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Channel Partner Recruitment: 6 Steps to Achieve Success ...
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“Establish the business case Evaluate existing Partners Build ideal Partner profiles Partner attraction focus Discovery phase Onboard and enable” 👉 Related [Channel Insights] Why Channel Partner Recruitment is a Key Focus for Tech Vendors in 2021 2. Evaluate Existing Partners Before you invest in recruitment, it's so important to evaluate your existing Partners to understand the value and gaps in your channel in order to make better decisions. This process begins by addressing Partner capabilities in fulfilling your objectives and results in the identification of gaps or ‘white space’ across key areas including business, skills and attitude. We recommend the 6Cs Partner Evaluation Model here as a tool to support this process. It helps you to assess existing (and new) Partners against six core attributes of: Compatibility - business model, vision, goals and culture is in sync with requirements Coverage - access to targeted buyers in markets where coverage is required Capability - review the extent of knowledge, skills, experience, processes and tools required Capacity - ability to achieve targeted short and long-term revenue targets Creditworthiness - long-term business viability of partner and the level of capability to invest Commitment - level to which the partner is dedicated to making the partnership a success 3. Build Ideal Partner Profiles Once you’ve established what your existing Partners are bringing to the partnership and what you hope to gain from new ones, you can build your ideal new partner profile, or set of profiles for each Partner type; the 6Cs model can be leveraged here. You should treat this stage as a collaborative effort. Just like the creation of educational, revenue-impacting content should not be the preserve of the marketing department, the process of building Partner profiles worth their salt requires input from cross-departmental teams, especially channel managers and regional account teams. In fact, channel account managers should be front and centre of this process and in many cases, should lead it.
“The channel Partner recruitment process should be focused on alignment – so before you get started, you need to know exactly what kind of Partner you want and how you want them to contribute to your portfolio and growth plans, to establish the business case.” 👉 Related [Channel Insights] Why Channel Partner Recruitment is a Key Focus for Tech Vendors in 2021 2. Evaluate Existing Partners Before you invest in recruitment, it's so important to evaluate your existing Partners to understand the value and gaps in your channel in order to make better decisions. This process begins by addressing Partner capabilities in fulfilling your objectives and results in the identification of gaps or ‘white space’ across key areas including business, skills and attitude. We recommend the 6Cs Partner Evaluation Model here as a tool to support this process. It helps you to assess existing (and new) Partners against six core attributes of: Compatibility - business model, vision, goals and culture is in sync with requirements Coverage - access to targeted buyers in markets where coverage is required Capability - review the extent of knowledge, skills, experience, processes and tools required Capacity - ability to achieve targeted short and long-term revenue targets Creditworthiness - long-term business viability of partner and the level of capability to invest Commitment - level to which the partner is dedicated to making the partnership a success 3. Build Ideal Partner Profiles Once you’ve established what your existing Partners are bringing to the partnership and what you hope to gain from new ones, you can build your ideal new partner profile, or set of profiles for each Partner type; the 6Cs model can be leveraged here. You should treat this stage as a collaborative effort. Just like the creation of educational, revenue-impacting content should not be the preserve of the marketing department, the process of building Partner profiles worth their salt requires input from cross-departmental teams, especially channel managers and regional account teams. In fact, channel account managers should be front and centre of this process and in many cases, should lead it.
“Namely, those Partners who are no longer (or perhaps never were) proactive or positively impacting channel objectives.” 👉 Related [Channel Insights] Why Channel Partner Recruitment is a Key Focus for Tech Vendors in 2021 2. Evaluate Existing Partners Before you invest in recruitment, it's so important to evaluate your existing Partners to understand the value and gaps in your channel in order to make better decisions. This process begins by addressing Partner capabilities in fulfilling your objectives and results in the identification of gaps or ‘white space’ across key areas including business, skills and attitude. We recommend the 6Cs Partner Evaluation Model here as a tool to support this process. It helps you to assess existing (and new) Partners against six core attributes of: Compatibility - business model, vision, goals and culture is in sync with requirements Coverage - access to targeted buyers in markets where coverage is required Capability - review the extent of knowledge, skills, experience, processes and tools required Capacity - ability to achieve targeted short and long-term revenue targets Creditworthiness - long-term business viability of partner and the level of capability to invest Commitment - level to which the partner is dedicated to making the partnership a success 3. Build Ideal Partner Profiles Once you’ve established what your existing Partners are bringing to the partnership and what you hope to gain from new ones, you can build your ideal new partner profile, or set of profiles for each Partner type; the 6Cs model can be leveraged here. You should treat this stage as a collaborative effort. Just like the creation of educational, revenue-impacting content should not be the preserve of the marketing department, the process of building Partner profiles worth their salt requires input from cross-departmental teams, especially channel managers and regional account teams. In fact, channel account managers should be front and centre of this process and in many cases, should lead it.
