Keys To Building A Winning Partner Enablement Strategy
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Transcript of Keys To Building A Winning Partner Enablement Strategy
www.hawkeyechannel.com
www.hawkeyechannel.com
February 11, 2010
William Gilsing, VP Global Strategies
The Keys to Building a Winning Partner Enablement Strategy
www.hawkeyechannel.com
hawkeye’s Partner Enablement Series
2
Our 2010 webinar series with Baptie focuses on partner enablement.
Today – Keys to Building a Winning Partner Enablement Strategy
April 22 – Enable Your Partners with Proven Solutions
• Deal registration
• MDF
• Global payments
June 22 – Best Practices in Partner Rewards
Win
nin
g P
artn
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ble
me
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trate
gy
© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
• Best-in-class approach to partner
rewards
• Case study in implementing a
reward/incentive solution
October 20 – Innovative
Communications and Training to
Enable Partners
• Communication solutions to engage
partners
• Training and certification
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Solutions for the world’s leading companies.
3
You can depend on hawkeye to maximize your channel investments
1996 Cohesion, Inc. founded
1998 Hawkeye Group founded
2000 Hawkeye acquires Cohesion
2003 Hawkeye expands into Europe
2007 Hawkeye expands into Asia Pacific
2009 Hawkeye introduces PartnerConduit and SaaS offerings
Wh
y h
aw
ke
ye
?
Channel focused. Strategic, experienced minds.
Rare insight into emerging channel trends with a
quest for game-changing opportunities.
Results driven. Flawless execution in translating
strategic concepts into real channel solutions with
a laser focus on results.
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Hawkeye Channel PracticeW
inn
ing
Pa
rtne
r En
ab
lem
en
t Stra
teg
yImprovingthe Value of
Channel Relationships
Channel Strategy
Insight
Assessment
Best Practices
Channel Programs
Enablement
Performance
Measurement
Channel Collaboration
Growth
Reach
Profitability
new!
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hawkeye’s mission is to develop and execute innovative, technology-enhanced channel marketing strategies and programs that allow our clients to deliver incremental channel growth in terms of mindshare, channel solutions, and indirect sales.
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Today’s Agenda
5
Pinpoint and enable partners worldwide to increase revenue and
penetrate new customer segments.
Win
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g P
artn
er E
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ble
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Prioritize partner segments to
optimize channel investments
Conduct channel performance
―health checks‖
Leverage partner input
• Qualitative research
• Partner Advisory Councils
www.hawkeyechannel.com
PARTNER SEGMENTATION AND ANALYTICS
6© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
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1. Identify partners currently contributing
significantly to your channel revenue
stream
2. Identify partners with potential to
contribute significantly to your channel
revenue stream
Understanding Your Partner Base
7
Optimizing your channel investment starts with understanding two key
points about your partner base:
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
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Segmentation and Analytics
8
Segmentation/Tiering exercises help you not
only understand current top-performing
partners, but segmenting out partners with
the potential to perform well.
Pa
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Analytics provide you with more
detailed snapshots of partner group
performance and trends.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Wilfredo Pareto
20%20%
80%80%
80%80%
20%20%
Population Wealth
Use for “looking backwards” and “looking forward”
Use for understanding and prioritization of accounts independent of or in conjunction with any other “tiering” or partner “labels”
Partner Segmentation & TieringP
artn
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eg
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an
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
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50%
5%
30%
15%
15%
30%
5%
50%
% Accounts
% ResultsExpectation
80%
20%
20%
80%
Accounts Performance
Actual % Results
XX%
XX%
XX%
XX%
45%
45%
We use a 4 level Pareto distribution rather than the usual 20% / 80% “rule” to provide better granularity and especially to identify the lower level 45% of partners who are expected to provide 45% of revenue.
XX%
XX%
XX%
TieringP
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an
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
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Facilitating Partner Growth
11
Encouraging and enabling partners to grow to a higher tier requires:
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
True Partner Value
Coverage and capacity understanding
• Who are the value accounts with growth
potential?
Programs
• Hard and soft benefits for moving up
• Revenue growth support (leads, MDF, etc.)
Competency enhancement
• Practical means of supporting partners to sell
and support solutions and customer
segments
Communication and engagement
• Effective indirect communications and
information access
• Prioritized and efficient direct ―touch‖
www.hawkeyechannel.com
What You Do Depends on What You WantP
artn
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Existing
New
Target New Customer Size
Segment
Solution Goal
Expand Current Customer Types
Target New Customer Vertical
Segment
Sell to Current Customer Types
Sell to New Customer
Types
Revenue Target
Strategies and tactics to encourage and enable your value partners to grow from one tier to the next will be somewhat or considerably different depending on:
Is it an existing or new product, solution, or service?
Are you targeting the current types of customers you have, or new customer types – size segment / vertical segment?
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Road Map to SuccessP
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Coverage and Capacity Understanding
Program Design
and / or
Enhancement
Which of your current partners have the characteristics required to sell
the solution?
How many of what kinds of partners
do you have that could sell the
service?
Hard and
Soft Benefits
What is the priority for recruiting and
engaging individual partners for the
existing solution?
How do requirements of
current partner program
need to be modified or
enhanced for this specific
solution / partner set?
What indirect
communications and
“direct sales touch”
resources can be applied
to reaching the target
partners
Recruiting
and
Activation
What different or
additional rewards need
to be offered to insure
the desired behaviors?
