So many providers think if I sign up 4 or 5 master agencies sales will explode. It doesn’t work that way.
I know that the masters inflate the number of partners they have. They count everyone who ever signed an agreement, not the number who get a check or the number who log in to the portal every month.
Master agencies now have a model similar to VADs like Ingram, Tech Data, Jenne or ScanSource. They have many, many vendors that amount to thousands of product SKUs. Most interaction with partners is through a portal.
The challenge for the providers to get in front of the partners and get their attention – at the same time that 100’s of other providers are trying to do the exact same thing!
A Value Proposition is very important.
Knowing how to compete is key.
Go-to-Market and Sell-through (channel sales enablement) are critical plans.
Knowing what makes a great partner is another component.
But the sell through, the channel sales enablement is the most critical.
Microsoft, Cisco, AT&T and Comcast create Demand. The Channel supplies that Demand.
A business needing a CRM is not created by Salesforce. They have become the name in CRM despite the fact that ACT! and others have been around longer.
But if your company does not create DEMAND or a Brand, what is your plan?
Back to the Masters:
The provider sponsors the master agency for a year. Then the provider has to show up: Be at the events, glad handing, making contact with partners at the road shows, the big master events, etc. Then follow up effectively.
It is a big time and financial expense.
Luckily, you only need 20 aligned partners to make it all worthwhile. Plus you need to On-Board them correctly.
The trick is really the sell-through. The Value Prop – the Why You and not all them – and the partner profile or criteria are necessary.
You can bring a mirror. If they can fog it up with their breath and sign an agreement, Boom! But every master and provider has a file cabinet full of inked agreements where the partner never engaged and never sold a dime.
In a portal, how does the partner know which provider has the hot button feature that the prospect wants? How does the partner know which cableco has network in that town? A lot of sales is based on price and compensation in a portal driven world. Brand plays a little part of it. Through the fog of that portal, how are you salient (top of mind)?
Channel Sales Enablement, call me: 813-963-5884
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