👉 Related [Channel Insights] Why Channel Partner Recruitment is a Key Focus for Tech Vendors in 2021 2. Evaluate Existing Partners Before you invest in recruitment, it's so important to evaluate your existing Partners to understand the value and gaps in your channel in order to make better decisions. This process begins by addressing Partner capabilities in fulfilling your objectives and results in the identification of gaps or ‘white space’ across key areas including business, skills and attitude. We recommend the 6Cs Partner Evaluation Model here as a tool to support this process. It helps you to assess existing (and new) Partners against six core attributes of: Compatibility - business model, vision, goals and culture is in sync with requirements Coverage - access to targeted buyers in markets where coverage is required Capability - review the extent of knowledge, skills, experience, processes and tools required Capacity - ability to achieve targeted short and long-term revenue targets Creditworthiness - long-term business viability of partner and the level of capability to invest Commitment - level to which the partner is dedicated to making the partnership a success 3. Build Ideal Partner Profiles Once you’ve established what your existing Partners are bringing to the partnership and what you hope to gain from new ones, you can build your ideal new partner profile, or set of profiles for each Partner type; the 6Cs model can be leveraged here. You should treat this stage as a collaborative effort. Just like the creation of educational, revenue-impacting content should not be the preserve of the marketing department, the process of building Partner profiles worth their salt requires input from cross-departmental teams, especially channel managers and regional account teams. In fact, channel account managers should be front and centre of this process and in many cases, should lead it. “This might be a particular set of skills and competencies, a verticalised or software specialism, coverage of a certain geographic area, or close alignment with a go-to-market (GTM) strategy.” The prospective Partner needs to understand what value they will get from a new relationship so that they know it’s worth investing their time; for it to be successful, the relationship must offer mutual benefits and this must be clear from the outset. Ultimately, Partners are people and you need to be able to read between the lines to know whether they’ll be a good fit and be motivated to sell your products and solutions. 6. Onboard and Enable Once you’ve recruited a new Partner, the work doesn’t stop there. Partner success relies on effective onboarding to grow new relationships and build that all-important trust, which ultimately drives ROI. A good place to start is to create a 30/60/90 day Partner onboarding plan. Sales teams are instrumental here - indeed a dedicated 'enablement team' made up of key players is preferable - not only in the planning, but in making sure Partners have the right training and understand the value proposition, are equipped with the right sales tools, can talk strategically to their prospects, and can participate in strategic account planning and quarterly business reviews. All of this not only instils accountability in your sales team but also builds trust with the Partners and provides evidence of the value proposition. If you neglect this part of the journey, you could be recruiting Partners now who, a year down the line, still haven’t logged onto the Partner portal.Focus on recruiting Partners who fit your ecosystem and then onboard, train and enable them to work effectively within it. It’s easy to recruit lots of Partners without qualifying them, but successful recruitment doesn’t stop at sign-up. It’s what happens next that makes the difference to the bottom line. You’re looking for Partners who will drive repeated revenue, not one-off deals.
“Establish the business case Evaluate existing Partners Build ideal Partner profiles Partner attraction focus Discovery phase Onboard and enable” 👉 Related [Channel Insights] Why Channel Partner Recruitment is a Key Focus for Tech Vendors in 2021 2. Evaluate Existing Partners Before you invest in recruitment, it's so important to evaluate your existing Partners to understand the value and gaps in your channel in order to make better decisions. This process begins by addressing Partner capabilities in fulfilling your objectives and results in the identification of gaps or ‘white space’ across key areas including business, skills and attitude. We recommend the 6Cs Partner Evaluation Model here as a tool to support this process. It helps you to assess existing (and new) Partners against six core attributes of: Compatibility - business model, vision, goals and culture is in sync with requirements Coverage - access to targeted buyers in markets where coverage is required Capability - review the extent of knowledge, skills, experience, processes and tools required Capacity - ability to achieve targeted short and long-term revenue targets Creditworthiness - long-term business viability of partner and the level of capability to invest Commitment - level to which the partner is dedicated to making the partnership a success 3. Build Ideal Partner Profiles Once you’ve established what your existing Partners are bringing to the partnership and what you hope to gain from new ones, you can build your ideal new partner profile, or set of profiles for each Partner type; the 6Cs model can be leveraged here. You should treat this stage as a collaborative effort. Just like the creation of educational, revenue-impacting content should not be the preserve of the marketing department, the process of building Partner profiles worth their salt requires input from cross-departmental teams, especially channel managers and regional account teams. In fact, channel account managers should be front and centre of this process and in many cases, should lead it.
