Initially many technology partners were unsure whether the cloud was a threat or an opportunity.  I'm seeing now that partners, as usual, are finding their way with profitable add-on services like Managed Services (very profitable, by the way), Data Security & Backup, SharePoint Configuration, Workflow Customization; Migration, Identity Management, Migrations (everyone is migrating from SOMETHING right?) 

Take Office 365 or Google Apps.  While the pricing is free (as in the case with Live@edu) or $6-$27/mo for Office 365 the customer expectation shouldn't be that their only cost for technology is this.  

If you, as a vendor, include the following with your cloud-based pricing you'll help your partners out a lot.  here it is: 

$_________/mo - plus any value-added partner services

Add this to your pricing for cloud applications.  That way, customers won't be surprised when a partner proposes services along with the software solution.  It maybe seem obvious, but many customers think the price for the software is all that they will pay.

And, as we know with Google's pricing, what seems "free" is really free--like a puppy.

Help your partners out and try to set expectations properly. 

Teens, businesses (even Grandma!) are all in a frenzy over social media.  But, if you look at the numbers around how a product is sold, there is almost always an element of personal connection that occurs with any major technology purchase. Whether visiting the Apple or Microsoft Store or attending a local event or conference, people have a basic need to connect with another human being before they open their checkbooks. 

Your channel is the human interface to your customers, so help them make those local connections by:

1. Encourage your partners to offer ways for customers to meet them.
2. Give them conversation-starters and interesting content to spark dialogue.
3. Arm them with simple key selling points.  If it can be slipped into a cocktail party conversation, you officially have a fantastic value prop. 
4. Offer promotions to keep your momentum.  You should always have some sort of promo that is worthwhile, and if that promotion is predictably delivered year over year you’ll develop quite a following.

A few basics in this area will go a long way. 

Call us if you need any help.

 Your channel serves many important roles in your business, but one overlooked function is that of Stabilizer.

We all know that manufacturers can churn out new technologies more rapidly than business customers can adopt them and I’m curious at the recent hype vendors are placing on cloud and how their channels are pushing back with a big dose of reality.   Comments from partners like “Really, today, a hybrid approach is more realistic” and “My customer has assets that haven’t reached end of life.  It will be a while before cloud is a reality for them” are healthy for vendors to accept. 

Undoubtedly, we count on vendors to lead the vision on what’s possible – we want them to push the envelope, but the channel is there to inject what’s plausible. 

3 ways to embrace this stabilizing force:

1. Hit the streets:  Continually capture (and publish) real-world stories about how customers are using your product.  If you’re not clear how they’re being used, ask a partner or customer – go ahead, right now. 
2. Make big claims, but with humble undertones:   You might publish the latest Gartner study saying that this market will grow by 50%, but your channel and customers will appreciate your grain of salt when you make commentary that is a bit more conservative about how long it will take to get there, or about what factors are necessary for this to take place. 
3. Don’t rush in:  Many tout the advantages of getting to market first, but when you manage a channel, your role is more in the realm of change management where you are left to explain how the change occurs over time.  Take your channel with you on the journey. 

Call us if you need help.

We have a great test case to share -- our client who tried 2 different approaches to recruiting partners:  One with standard collateral and logical case around why to engage in a particular partner program; the OTHER used 5 partners to tell the story of how they started, what resources were involved and how it was actually useful in their business.
 
Guess which one outperformed the other 10:1 in ¼ of the time?  

Telling a story through example is wildly more effective with partners who want to know:  “Who, like me, is using this?”

So here are 3 ways to approach the matter:

1.       Case studies (yawn)  -- but wait, not just ANY case study—SHORT stories of real-world application; opinions; best practices; tips and pitfalls to avoid.  Tell the usual ROI, but ALSO have your partners talk about how they put it into place, how it enabled their business, how customers reacted. Don’t waste more than a page or two of text. 

The Dynamics Best Practice Guide (created by us here at EMM) shows a global set of partner stories.  These partners applied best practices around generating revenue with existing customers and gave tips and guidance on how others could do the same.  We were surprised how generous partners were in their advice to others. 


2.       Partners as spokespeople:  You probably have a pocketful of press-ready partners that you trust to refer for press opportunities(do you over-use them?), but are you REALLY exploiting the chance to enable MANY partners to speak on your behalf to the press?  Your partners want visibility as much as you want them to talk about you.  Make it easy for them to tell your story with their own.  Have a partner in every part of the world that can act as a go-to partner for local reporters.   Give them press announcements they can run and, most importantly, HELP THEM develop their press activities.  (Most partners don’t know how to get started and would love to tap into the press skills you probably have in house). 

EXAMPLE:  Check how many partner press releases RIM has generated this year:  http://press.rim.com/partner/.  This collection of press releases shows relevance in the market no matter how you slice it. 

