CV_MayJune_2018

Channel Manager: But … did I mention … At this point, all the prospective agent is thinking about is what’s next on their agenda, and anything that the channel manager says will generally fall on deaf ears. Here is another sce- nario with yet another fatal flaw: Agent: Tell me why I should repre- sent your company to my customers (or sub agents). Channel Manager: My products will allow you to earn significant com- missions winning enterprise level ac- counts. We sell to the largest Fortune 100 clients in the U.S., and we are allowing you to sell our fantastic prod- ucts and services as well. Agent: Thank you, but all of my cur- rent and targeted clients are in the 25 to 50 employee range. I don’t see a fit. Channel Manager: But wait, we also have many products for those customers as well. We sell SIP trunks, hosted VoIP, and even POTS lines. Agent: I’ll give you a call if I see a fit down the road. I have those products covered by (agent again names four or five suppliers of similar services). In both scenarios, the channel manager walked into the sales call with the singular focus of telling the agent all about their compa- nies. There was no attempt to ask questions to better understand the agent’s business model, the targeted customers, strategy or daily prob- lems. No empathy was demonstrat- ed, so none was given. In scenario one, the channel man- ager gave a sales pitch that sounds the same as countless competitors and assumed that the agent was hav- ing bad experiences with their current portfolio of suppliers. This can be prob- lematic on multiple levels. First, the channel manager’s as- sumption that the agent does not have a good experience with existing sup- pliers can immediately put the agent on the defense. Some of those sup- pliers may contain deep-seeded per- sonal relationships and can make the partner feel that the channel manager is insulting close friends or associ- ates; besides, it is never a good idea to trash your competitors in any sell- ing scenario. Secondly, there was no focus on any singular item this particular supplier does markedly better than similar competitors. The channel manager went very wide and made it very difficult to find anything distinguishable in the message. Finally, as much as channel manag- ers want to believe otherwise, placing yourself as an escalation source is a recipe for failure. Sure, the agent wants to be able to escalate and demand ac- countability in the worst of situations; however, this projects a lack of confi- dence in the people generally respon- sible for issues. And the first time there is an issue, and the channel manager in question is sleeping (or on vacation, on a flight, in a meeting, etc.), the relation- ship is in severe danger. In scenario two, the channel manag- er made the (incorrect) assumption that this agent would be so excited about an enterprise product that they’d jump all over it and potentially change their entire approach to business. Above all else, this is potentially insulting to the agent’s business. Instead of first listen- ing to the agent, finding out about their ideal customer profile and understand- ing their plans for the future, the chan- nel manager assumed that the agent wasn’t as successful as they wanted to be or wasn’t making enough money selling to the customers that have helped build the business that made them a prospect in the first place. Listening and empathy are key elements to breaking into a new part- nership. Channel managers can have great success by asking for 15 minutes (not a lunch, dinner, event, etc.) of time to understand the agent’s business, and quickly provide one or two items that may resonate enough to have a future conversation. The key to this is respecting the agent’s time (if you say 15 minutes, check in at 14 minutes to gauge whether more time is available if needed; don’t just continue on past the agreed upon time), and not imme- diately assuming there are holes in the existing portfolio of suppliers. Some opening statements that may generate interest include: 1. “Tell me what you like about your current supplier partnerships.” This question not only will allow the chan- nel manager to understand areas where no opportunity exists, but in many cases the agent will engage and share the experiences or prod- ucts that they don’t like or are miss- ing. This is a much better tactic than asking agents what they don’t like about their current partnerships be- cause if the answer is “nothing,” the conversation can end quickly. 2. “What types of customers are you tar- geting now, and how do you see your business evolving in the next year or two?” Instead of assuming that the agent wants to sell something more, bigger or better, this question allows the agent to dive deep into the ele- ments that have made their business successful (and potentially tap into a source of pride), but encourages the agent to reveal their fear and uncer- tainty regarding the future. 3. “What new technology or service will enhance your relationships with your customers?” This allows the agent to expand upon which products or ser- vices are exciting for them now, and gives the channel manager a win- dow into what types of products and services might be the key to earning business down the road with this par- ticular agent. In summary, while personal interac- tions are at the core of successful sales conversations, listening is the key ele- ment to creating positive interactions. In the telecom agent channel, it is more important than anything else when it comes to developing new partnerships. After that, relationships, value proposi- tions and company history can come into play, but none of those things matter if the agent never opens the door for you to come in. Give these tactics a try and let me know how they work for you! o Bruce Wirt has 15 years in channel sales leadership and is currently the channel chief at Telesystem, which includes the LSI organiza- tion as well. Connect with him on Linke- dIN to share your success stories. channel management Channel Vision | May - June, 2018 14