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C
orporate marketing has the responsibility to
market to channel partners the corporate
message as well as the event schedule (live
and webinar). That doesn’t mean that chan-
nel managers shouldn’t be running mini-
marketing campaigns of their own.
Channel partners come in different groups that we
label as Teams A, B, C and D. These grades refer to the
partners’ commitment to a carrier program as well as
sales engagement with that program. At any given time,
an average channel manager has a flock of 80 partners
to manage. By segmenting them, the channel manager
is able to prioritize response because, let’s face it, it’s
not possible to respond in a timely way to every call,
quote and email on any given day.
Time management is about prioritization. Segmenta-
tion of partners is about prioritization.
Now we all understand the A Team: great partners
out selling the products and firmly engaged with the
vendor. The grading of the rest is up for grabs. Typically,
I put the D team in the circle of “to be drip marketed
to.” Most likely the D team doesn’t know the vendor or
its products or has a primary and secondary vendor for
those products already. That is why a drip marketing
campaign is required.
Start with phone calls to gauge the partner. Is it
okay if you email them about once a week about
promotions and events? Do they attend partner
expos? If so, which ones? Would they like to come
to dinner to talk with other partners?
The dinner invite can work since in the be-
ginning (of the relationship) a channel manager
doesn’t have enough leverage. However, an-
other partner discussing what she likes about a
vendor and how easy they are to work with can
build trust and be convincing enough to open
the door to a trial.
The best marketing campaigns tell stories that reso-
nate with the target. Tell a story about a partner who did
not want to sell service X but eventually did and made
big $$$. Get a quote from that partner. Spread that mes-
sage via email or social media.
If a channel manager is attending an event – a trade
show or a corporate affair – she should personally invite
as many partners as possible. There are a number of e-vite
services that will send out an attractive invite to the event.
It is a step above a regular email and may stand out.
Why not send a regular email? You can. But you
might want to do something above that to your C and D
team, such as an e-vite or even a hand written note. Se-
riously, it will make you stand out. Read up on what got
Joe Girard listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records
as “the world’s greatest salesman.”
There are two major components of an email that can
get you deleted. One is the sender’s name. It is easy to fil-
ter email by sender’s name or email address. The generic
emails like marketing@ usually get caught in the filter.
Usually the channel manager’s email and name do not.
Communicating
with Your
Channel Partners
By
Peter
Radizeski
THE CHANNEL MANAGER’S
PLAYBOOK
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