3.       REAL-WORLD content integration:  Invite partners to speak in your conferences, webinars, use quotes in ALL your collateral (make it a policy that all partner collateral must have at least one partner who has demonstrated use of the product/program).  You cover the what –let the partner talk about how it’s applied. 

EXAMPLE:  “GadgetsRUs announced a new enterprise-class appliance last quarter and in the first quarter, X00 partners sold the new product”  Said early adopters PartnerName and PartnerName2:  We took this new GADGET as a catalyst to our move from SMB and to break into enterprise accounts.  We planned our year to write up our value; sign up enterprise customers for eval units and offered to speak at conferences.  Once we broke through our first 2 deals, we had 13 more in the pipeline!”

The main hurdles to any awareness-building effort are: 
1.       “it’s not for me”
2.       “I don’t know what it takes to get started” 

Once you show how your product/program is applied with others that swim in the same pool, you will grease the skids to success.   Sometimes it means holding an announcement or two until your early adopters have utilized it and can comment, but the payoff is well worth it.    Try it!

Call us if you need any help.

-Kris

If you’ve never learned to gold pan, try it sometime and you’ll understand why people can catch “gold fever”. 

In my day-long lesson in panning for gold this summer from an expert living on an isolated mountain in Oregon, I drew some conclusions for channel management that seemed appropriate and might even lend some guiding principles.  Gold, in this case are HiP Partners (High-Performing or High-Potential Partners)

1.   First, find a good vein where you are likely to find gold
Heavy, liquid gold was brought down mountains thousands of years ago with other heavy, liquid minerals and it typically “hangs out” near quartz and iron pyrite but no one REALLY knows how to predict with accuracy the presence of gold

When you’re seeking your best partners, who might they be “hanging out with”?  Maybe a complimentary vendor like HP, Sophos or Kaspersky?  Maybe in an association of likeminded individuals like CompTIA or IAMCP ?  Find the pyrite and you might find the gold. 

2.  Classify with care

What I didn’t realize until my lesson was the importance in breaking down the pile of dirt you speculated might have gold in it and gather into like-sized groups.  Called “classification”, this step ensures that the proper searching technique is applied.  You look for gold nuggets differently in the large-rock pile than you do from swirling sand and water in a pan.  Different approaches to the same challenge of finding gold.
 
How are you classifying your partners so that when you recruit or engage them that you’ve sorted them into the appropriate categories that are meaningful?  Do you treat your large resellers the same as you do your system integrators and hosters?   What matters most-- the size of their business or the type of solutions they provide? 

Take one example, Channel Champions Award-winning Trend Micro uses a simple classification:  Technology, Platform or Consulting partner.  Pretty straightforward and orthogonal I’d say.  Compare to this organization by competency that Microsoft is trying on this year.  Which is closer to your biz model? 

3.       Don’t dump out the little guys

In a “swirl” of your pan, you can accidentally drop out an assortment of small gold flakes which, additively, can amount to a collection of gold that exceeds the elusive big nugget you could find in 1,000 tries. 

Vendors notoriously pay more attention to the handful of “big partners” that seem to generate their revenue  but what if you had 1,000 little guys each selling $150K/yr, would they outpace the others?   If you can set up to do both, give it a try.  If you’re still starting out, then maybe all you can do is have a Backyard BBQ approach to managing your top partners, where you are small enough to have all of your partners together personally.  But set your aim on the breadth channel too.

Yes, the early lessons from our historical Gold Miners still apply in many ways.  However, I would encourage you to be a “Cackler”, or what the gold miners referred to a miner who let others do the heavy work.  We’re happy to shoulder the load.  Give us a call. 

PS:  That's me and my daughter in the photo

Here are 3 things I wish I knew when I landed my Channel Marketing job 15 years ago.  Maybe it will save you a little time in your career: 

1.  Partners are not "pure" anything.  They are rarely just SIs, Distis, Resellers, ISVs, MSPs, Hosters, etc.  Tech vendors tend to want to assign handy designations to partners, but the bottom line is that they are "technology opportunists" - if they see a buying market for something, they will learn it and do it - whether that means building an app, hosting a datacenter or creating a service.  Most of your channel partners will evolve into several different types over their lifetime.  Simplify your designations and don't be too rigid in using them. 
Instead, talk about 4 scenarios with partners based on what they do, not who they are.  Example: 
                -"when you offer services"...
                -"when you host solutions for your clients"
                -"when you resell products:  HW/SW"
                -"when you build apps (custom or packaged)"

2.  ROI matters:  When I was green, I pictured partners reading every word that came from tech vendors like Microsoft and HP and making plans to embrace every initiative.  Instead, we are all clamoring for the valuable attention of these experts who juggle 8-12 other vendors they represent.  No, partners are not waiting with bated breath for your next mail, so you have to concisely step through the ROI: 

