Helping hire/find channel managers for clients is a challenge right now. There is a lot of channel managers who have been “on the move” recently. There are others who have spent their career selling network. No offense but that doesn’t translate well to selling cloud services, including UCaaS.
What qualities do we look for in a channel manager candidate?
- Attitude! Always hire Attitude. You can train on product (and even on sales skills), but you can NOT train friendly, enthusiastic or positive attitude (maybe Norman Vincent Peale could).
- Cultural Fit! I know this term is over-used, but you want someone who drinks the Kool-Aid. They want to join the company and they want to succeed and help the company succeed.
- Today, having a Intellectual Curiosity is important. With the evolving technologies like IoT, SD-WAN, AI and more, you want someone with Curiosity (a thirst for knowledge) – or at least someone who is still excited about the industry.
You can train product and other stuff, but without the right attitude and curiosity it won’t go well. And without a cultural fit, it could be a disaster. So I look for those 3 qualities first and foremost.