“The channel Partner recruitment process should be focused on alignment – so before you get started, you need to know exactly what kind of Partner you want and how you want them to contribute to your portfolio and growth plans, to establish the business case.” 👉 Related [Channel Insights] Why Channel Partner Recruitment is a Key Focus for Tech Vendors in 2021 2. Evaluate Existing Partners Before you invest in recruitment, it's so important to evaluate your existing Partners to understand the value and gaps in your channel in order to make better decisions. This process begins by addressing Partner capabilities in fulfilling your objectives and results in the identification of gaps or ‘white space’ across key areas including business, skills and attitude. We recommend the 6Cs Partner Evaluation Model here as a tool to support this process. It helps you to assess existing (and new) Partners against six core attributes of: Compatibility - business model, vision, goals and culture is in sync with requirements Coverage - access to targeted buyers in markets where coverage is required Capability - review the extent of knowledge, skills, experience, processes and tools required Capacity - ability to achieve targeted short and long-term revenue targets Creditworthiness - long-term business viability of partner and the level of capability to invest Commitment - level to which the partner is dedicated to making the partnership a success 3. Build Ideal Partner Profiles Once you’ve established what your existing Partners are bringing to the partnership and what you hope to gain from new ones, you can build your ideal new partner profile, or set of profiles for each Partner type; the 6Cs model can be leveraged here. You should treat this stage as a collaborative effort. Just like the creation of educational, revenue-impacting content should not be the preserve of the marketing department, the process of building Partner profiles worth their salt requires input from cross-departmental teams, especially channel managers and regional account teams. In fact, channel account managers should be front and centre of this process and in many cases, should lead it.
“A key objective of the business case is to ensure you avoid the 'long-tail'.” 👉 Related [Channel Insights] Why Channel Partner Recruitment is a Key Focus for Tech Vendors in 2021 2. Evaluate Existing Partners Before you invest in recruitment, it's so important to evaluate your existing Partners to understand the value and gaps in your channel in order to make better decisions. This process begins by addressing Partner capabilities in fulfilling your objectives and results in the identification of gaps or ‘white space’ across key areas including business, skills and attitude. We recommend the 6Cs Partner Evaluation Model here as a tool to support this process. It helps you to assess existing (and new) Partners against six core attributes of: Compatibility - business model, vision, goals and culture is in sync with requirements Coverage - access to targeted buyers in markets where coverage is required Capability - review the extent of knowledge, skills, experience, processes and tools required Capacity - ability to achieve targeted short and long-term revenue targets Creditworthiness - long-term business viability of partner and the level of capability to invest Commitment - level to which the partner is dedicated to making the partnership a success 3. Build Ideal Partner Profiles Once you’ve established what your existing Partners are bringing to the partnership and what you hope to gain from new ones, you can build your ideal new partner profile, or set of profiles for each Partner type; the 6Cs model can be leveraged here. You should treat this stage as a collaborative effort. Just like the creation of educational, revenue-impacting content should not be the preserve of the marketing department, the process of building Partner profiles worth their salt requires input from cross-departmental teams, especially channel managers and regional account teams. In fact, channel account managers should be front and centre of this process and in many cases, should lead it.
“Namely, those Partners who are no longer (or perhaps never were) proactive or positively impacting channel objectives.” 👉 Related [Channel Insights] Why Channel Partner Recruitment is a Key Focus for Tech Vendors in 2021 2. Evaluate Existing Partners Before you invest in recruitment, it's so important to evaluate your existing Partners to understand the value and gaps in your channel in order to make better decisions. This process begins by addressing Partner capabilities in fulfilling your objectives and results in the identification of gaps or ‘white space’ across key areas including business, skills and attitude. We recommend the 6Cs Partner Evaluation Model here as a tool to support this process. It helps you to assess existing (and new) Partners against six core attributes of: Compatibility - business model, vision, goals and culture is in sync with requirements Coverage - access to targeted buyers in markets where coverage is required Capability - review the extent of knowledge, skills, experience, processes and tools required Capacity - ability to achieve targeted short and long-term revenue targets Creditworthiness - long-term business viability of partner and the level of capability to invest Commitment - level to which the partner is dedicated to making the partnership a success 3. Build Ideal Partner Profiles Once you’ve established what your existing Partners are bringing to the partnership and what you hope to gain from new ones, you can build your ideal new partner profile, or set of profiles for each Partner type; the 6Cs model can be leveraged here. You should treat this stage as a collaborative effort. Just like the creation of educational, revenue-impacting content should not be the preserve of the marketing department, the process of building Partner profiles worth their salt requires input from cross-departmental teams, especially channel managers and regional account teams. In fact, channel account managers should be front and centre of this process and in many cases, should lead it.