Convey's Channel Partner MicroCast

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Convey Micro-Cast Series

This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series.  

This week is our Halloween Micro-Cast series and yesterday we gave Freddy Krueger a shout out by entitling our first episode, the Nightmare on Channel Street.  We identified nightmares in the channel that keep you up at night, ruin your channel program and destroy revenue.  Today we’re going to focus how you wake up from the nightmare, run away from the monsters chasing you to not only survive on Channel Street, but to thrive.

Let’s focus on the problem of the disappearing commissions.  We’ve seen the rapid pace of mergers and acquisitions in the channel, many of those deals financed through debt, saddling the company with large debt-service and interest payments.  Take Windstream as a prime example.  They snapped up smaller companies like Earthlink and went into debt to do it.  You know the rest of the story; this year Windstream had to file bankruptcy in order to survive and protect itself.

Now, enter the bankruptcy court, and that channel program lost a level of control over how partners got paid.  Commissions became at risk, especially to those partners that stopped selling new Windstream accounts years ago.  So how do master agents and partners protect themselves from this nightmare on channel street?  Here are some ideas.

First, diversify your provider portfolio.

The first rule of business is not to put all of your eggs in one basket.  Companies that have a top-heavy revenue stream tied up in only a few customers are those at most risk.  Although you have your favorite providers, putting most of your revenue in one place elevates your risk.  Beyond that, you may be missing new services, new strategies and new opportunities other providers might represent to you and to your customers.

Next, upsell existing customers with additional services.

If you’ve sold big network deals, you are likely making good commissions from those relationships.  However, those companies have evolving technology needs that you can fill.  If you affiliate with a master agent that is part of a master agent association like the Technology Solutions Exchange or the Alliance Partners, those master agents very likely own Convey Partner Portals.  Inside their portal is a world of other cloud and technology services you can offer your customers to upsell to your customer base and continue to diversify your source of commissionable revenue, reducing your risk.

And third, stay abreast of channel developments.

Most of the struggles that vendors are facing in the channel are often reported on in the variety of channel publications and websites.  Make sure to access those sites and read the tea leaves so that you are not surprised.  If you know what might be coming with suppliers you work with, you can make more intelligent decisions about where to place your business so that it is in less jeopardy.

The nightmare of being blindsided by changes in your provider’s business is one that can be avoided.  Plan now to diversify the providers that you place business on, diversify your portfolio by upselling customers with new services, and stay informed about developments with the suppliers that you are working with.   

This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’ve been listening to our micro-cast in the Convey Channel Partner special Halloween series.

Full Transcript

This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series.  

This week is our Halloween Micro-Cast series and we’re going to give our old friend Freddy Krueger a shout out by entitling our program, the Nightmare on Channel Street.  For those of you who don’t remember Freddy, he starred as a character in the Nightmare on Elm street, an insane child killer, released on a technicality and murdered by the town’s parents.  He comes back in people’s dreams and continues to kill through 9 different movies.

So in honor of Halloween week, we are going to identify nightmares in the channel that keep you up at night, ruin your channel program and destroy revenue.

Our first episode in the Nightmare on Channel Street is called “the death of commissions”.

This episode of unfolds as nervous channel partners watch in horror as big companies gobble up smaller ones, creating a behemoth that lumbers through the marketplace like a zombie trying to feed itself on dwindling sales with a pack of hungry debt holders hard on their heels.   

The struggling company darts into court to protect itself from hungry debt holders by filing bankruptcy and then the nightmare really begins, but not for the company, instead for partners that sold its services.  A new group of characters come on the scene, the bankruptcy court judges who nullify partner contracts gasping in horror at the commissions flowing out the door to partners who stopped selling their services years ago.  Judges rule, commissions begin to die and partners that depended on them start scrambling for new sources of revenue.

Episode two is called the “The Invasion of the Sales Partner Snatchers”

You used to go to Channel Partners in Vegas and there were thousands of partners in the exhibit hall, or to regional meetings full of partners.  Then, all of a sudden, there was the invasion of the body snatchers and one by one those partners started disappearing, seemingly snatched away, gone forever. 

Where did the partners go?  Some of them got discouraged with channel sales and went back to their careers working for a company.  Some of them simply aged out and retired from active duty, continuing to take whatever commission checks that were still coming their way.   Or some of them just decided that it was not interesting enough to keep coming back, only to hear the same old presentations delivered the same way.  And the other explanation for their disappearance is that pods from outer space have landed in the channel, snatching up the partners we used to know and depend on.

