As you grow your channel, be sure to think about both breadth and managed partners.  Breadth partners are those who self-serve:  They may aspire to be managed someday but for now, they just need information and, ideally, a phone call from a dedicated telephone representative.  This rep should be someone who is informed about your company, partner incentives and has some discretionary pocket money to award high potential partners.  Think of them as a concierge to help breadth partners locate what they need and bubble up partners that show a lot of promise so they can be managed.

But ask yourself:  Are we in a channel echo chamber?   Do we keep talking to the same partners over and over, spending all of our funding only on these partners?  Can we move 20% of our resources into breadth and inject some fresh blood into our partner base?

Of course, the 80/20 rule applies and you cannot ignore your top-performing partners, but you also can’t afford to spend 100% of your resources on the top of the pyramid either.  A healthy blend of breadth and managed is necessary and we’ll be suggesting some ways that you can save money so that you CAN devote more attention to the middle of your channel pyramid.  

Managed
(MDF/Co-mktg)

Guided
(tele-managed, events, objectively apply if qualified for  co-funding or MDF )

Self-served
(web, webinar)



If you need any help, give us a call.