Author: Moheb Moses
Look up the definition of “customer” in pretty much any dictionary and you’ll get a definition that goes something like “a person or organisation that buys goods or services from you”. But smart resellers understand that their customers include another definition, namely, “a person or organisation that SELLS goods or services TO you”.

I’m talking about Vendors.

Look at most successful resellers and you’ll see that, amongst other attributes, they have very strong vendor (and often, distributor) relationships.  Read More

You probably never thought that eating a salad could help you grow your business! In this article that appeared in CRN, Moheb Moses talks about the dangers of assuming how much your customers actually know about your business, and gives some valuable advice on how you can build stronger relationships with customers.

http://www.crn.com.au/News/168877,opinion-what-else-is-on-the-menu.aspx

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It is amazing to me that so few resellers can articulate their value proposition succinctly. I know they have one. They wouldn't be in business if their customers didn't see value in them. But it seems to me that only a very small minority has ever spent the time to sit down and clarify what that value is.

In this article that appeared in ARN, Moheb Moses shares his thoughts on how resellers build a strong value proposition, and how important this is for growing your busienss.

http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/214462/what_your_value_proposition_/

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Author: Moheb Moses
In our last newsletter, we discussed the difference between Features, Benefits and Advantages, and the importance of being able to genuinely identify the needs of your partners (or end-users, if you happen to be a reseller account manager). In this article, we will delve deeper into this topic of identifying needs, and show you an effective consultative questioning approach that will help you uncover what partners really need, and enable you to deliver genuine benefits.

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that all partners want the same thing - margin, rebates, leads, support, etc. And it's easy to see why - these nearly always get raised in partner review meetings. But the real skill of the professional Channel Account Manager is to delve beyond this and get to the crux of what drives the partner's behaviour. And that means taking off your salesperson's hat, putting on a consultant's hat and asking the right questions.   Read More

Author: Cam Wayland
SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is a simple, proven and well used method of assessing a business, its resources, and its environment. However, most partner account managers would not think of using it as the starting point in a partner or distributor review, nor in the account development process.

This paper takes a fresh look at this simple yet effective tool by using two different approaches. The first is to do the exercise from the perspective of the combined vendor/partner offering (ie. a "Collective SWOT"), rather than the traditional internal management perspective. The second is by adding a “vertical focus” across the tool to create two sets of action items - "MAX" activities (to maximise Strengths & Opportunities) and "MIN" activities (to minimise Weaknesses & Threats).  Read More