I have a confession to make: looking back, when I started, I really didn’t think through my plan clearly.

There were many aspects that later became apparent that needed much greater thought and if I did, then things would have been easier, faster or better. If only I had spent more time on the planning. Yet, no matter what, you can’t think of everything and I always tend to err on the side of sufficient planning and move while reviewing and fixing on the go.

What is enough time on planning and what expertise should you call on to help you?

If you are planning on building a sales channel for your business, then this may help. This is the start of a series of articles and interactive live webinars that hopefully will provide you with practical steps to help you clarify your plans, and allow you to succeed faster.

You should seek clarity on your Partnering Strategy, it will make things better and faster and get buy-in across the team.

Clarity on your Partner Strategy will help you in the following areas:

1) Objectives and Commitment to Sales Channels
To set the tone for every activity and engagement in developing your sales channels, detailing initial expectations and objectives will establish a test each of the planning areas.

Where does partnering fit into your company’s plans?
Are sales channels a secondary plan, with direct sales being the preference in markets?
Are sales channels being sought for markets your executive team don’t understand or have experience in?
Is Direct Sales the preference and sales channels only being used for easing market access to multiple markets, that will later be transitioned to direct sales?
The commitment to building sales channels will affect the investment and pace of progress. A lack of commitment will bring lack of understanding, constant resistance and frustration on all sides, unless managed appropriately.
Are you building a partner network initially for appearances, to seem like you are in every market?

Are you covertly partnering with a number of large companies, lining up the company to be sold to one of them?

2) Requirements from Partners
What do you want from a partner?
Do you want them to identify and bring your company into target customers?
Do you want them to generate leads and win deals for you to deliver?
Do you want them to do everything along the marketing, sales, delivery and support?
What pre-requisite sector domain expertise must they have?
What training will they need from you?
How much business do you expect? Once up to speed, how many deals do you expect, per quarter, per month?

…

3) Clarity on your Partner Types: Criteria and Capabilities
What are the company types that are most suitable to sell your products?
There is much subtlety in the detail here that will save you much time. Best to start with this point that your current assumptions are not detailed enough, yet it takes only a few short steps to draw out the relevant detail.

Details such as:

The partners’ capabilities with your target customers and decision makers
How your product will feature in your partners marketing and sales activities to their existing customers, in winning new customers.
What capabilities they have in sales, technical pre-sales, positing against competitors, customer requirements, business domain expertise, technical delivery and support.
Do they carry on their business in a comparable manner to yours?

There is much more to this topic, that will be covered in detail in later articles and live webinar.

4) Market Prioritization
The executive team may have views on the selected markets, but do you have market selection or prioritization criteria that removes opinions or at least allows the team to decide?

There are a number of criteria you should consider, but the top ones are where you can deliver or implement your solution, where presents the greatest opportunities and what markets can you gain easiest access to?

What strong potential reseller partners exist and what markets do they serve?

More detail in later articles on how to find data and analyse these criteria are other market indicators according to your target sectors.

5) Partner Propositions
For each different partner types, the partner service revenue opportunities and the licence share will vary depending on your solution type and a number of other factors.

You can simply copy the partner offering of a like company, yet you should seek to develop the model that suits your unique set of criteria for your business:

Strength of customer value proposition
Market Demand
Strength and amount of competition
Deal size
Resulting service revenue
Marketing supports necessary
Proprietary Sales supports necessary etc

6) Number of Partners Per Market and Pace

How many partners do you want across a region or in each country?
When does each of the following suit your business?
One per market? Do you offer Exclusivity?
Small number per market, so as not to over crowd the market?
Anyone who wants to sell your product is a partner?
Proactively secure as many partners as possible?

Each of these can be a valid part of your strategy depending on your product and the market you are in. ALSO, your market can change, and you can decide to change your position in the market and thus change your approach on these?
Which one are you in or which one suits yours?

7) Partner Recruitment, Partner Management and Your Partner Program

What is the appropriate partner recruitment approach?
At what pace do you want to grow your partner network to enable you to onboard, develop your model and your team?
What does it take to manage your partners?
How long does it take to get them up to speed?
How fast should you develop your partner program?

8) Team

As there are many aspects in building your channel there are many capabilities needed. What capabilities should your first hire possess?
Which is more important Partner Management or Partner Recruitment?
What parts can you outsource and what parts should you hire for?
How do you get started as effectively as possible to suit your objectives?
And more…

9) Financial Plan

How much money and time are you planning to invest and when are you expecting a return?
Depending on your partnering objectives, what are the team growth requirements and all the necessary activities to meet your objectives?
What pace of growth can you expect?

The set of questions above are only scratching the surface and need to appropriate to your company’s unique circumstances.

Imagine if you were able to quickly gather this outline for your business’ sale channel plans today and over the coming weeks to establish more detail in aspect as we discuss it further.