In Episode three, vendors check into the Bates Motel, hand over their MDF funds and may never have their channel marketing budget come out alive.

Your Vegas hotel, those huge greens fees at the golf tournament, or sponsorships for that expensive cocktail party have been washed down the drain with very few partners that you hoped would engage actually selling your services.  Now, you wake up in a cold sweat being chased by your management team, screaming that you don’t know what the ROI result is, and which partners were converted and what revenue is going to result from your efforts.

Next it’s a cold Halloween night and you’re waiting in the Pumpkin Patch for the Great Pumpkin to arrive.  But that never happens because you’re in episode 4 of the Nightmare on Channel Street.

If you worry about trying to find partners to represent you in the channel, only to have your trick or treat bag filled with rocks, then you are not alone.  The channel has expanded, the number of vendors has grown, and it’s much harder to get partners to pay attention with all of the noise in the channel.  Trying to get people to pay attention to you can be one of the nightmares on Channel Street.

And our fina

Full Transcript

This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series.  

It’s natural to want everyone to like us and nowhere is this more true than in the channel.  We get sucked into the idea that engaging thousands of sales partners will create the path to revenue.  However, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to executing a good channel strategy.

It’s very rare when a service appeals to every partner, that they are comfortable selling, and that they understand.  Executing a one-size fits all marketing strategy when it comes to partner recruitment is a sure-fire recipe to confuse the partner and frustrate your team when you are over-quoting for prospects that will never become customers.  You have to understand who the right partner audience is for what you do and then help them understand the right customer audience for what you sell.

Here are only some of the consequences of connecting to the wrong partner or having partners connect to the wrong customer.

1.     Engaging the partner who doesn’t get your service increases your cost of sales.  You have to spend more time and resources educating partners, holding their hand through the sales process, and going through more prospects to get a deal.

2.     Partners get frustrated when you reject their referral which can damage your reputation.  There is nothing more challenging than to get the wrong type of deal in the door, reject it and then have a partner complain about you to their peers.

3.     Your attrition rate goes way up.  Attrition happens in two places:  partners that become disengaged and customers that were less than ideal that don’t stick or renew.  

So how does a channel program find the right partner audience to connect with and help those partners connect to the right customer audience?  Here are three helpful tips:

# 1 Define the ideal partner profile to your channel audience.

As an example, if your services are more complex or require a higher-level sales skill, then consider creating an “elite partner program”.  Define the type of partner you would like to engage with, the type of customer base that you would like them to have that meshes with your service, and some extra perks they might get for being in the elite program.

#2 Define the ideal customer profile

No matter what the service is, there is always an audience that is more right for your products and services than others.  That audience is referred to as the ideal customer profile.  Tell your partner who those customers are by defining the size of the company, the vertical markets you most often find them in, and the decision maker inside the company that will best appreciate your value proposition.

#3 Seek out master agents who have partners that come closest to your ideal partner profile.  

Other than some of the mega master agents like Telarus and Intelisys, many master agents have specialized in certain partner types.  They might focus on managed services providers as partners, agents who sell complex network deals, or those that specialize in certain vertical markets.  Forming a relationship with a master agent that has your ideal partner profile allows you to go deeper, not wider to attract the right partner.

Remember, that it is pretty difficult to be all things to all people and certainly this is very true in the channel.  It’s OK to exclude or not focus on partners that don’t have the skill set, customer base or desire to pursue the type of customer you want.  And, partners will thank you for not wasting their time and wasting yours chasing the wrong deals. 

Convey’s channel partner program reaching over 20,000 sales partners provides an excellent outlet to define the right

Full Transcript:

Hi, this is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to Convey’s Micro-Cast audio series.  

Many companies focus on customer communication but communicating with channel partners is every bit as important because they are your customers.  Communication is a second only to financial incentives as the most important tool to motivate and manage partners.  Channel partner communications should be strategic, cost-effective and focus on motivation, education, and engagement.

Communication in the channel should include a 3-pronged strategy:  communicate to your channel, communicate through your channel and communicate for your channel.  Let’s take a look at how to execute each strategy. 

Start with communicate to your channel.

