When vendors talk to us about channels, they typically mean resellers, MSPs, distributors, integrators, consultants, and occasionally agents. But every once in a while, a vendor asks us about building an Alliance channel, or making their existing Alliances work. What makes Alliance partners more difficult than a traditional channel, is that they typically don’t make … Continued
This year we introduced Three NEW Channel Skills Courses around Channel Management, Presentation Skills and Negotiation. These two-day public workshops have been a great success and are proving valuable to those new to the channel and more experienced channel members. They all have limited numbers with a maximum of 8-10 people, providing an intimate learning … Continued
On the 1st of July 2019, the start of Microsoft’s fiscal year, an announcement was made via the partner website on a very inconspicuous page, that this would be the last year that Microsoft planned to provide its Microsoft partners and resellers with internal use rights (IUR) for product licenses, stating the discontinuation of the practice … Continued
While the old adages of “customer comes first” and “customer is always right” are often thrown around externally, what gets said (and acted upon) internally within organisations is often vastly different, leading to an entirely different customer experience. This was highlighted in two of our recent consulting projects involving clients asking us to investigate why … Continued
At present there is a lot in the news about reward and compensation systems driving the wrong behaviour at banks and financial institutions. Luckily the ICT industry is not facing a Royal Commission, but there are certainly some badly designed incentives and discount structures delivering predictably poor outcomes, which we will explore in this month’s … Continued
Most channel firms today acknowledge that transforming their business from hardware-centric reselling to a business model that embraces services and recurring revenue is not only the future, but should at this point be the present. There are however, many moving parts involved in the transformation process, notably anything to do with business operations and process … Continued
I often ask Channel Account Managers (working for vendors or distributors) why they think their partners buy products from them. And I’ll get a range of answers from “we have the best technology” to “great service” to “a strong relationship”. But at least one person will respond with the correct answer, namely, “to sell it … Continued
Author: Grant Cleary MDF – it’s that 3 letter acronym many of us love to hear! Market development funds or MDF are used by vendors in the channel to enable service providers, resellers and distributors to market their products and solutions, and build brand awareness. MDF may be allocated to partners as a percentage of … Continued
We are often asked by vendors about if (or when) they should conduct a Partner Advisory Council (PAC). The reason for this question is due to the fact that many have had mixed experiences or success with PAC’s in the past. In this article we look at some ideas around how a PAC can work … Continued
It’s the end of the quarter, and we need to make the number. So out come the promos! We’ve all heard them before. “Buy 4, get 1 Free”. “Take 2 months stock, and I’ll give you a discount”. “Drop your margin by a couple of points to help us get this deal, and we’ll owe … Continued
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