December 19, 2019

John DeLozier: How to Shift from 100% Direct to 100% Channel

38 minutes

What makes a successful company decide to shift their business from direct to channel? In the case of 8×8, it was the vision of the CEO who saw the channel as the way to take the company to the next level. In this episode, the last one of 2019, I have the real pleasure of interviewing 8×8’s head of global channels, John DeLozier. In just a year and a half, John and team have gone from 100% direct to over 60% of the business going through the channel. John shares how 8×8 is making the shift to 100% channel with the help of a mind-blowing partner program they call Elev8.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Route to 100% Direct

A successful channel program is a give and take. Expect to give your partner as much as they give you.

8×8 takes blitz days to an all new level. They invade the partners office with a sales and marketing team and a pre-nurtured call list. They hit the phones with the partner’s reps with an old-school dialing campaign. And they do this 60 to 70 times a quarter!

You need to understand your partner’s battlefield. Go to them and see where their rubber meets the road.

Be flexible and adjust your incentive model to fit the partner’s business model. Whether they’re an agent, a VAR, an MSP, an ISV, or an alliance partner. Let them decide how they will take your offering to the world.

Let your partners build their professional services and IP on top of your software. Be there to back them up, enable them, but don’t compete with them.

Be genuine. Be interested in everyone no matter their level. Be ready to jump in the weeds with them. Be focused on your partners’ success.

SHARE THIS

We want to feel the dirt with our partners. We want to understand their environment, their battlefield, where their rubber meets the road, where they make the sales. @jldelozier3
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We care about getting our software to the world, whether that's through a master agent, a VAR, an MSP, or an alliance partner…Let them decide how they will take it to the world. We just want them to do it. @jldelozier3
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We believe in our partners, we support our partners, we are with our partners, we aren't looking at the things that we don't need to look at, we just want them to be successful. @jldelozier3
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LINKS & RESOURCES

Follow John on LinkedIn and on Twitter

Learn more about the Elev8 Partner Program

Listen to how Janet Schijns became Channel Influencer of the Year

The post John DeLozier: How to Shift from 100% Direct to 100% Channel first appeared on Channel Journeys.

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