Getting from Volume to Value

One day in 1906 the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto discovered that 80% of the peas produced in his garden came from 20% of the pea pods.  Ever since that day, channel partner program managers have been trying to grow just the highly productive pea pods.  For the next two days, those of us attending the Channel Management Summit in San Jose will be talking about how to escape Pareto’s 80/20 rule and get from Volume to Value.

I have the pleasure of chairing the event today.  Here are a few of the thoughts I hope to use to get the conversation going.

• Why now?  After 104 years of living with the 80/20 rule why do we think that we can now escape it?
• What happens when we cut off the less productive 80 percent?  Pareto also found that if you deconstruct just the top 20 percent, the rule still applies – 80 percent of the peas produced by the top 20 percent of the pods are produced by 20 percent of those top 20 percent.
• How do we find the top partners of next year?  The top 20 change over time so shouldn’t we invest most heavily in the partners that are going to be the most productive next year?
• Are Value and Volume mutually exclusive?
• How are social media, better data management, and automation changing the game?
• Is the environment getting more competitive?  Could the partners we turn away from become the top 20% for someone else?  Does that matter?

I am very much looking forward to the conversation.