As we head into the second half of expo season, new channel execs popping up everywhere. #musicalchairs
Fusion Connect has yet another Channel Chief. This is like 3 in 4 years. Broadvoice has a new Channel head. Many companies have hired a new partner VP, alliance chief or channel lead.
For private equity owned companies like Fusion Connect, there is a very short runway for channel leaders. Why? PE doesn’t really understand the channel. I am on plenty of calls with bankers and private equity and most have little understanding about the indirect channel. [They should read my new book.]
It takes 3 years to join a company, design a strategy, put chess pieces in place and execute on a plan.
Put it another way: if the average sales cycle is 6 months, how can any sales leader expect results in a year? It takes time to build a pipeline. Learning the products, the company, the ICP, the Value Prop — all this takes time because most companies don’t on-board well or have these training on these important elements.
When a provider has a revolving door in the channel sales team, Partners will run away. It signals instability and perhaps no faith in the channel. That is a big red warning light.
Right now, with the macro-economics, the global turmoil, AI hype, M&A, and so many other factors that are churning the channel waters, it is hard to blame the channel chief, but so many do.
The channel execs don’t get to choose product, deem the value prop, tweak operations, or slap the billing department for their “errors”. All of that however comes into play on if a partner wants to sell your stuff or not.
Many people think the channel is coin-operated. Why they don’t think the same way about the direct sales team, but that’s another blog post. It may be coin-operated, but there are many choices out there for every product line. A large SPIFF isn’t always going to make up for poor service delivery, bad product-market fit, or erroneous billing. A large SPIFF will get the attention of the channel. Partners that don’t know better will sell your stuff once for that SPIFF, but just once. That SPIFF will get you a shot; your org has to make the customer happy to make that investment in the partner worthwhile.
CMO and Channel Chief have the shortest life span at a company right now. In both cases, the execs – CMO and CC – have to put lipstick on a pig, usually with a limited budget, so they have to get Maybelline instead of Clinique. If your org is plowing through C-suite, time to bring in a management consultant who will tell you what the real problems are – if you want to hear it. Don’t think partners don’t already know.
One lesson that is fresh: take a great provider, loved by the channel that had a very specific target customer and was doing great. Then that provider gets acquired. Slowly, the secret sauce that made the provider beloved is baked off, resulting in customer AND partner churn.
A reputation takes years to build, and seconds to ruin.
If you are a channel chief and are looking to have dinner with your peers at the CVX Expo 2025 in Phoenix, drop me a note!