is ready. If you try to rush an LOB buyer to the close when they're early in the decision making process, they won't engage. That's where social's ability to cast a wide net really helps—not everyone is ready to buy when they find your content online. They're learning, they're digesting, they're weighing how it fits their problem. Make sure you have content that hits each part of the buyer's journey, and let them set the pace. But you have to be active and engaging, otherwise you fall off the radar.
[Partners can engage LOB buyers] by getting a lot smarter about the challenges those buyers face. As more business shifts to the cloud, one of the big challenges for partners is that their buyers have changed. They're no longer just selling speeds and feeds to geeks, now they have to talk intelligently to business stakeholders about the problems they face, and that's often a big leap. You need SMEs who can inform LOB buyers in a way that is credible and not sales-focused.
If you help them understand their problems and the alternative solutions in a way that is reasonably objective and not predatory, the conversation will turn to your offer when the buyer is ready. If you try to rush an LOB buyer to the close when they're early in the decision making process, they won't engage. That's where social's ability to cast a wide net really helps—not everyone is ready to buy when they find your content online. They're learning, they're digesting, they're weighing how it fits their problem. Make sure you have content that hits each part of the buyer's journey, and let them set the pace. But you have to be active and engaging, otherwise you fall off the radar.
The VAR Guy asked eight channel experts what one piece of advice they had to offer partners adjusting to and growing in the new channel ecosystem. Here's what they had to say.
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