• How much of a shift are you asking from me?  Based on Where I am now, how far away (deletefrom that) is what you are asking me to do?   
• How long is it going to take and what's the opportunity cost of sending my skilled people out of the office to ramp up? (think new product launch)
• What's the real deal size and how many customers care about this right now?  (think sales, services and pull-through)
• How long will this market be around?  (think Y2K)
• Does this opportunity displace any of my existing business? (think Cloud)

3. Don't take yourself too seriously.  A lot of vendors write web copy or materials to partners using what I call their “Big Voice” (“ahem…Today, COMPANY is proud to announce that the partner program will evolve to 3 new levels”).  Better to be approachable.  Partners are like a mix of your close friends and distant relatives.  They are about what you care about -- happy customers.  If you are on that road together and you mess up a little, it's okay, they understand your imperfections a few times (e.g. Vista) as long as you right it (Win7) and keep them informed.  Admit your mistakes, be humble and you can continue down the path, smiling together.

If you need more tips about the full spectrum of partner program management from recruitment to engagement to loyalty, give us a call. 

-Kris

[image credit:  Steve Carter]

Did you know that Interoperability is the #1 customer purchase decision criteria for technology?  It’s also ranked in the top 3 “most favorable messages” from tech vendors.  It’s so important yet few vendors talk much about it.    The fact is:  • You want to sell your Gadget A to customers • Customers want Gadget A to work with their Trinket B • Problem is, you don’t know much about Trinket B (so you just talk more about Gadget A)    • But your channel partners (who deal with mixed-vendor environments all the time) do know about Trinket B and many more related technologies.  They are paying attention to what makes their job easier in heterogenous technologies.

.
Partners have great insight and will tell you which vendors and environments you best fit.  Ask them!

CHALLENGE:  Next month, book a slot on your calendar to do a brainstorm (with some channel partners) about the “top 10 technologies we blend well with”. 
Then, go to those vendors and ask them to do a joint project together to tell your story about how you work well together.

Interoperability is important.  Take advantage of the partners in your channel who can speak “customer-ese” about your product in the context of other products.  Help them by giving them insight about what your product does to get along with other products, what standards it complies with, and INFORM YOUR CHANNEL about the great “better together” story you can tell! 

I’d love to hear how it goes. 

If you need help, give us a call.

What I like about CRN’s Annual Report Card is exactly what makes it a tough tablet to swallow:  Their criteria are usually right.  They know their stuff. The ARC Awards (an annual assessment of large tech channel programs based on their value to partners) has been around long enough that they’ve really honed in on what partners value most, so if you pay close attention to the report card criteria, you will know exactly what it takes to shine in the eyes of your partners.  The three major ARC categories are: Product Innovation Support Partnership But the nuances within these categories are where it matters most.  If you pay close attention, I’ll bet you have at least one moment of “holy cow, we didn’t think of that in our program!” or “boy, we really missed the mark on this with our new plans.”  It's okay, just be brave enough to adjust.  And, if you don't have time to deliver on those plans this year, go ahead, test that transparency trait you've been meaning to try and communicate with your partners about what you're planning to adjust (e.g. blog).  They understand that you can't turn on a dime.   Top 10 ARC Awards Companies:    1. EMC   2. EMC   3. Cisco   4. HP   5. Cisco   6. Cisco   7. Xerox   8. HP   9. Fortinet 10. Juniper Networks Even if you aren’t a technology giant, learn from the criteria on this list and maybe one day you will be.  Call us if you need help.  425.746.1572  (kris@emminc.com)         PS:  If you're a Value-Adding-Reseller (VAR), you might be interested in applying to be recognized.  Applications are available now for CRN' 2010 VAR 500. Deadline is Feb 19, 2010.  Apply here.

Are you looking for a fresh way to reward your top partners in the coming new year?  Look no further – the Extra Mile Marketing Concierge package is just for you!

A convenient 5-hour starter block membership can be purchased for only $995.  Your partners can call at their convenience to gain marketing insight and expert advice from our marketing concierge desk to help grow their business – and yours too!

We’ve worked with over 5,000 businesses from startups through large enterprise companies and are now offering marketing best practices from those businesses for you to tap into at a discounted rate!
We can cover:
•    Marketing or business plan review
•    Campaign plan set up/structure
•    Website or landing page analysis
•    Event content or presentation review
•    Annual communication calendar set up
•    Finding and using MDF and co-op funding from vendors

For more information contact Lauren Jansson at 425.746.1572 or by email at lauren@emminc.com To pay by credit card, please visit our web page at www.extramilemarketing.com/concierge or contact us directly to discuss a custom Statement of Work (to pay by PO).

