ChannelVision Playbook Volume 8

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 scenario 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 commissions winning enterprise level accounts. We sell to the largest Fortune 100 clients in the U.S., and we are allowing you to sell our fantastic products 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 man- ager walked into the sales call with the singular focus of telling the agent all about their companies. There was no attempt to ask questions to better un- derstand the agent’s business model, the targeted customers, strategy or daily problems. No empathy was dem- onstrated, so none was given. In scenario one, the channel man- ager gave a sales pitch that sounds the same as countless competitors and as- sumed that the agent was having bad experiences with their current portfolio of suppliers. This can be problematic on multiple levels. First, the channel manager’s as- sumption that the agent does not have a good experience with existing suppli- ers can immediately put the agent on the defense. Some of those suppliers may contain deep-seeded personal relationships and can make the partner feel that the channel manager is insult- ing close friends or associates; besides, it is never a good idea to trash your competitors in any selling scenario. Secondly, there was no focus on any singular item this particular sup- plier does markedly better than similar competitors. The channel manager went very wide and made it very dif- ficult 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- 12 THE CHANNEL MANAGER’S PLAYBOOK