Are you Really a Channel Company?

I come across many companies that say they are a 100% channel and they don’t ever sell direct. Firstly, that is probably unlikely, but regardless, even if 100% of your business actually does go through the channel, that doesn’t make you a channel company. It’s how you leverage the channel, and how the channel leverages … Continued

How to Create Greater Sales Loyalty

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

Manage Partners? Then Use PowerPoint Better

Over the last 12 months, the training course I have delivered most often has been our Dynamic Sales Presentations workshop. This has been incredibly gratifying for me personally, as I have long been an advocate of the importance of presentation skills for Channel Account Managers, particularly when dealing with partners/MSPs, where the challenge is not … Continued

5 Steps for Negotiating a Better Margin

It doesn’t matter what our role is within the channel, we are constantly in situations where we have to negotiate… whether it’s with partners, customers, suppliers, staff, management, or colleagues. While we might often strive for a Win/Win outcome, our tendency is to slip into old habits and immediately look for ways to haggle or … Continued

5G Is Nearly Here, Now What?

The fifth generation of wireless technology promises lightning-fast speed, incredibly low latency, and the capacity to carry massive numbers of connections simultaneously. Carriers around the world are now trialling 5G wireless communications with the networks and technology going live during 2019. There have been numerous terms to describe the potential impact 5G will have on … Continued

Achieving Win/Win Outcomes With Partners

How often do you hear channel account managers or sales reps talking about wanting a Win/Win outcome with partners? But have you ever stopped to think what that actually means? A Win/Win means that the rep wins (ie. gets what they wanted) but also the partner gets what they wanted. The problem is that, not … Continued

Are You Selling Benefits or Advantages

Whether you are a partner (ie. VAR, MSP, SI, etc) selling to end-users, or a vendor promoting your technology to the channel, are you selling genuine benefits or simply selling advantages? More importantly, do you know the difference, and the enormous impact this has in helping you close business? In this article, we look at … Continued

Not Being a Trusted Advisor Can Be an Advantage

This month I am continuing on from Moheb’s feature article in our August newsletter, that explained the four traits of being a trusted advisor. I am going to start by making a controversial comment and suggest that being a trusted advisor should NOT necessarily be the primary goal for every Channel Account Manager (CAM), and certainly … Continued

The Four Traits of a Trusted Advisor

If I had to pick my most annoying phrase right now, it would be “Trusted Advisor”. Greatly overused, often misrepresented, and largely misunderstood, those two words are now well and truly entrenched in the “Meeting Bingo” category – they seem to get bandied about without any particular definition or consideration. But while I may hate … Continued

You Get What You Reward So Be Careful

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