I’ll cut to the punch line:  Partners and customers don’t much care what your brand or designation is, it’s what you do with it. 

How do I know this?  

• First, I was on the spending-end of a quarter-million dollar branding exercise at Microsoft in 2001
• Second, we (EMM) have been conducting a series of Microsoft partner research lately (about 300 partners in the past few weeks) and we’ve received a lot of unsolicited input from partners around their branding concerns.

Based on the above information I’d say these three trade-offs need to be considered:  

1.  Bandwidth vs. transition:  One thing that’s often overlooked is the time, money and effort it takes to move from your current brand to the new one.   I recall years after the introduction of the Microsoft Certified Partner brand, I still ran across web sites where partners were using the old “Microsoft Solution Provider” designation. 

Old logo, 1997

Remember, you’ll be asking your partners to re-brand themselves and make an investment by replacing their signage, collateral, window clings, proposal templates, letterhead, folders, fax headers and business cards. Most partners spend $10,000 a year on ALL of their marketing and have no full-time marketing staff. Your tradeoff question is this: Do you want your partners focused on shuffling their brand around or selling your solutions?

New logo, 2001

Personally, I’d rather a partner spend $1,000 on hosting a customer event than paying a designer to change the logo on all of their collateral.  That’s the real trade-off that’s happening out there with partners.  The flock of birds you envision rapidly changing course right along with you and your brand (du jour) is a fallacy.   

2. Building awareness vs. inherent awareness:  Whether you tier your program branding Smurf, SuperSmurf and UltraSmurf what really matters is how you promote the designation with customers.  Several vendor programs try to get fancy and offer “Expert, Elite, Alliance, Premium, etc” (try translating that into Russian) but, when we completed our mega-spendy branding research we landed on Gold as the top tier designation. Thanks to our Greek friends, the Olympics have long established three familiar metals as a system that is now inherently understood as good/better/best.  On top of that, it translated meaningfully worldwide. 
Consider this:  Government RFPs often designate a Gold Certified Partner as a requirement to respond to the bid.  How long do you suppose it will take to educate the US Government on the new designations and which ones they should/shouldn’t include in their RFP?

Make no mistake, it takes years and millions of dollars to make a meaningful brand as any realistic marketer would tell you.  Most partner programs aren’t funded like a product group who could pull off a brand introduction campaign.   

Your trade-off question is this:  Do I have the investment to introduce a new brand or does my brand need to have some inherent meaning that customers will be able to figure out even if they weren’t exposed to a brand campaign? 

3.  Detail vs. interest:   Yes, customers do need to know in what area the partner has expertise.  But not necessarily right up front in the brand.  Microsoft and other vendors are packing a lot of additional information into a brand and in doing so, become less and less interesting.   The details should be unfolded or you risk losing the impact of the overall brand -- consider how a partner with multiple designations is supposed to represent themselves on a business card. 

Imagine that you have a partner using the designation on their web site.  Ideally, the customer should be able to click on the brand and learn more about what area the partner has earned their designation in and what that brand means by having the logo link to the vendor web site that explains the designation.  You just don’t need to include all of that detail within the overall designation. 

Let’s take an offline scenario:  Customers might learn from a business letter that the partner has a designation.  The partner then should have ready-made copy that they can use explaining their area of expertise and might include a report or letter from the vendor that proclaims and validates the details of their designation.  I’d suggest you designate the word “Specialist” as the only word that is used in the brand itself.  It will invite the question: “Specialist in what?” Then create ways to unfold that information out using supplemental information available in the context of the brand (web site, confirmation letters and pre-made copy). 

Don’t tell the whole story inside of one brand.  This was something that I had to learn and I thank the CMG team who had the discipline to apply it and school me. 

Your trade-off question here is:  Do you want to manage hundreds of iterations of brands to include specific detail or do you want to have the brand “Specialist” draw sufficient customer interest to seek out more information about the brand? 

A specific call-out to Microsoft who is revamping their branding:  I think after you go down this path of transitioning the brand, you might find:

a) Partners will be resistant to change because they don’t see the value in investing to swap out the brand (again). 
b) You’ve over-engineered the competency designations so that you’ll be in a constant tangle of how to organize and orient those designations over time.
c) The only thing that matters is how much you invest in promoting the designation.  So, imagine the possibility if you re-assign the re-branding budget and invest it in brand AWARENESS-BUILDING of the current brand system.  It’s not too late to turn back! 

In closing, here are a few unsolicited partner quotes from the past few weeks of interviews: 

“The most valuable benefit is the designation - it’s being able to say that we are “certified”. We’re more reputable to perspective customers.”

"[I joined because] we wanted to obtain Gold level, for the badge of honor.  "
 
"[We joined for] the status of having label with MS – gold partner status."