Stephanie Sissler
VP, Principal Analyst
Speaking At
Author Insights
Blog
Ranking And Prioritizing Channel Partners: To Tier Or Not To Tier?
Based on evolving B2B buyer needs and preferences, investing and collaborating with your channel partners is becoming increasingly prevalent and important. That said, it is unwise and unrealistic to support all partners in your ecosystem equally. Aligning resources to engage and enable the right ones is crucial. The challenge is how best to segment and prioritize partners accurately, […]
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Actionable Insights And Metrics That Unlock Channel Sales Growth
Importance Of Channel Sales Metrics Today, actionable insights are the backbone of channel sales organizations. Collecting the right data and transforming it into actionable insights enables channel sales leaders to spot risks, find opportunities for growth, and make smarter decisions. In other words, tracking the right metrics could mean the difference between hitting your channel […]
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Prepare Now For Successful 2022 Channel Sales Planning
Management and growth of the channel is too important to be left to chance. Here are the five actions to take in Q4 to ensure you and your organization are ready to begin building your 2022 channel sales plan.
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Five Tips For Getting 2021 Channel Sales Off To A Fast Start
Even in the best of times, starting the new year off fast is important. With the continuing uncertainty and turmoil caused by COVID-19, channel sales leaders must act now to ensure their team can hit the ground running on day one of the new year.
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Getting and Keeping a Seat at the Table: What Channel Sales Leaders Need to Do Differently
- Channel sales leaders must sharpen their business acumen and align their actions with the company’s strategy to gain internal support
- Today’s buyers and solutions are changing, making it imperative to increase the rigor around recruitment and determine whether current partners are the right ones
- Channel sales leaders must become trusted advisors to other company leaders — e.g. by providing peers with the data and insights they need to succeed
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When Is It Time to Fire a Channel Partner? Consider the Costs of Keeping Non-Performers
- The hard costs for keeping consistently non-performing partners are relatively low, but the opportunity costs can be significant
- Offboarding — the process of managing a partner termination — ensures all parties are on the same page when it comes to a partner’s exit
- With a solid partner agreement and a standardized offboarding process in place, partner terminations need not be overly complex, time consuming or risky
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Common Pitfalls of Joint Business Planning With Channel Partners and How to Avoid Them (Part Two)
- The first step on the path to joint business planning success is recognizing that it is not a highly recommended or obligatory annual task, but an ongoing partnership imperative to driving revenue
- Joint business planning with channel partners is one of the most effective means of driving alignment and more profitable revenue growth
- Joint business planning is a learned skill that must be supported by a proven, standardized process, the right data and insights, easy-to-use tools, and ongoing training and coaching
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Common Pitfalls of Joint Business Planning With Channel Partners and How to Avoid Them (Part One)
- The first step on the path to successful joint business planning is recognizing that it’s not a highly recommended or obligatory annual task — it’s an ongoing partnership imperative to drive revenue
- Joint business planning with channel partners is one of the most effective means of driving alignment and more profitable revenue growth
- Joint business planning is a learned skill that must be supported by a proven standardized process, the right data and insights, easy-to-use tools, and ongoing training and coaching
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Effective Channel Partner Sales Training: The Missing Link
- One of the most impactful means of optimizing channel sales success is a well-defined and executed sales enablement strategy
- Making learning more accessible and compelling to a wider channel partner audience is highly dependent on better content and the right technology to deliver that content
- Channel organizations are finding that their current technology strategies do not meet the learning requirements of their partners
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The Dirty Little Secret: Six Strategies for Mitigating Channel Partner Risks
- A channel strategy depends on C-level support to raise its profile, but many executives still question the ROI of indirect channel partners
- Without proper management, a company’s risk exposure can magnify when channel partners conduct business on its behalf
- There is no silver-bullet solution to mitigating channel risk; it takes a proven multi-pronged approach
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Recruiting the Right Partners: Four Reasons You Need Channel Development Managers
- With changing buyer needs and growing competition, keeping your channel partner funnel full is just as important as keeping the sales funnel full
- Avoid distracting channel account managers from nurturing and developing current partners by having them recruit new partners
- Effective recruitment and activation of new partners demands focus and a different persona than that of a channel account manager
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Are You Recruiting the Right Channel Partners?
- Many organizations continually make bad choices in the partners they allow into their programs
- Like hiring a new employee, accurate channel partner selection requires knowing what you are looking for and what you expect them to do
- The development of an ideal partner profile should be treated as a requirement – not just a best practice
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Seven Elements of a Successful PRM Implementation
- There is very little written about implementing a partner relationship management (PRM) system
- A successful PRM project starts with building a well-thought-out implementation plan
- Partners and internal end users are not going to adopt a tool if they don’t understand why and how to use it
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How to Develop a Compelling Channel Partner Business Proposition
- With more suppliers competing for channel partner mindshare, a strong business proposition is critical
- The first step to crafting a partner business proposition is to identify the ideal partner profile you are looking to recruit
- Channel sales and marketing should test business propositions with current and potential partners
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Don’t Have a Partner Recruitment Toolkit? You Should.
- Suppliers are pressured to increase sales through indirect channels – enough that indirect sales are increasing more than direct sales
- So, why are most suppliers still spending the lion’s share of their sales enablement budget on direct sales?
- Channel sales and channel marketing must arm PAMs and PDMs with the tools to recruit the right partners
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Terminology Alert: Channel Partner Certification vs. Qualification
- Not all channel partner testing that results in a credential should be referred to as certification; some partner testing should be classified as qualification
- To ensure security and integrity, certification exams can be taken offsite and overseen by an impartial individual who monitors the test-taking (i.e. proctored exams)
- While proctored exams are the optimal administration format, they are not always the most prudent approach to validating partner skills and knowledge
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Onboarding: Start Right to Maximize Partner Performance
- A structured, comprehensive onboarding process is key to minimizing partners’ ramp time and maximizing their ongoing engagement and productivity
- Poor onboarding of a new channel partner can quickly dismantle a relationship before it ever begins
- Effective training must be customized by role, provided to partners in a variety of formats, and regularly reinforced to drive knowledge retention
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Seven Habits of Highly Successful Channel Account Managers
- Effective channel account managers (CAMs) select, support and motivate partners
- High-performing CAMs use their strong business acumen to develop a deep understanding of their partners’ business
- CAMs identify and focus on their highest-revenue potential partners
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Five Signs That You Need a Partner Portal Content Strategy
- Suppliers need to establish an effective content strategy for their partner portals
- The navigation and structure of portal content should be organized in a logical way, making it easy for partners to find what they need
- The portal landing page must resonate with partners and motivate them to visit it on a regular basis