Communicating to your channel is all about providing information, training and motivation that is directed at sales partners.  Information and training explain what you want the channel partner to do promote your services, upsell customers, understand the features and benefits of your products and services, and knowhow to best position them against each other and against competitors’ products. 

Motivational communications explain the rewards that a channel partner receives if they do what you want. That type of communication focuses on promotional activities such as incentive programs, special pricing and deals, or commission accelerators.

Communicate continuously to your channel by direct messaging, and email marketing through channel outlets such as iAgent or Channel Vision, or on Convey’s master agent portals.

Now let's look at communicating through your channel.

Communicating through your channel means providing channel partners with customer-facing materials to get your message directly to the customer.  Providing your partners with those tools gives you certain advantages.

• They allow you to maintain a consistent positioning of your products in the market and against competitors’ products 
• You now have a message that reinforces your brand
• You are helping channel partners sell your products and services because you did the hard work for them by creating the tools.

If you communicate through your channel, the materials you provide should be simple, easy to access, and easy to deliver to the customer.  You should allow for co-branding so that the partner can add their company and contact information.   Here are some common tools that partners need from you to accelerate their sales: 

• Product PDFs, data sheets, and 1-page overviews that can be emailed or printed
• Promotional kits that give partners the tools to feature you on their website, in social media posts, and other literature they use. These kits typically have digital versions of your logo, product photographs or illustrations, sample copy, and other graphics about your offerings. 
• Marketing campaigns developed for the partner so they can email prospects or customers and generate inbound demand.

Add marketing development funds (MDF) to help sales partners advertise, use digital marketing, and launch other promotional activities for your products.  Make sure to attach strings to the MDF funds that come with provable activity and messaging that you control. 

Now let’s look at the last one, communicate for your channel

The most valuable commodity a channel partner can get from you other than training and marketing help is a hot sales lead.  Use your company’s marketing resources and automation to generate inbound demand, then deliver leads to partners. Leads elevate your value to partners and reward those individuals that are able to convert prospects into customers.  Make sure that there is a process in place to deliver the leads, ensure that the partner int

Hi, this is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to Convey’s Microcast audio series.

We’d like to welcome our listeners to our Channel Partners microcast audio series from Convey Services, a technology specialist that runs a content and marketing portal network in the channel used by over 23K sales partners. Today’s series is all about crafting the right online experience for your channel program.

Without fail, most of us begin our buying experience online. We google the product we want to buy, read reviews, compare prices and often complete the transaction without leaving the comfort of our living room. Most of us look at that experience as easy, quick and convenient.

However, when it comes to helping our sales partners with an online experience to find services they want to represent, compare options and complete the transactions, vendors in the telecom and cloud marketplace may not be have elevated their strategy enough to make it easy for sales partners to go online and get what they need to sell services.

If your company is highly active in face to face interactions by sponsoring partner events, going to trade shows and traveling to meet partners, a key fact that you must remember is that your message fades quickly once you are back on the airplane going home. Here are some interesting statisticsfrom the training industry:

1. After only one hour, people retain less than half of the information presented.
2. After one day, that drops to 70%.
3. After six days, people forget 75 percent of the information has gone out the door

Without a good online strategy to reinforce your message, attract partners to keep looking at you, and make information easy to consume, most of the dollars spent in sponsorships, events, and face to face contact will be wasted.

Because Convey runs an online portal network connecting partners to vendors through our master agent portals, we have the opportunity to evaluate how effective vendors are at their online strategy. Here are some ideas to elevate your game.

In this episode, we are going to focus our time on vendors that are new to the channel, pointing out some of the misperceptions they have about developing a channel program that will likely cost them time, money, and results.

What used to be the traditional telecom channel has grown by leaps and bounds over the years transforming the type of services that are being offered attracting vendors that focus on cloud services, security, the internet of things, mobility and a host of other offerings that were not around 5 years ago.

If you are one of those new vendors, it’s easy to get sucked into the idea that engaging the tens of thousands of sales partners in the channel will give you an immediate pathway to revenue. It almost never happens as quickly as you think it should, it’s much more difficult to get traction than you planned for, it costs more than you budgeted for and it's much harder for the new guy on the block to succeed.

Well then how does a new vendor break in without breaking the bank and leverage those thousands of revenue producers calling on customers that could buy your services? Let’s take a look at some of the common misperceptions and mistakes that vendors make that will derail their chances of having a solid channel program.