Good People with Good Ideas

Put 75 people together in a room and you never know what the conversation is going to turn too.  That is the magic of conferences and what keeps me coming back.  The Channel Management Summit created this effect and then some.  Yesterday I made a forecast about how I thought the conversation would go and well, it went a whole different way.  There were some great panel discussions, and good presenters.  The conversation quickly departed the stated theme of “From Volume to Value”.  That being said several of the channel partner program owners did indicate that they wanted to invest more meaningfully in a lower number of partners – which seemed to fit the bill.

Here were the items that stuck out for me in my notes:

Look in the Mirror First

If you want your partners to respect you, make sure you have your act together and that starts by working internally to ensure that everyone inside your company understands and agrees with the direction and is willing to stick with the messaging.  This will result in fewer random changes, a greater ability to explain the reasoning behind your decisions, and less confusion.  All seemingly simple, but in real life – quite a challenge to execute.

Get in their Shoes

We can get so caught up in our own stuff that we lose touch with the reality of our partner’s businesses.  Take the time to actually talk with them, figure out how they make money, understand their pain points.  We had a great conversation about what partners will and will not do.  Will sell your product (if it works), will work side by side with you, won’t penetrate new markets, won’t lose money.

The Death of Leads has Been Exaggerated

Instead of killing leads, social media has increased the volume.  Along with this increase has come a decrease in quality.  This has increased the importance of good process, professional qualification, and rigorous feedback tracking.  This was great validation for us – because it is what we do at CSG.

There were also some good presentations about measuring investment in partners – partner by partner – and comparing it to revenue generated.  Some ideas about how to start using social media tomorrow (get your partners to do it).  And good thoughts about specific things you can do with your most valuable partners. 

All together a great conference.

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.