Indirect
CommunicationsPartner Skills
Enhancement
Partner Data Collection and Analysis
Identify and “populate” the partner data base with key attributes required for success with the product or solution
What are best, easiest,
affordable methods for
partners to develop
knowledge and skills to
sell the solution?
What are best, easiest,
affordable methods for
inbound and outbound
communications for the
solution?
Results Analysis, Action Plan Refinement, Expansion
Demand Generation
How can we generate, or better yet enable the partner to drive, demand for the solution?
www.hawkeyechannel.com
The Role of Analytics
Analytics are key to helping you understand issues and opportunities related to channel revenues and program performance and prognosis for the future (based on trend projections)
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Maximize revenue and ROI of
channel investment
Identify ―opportunistic‖ groups of
partners for revenue growth
Reduce / refine ―wasted‖ program
spend
Identify effective programs /
actions for expansion
Improved forecasting
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The Role of Analytics
Basic data most everyone has
Sales out data
Program performance data (participation activity and costs)
Core partner attribute data (typically partner accreditation or ―tier‖
assignment)
Sales engagement (―managed’ versus ―unmanaged‖)
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Data that permits even more
robust drill down and insights
Account attributes like:
• Partner business models
• Customer size segments
targeted
• Solutions offered
• Services offered
• Certifications held
• Competitors carried
Depth and breath of analytics and actionable insights are limited only
by data availability
Two key challenges:1. Buy-in & sponsorship of key
stakeholders2. Data accuracy & consistency
www.hawkeyechannel.com
The Role of Analytics
Pareto level assignment• Our breakout of the traditional 80% / 20%
―rule‖ in to four levels for better partner opportunity understanding and prioritization
Total ―performance‖• Total accounts
• Revenue, program participation, expense, etc.
Account activity frequency• How many partners are actually buying or
participating in a program in any given period or over time?
Average performance per account (APA)• How much revenue and / or other
performance measure does each partner or groups of partners produce / incur in any given period or over time?
Account Base ―Churn‖• How many partners have been added,
how many have ―dropped out‖, and what has been the impact on revenue?
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Continuing vs. new account performance (―same store‖)
• Are new accounts doing better or worse than continuing accounts, and what are the implications?
• Especially important when partner base is being expanded
Program specific measures• Program participation, utilization, cost
• ―Attach‖ rates / cross sell
• Return on investment against incremental revenue
Comparatives• How do accounts in different levels or
with different attributes, who do or do not participate in different programs perform vs. other accounts, or those who do not participate?
Top level and drill down to specific products and partner
attributes
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Analytics: Overall and by Partner Attributes
Total and By Product / Solution Groups
• Period to Period• Trends / Trend Forecast
Core Performance Measures• Partners Participating / Not Participating• Revenue • Buying / Activity Frequency• Average Performance per Account (APA)
Additional Measures• Account Base Churn
– Count Adds, Drops, Net Change– Core Performance Measures / Results Add,
Drop, Net Change
• New vs. Continuing Accounts (Same Store)– New Count, Continuing Count– New Performance versus Continuing Core
Performance Measures
Segment Data Associations• Above by Partner Classification and / or
other partner attributes categories)• Above By Partner Classification within
Pareto levels and / or ―Revenue Bands‖
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Account Performance Churn By Classification
(30,000,000)
(20,000,000)
(10,000,000)
0
10,000,000
20,000,000
30,000,000
40,000,000
50,000,000
Platinum Gold Business
Partner
Distributor Unknown
Drops Adds Net Change
Pareto Level 4 (Bottom 50%) New vs. Continuing
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Continuing Accounts New Accounts
% A cco unts in Level % Level P erfo rmance
Pareto Level 3 (Next 30%) New vs. Continuing
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Continuing Accounts New Accounts
% A cco unts in Level % Level P erfo rmance
Pareto Level 2 (Next 15%) New vs. Continuing
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Continuing Accounts New Accounts
% A cco unts in Level % Level P erfo rmance
Pareto Level 1 (Top 5%) New vs. Continuing
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Continuing Accounts New Accounts
% A cco unts in Level % Level P erfo rmance
% Accounts / % Revenue by Classification
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Platinum Gold Business
Partner
Unknown Other
% Accounts % All Revenue
P2P % Change - All
$$$
APA
Accounts
-30% -20% -10% 0% 10%
% Change from Previous Quarter
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Analytics Key Points
18
Complexity
• Don’t confuse analytics with descriptive statistics. A skilled business analyst with business industry knowledge can perform the required and sophisticated number crunching.
Executive Buy-in
• Obtain buy-in from Finance, Channel Operations, Channel Marketing, and Channel Sales.
Consensus
• The successful use of analytics requires consensus within your organization on the data sets to use (sales, marketing, etc.) and what you want to report
Practical Tool
• Analytics are more than an analytic exercise; they are a practical tool that uses solid information to guide your channel investments
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
HEALTH CHECKS
19© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
What are Health Checks?
20
Hawkeye recommends partner program audits – ―health checks‖ – to
better help you understand your program offerings, processes and
business rules and to identify opportunities for improvement. The
results of a program health check are prioritized, actionable
recommendations.
He
alth
Ch
ecks
© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Health Checks by Program Offering
Partner Forecasting & Prioritization Partner Communication
Channel Coverage & Capacity Planning
Incentive Management: Promotions, SPIFs, Rebates
Opportunity Management MDF & Co-marketing Programs
Partner Marketing & Sales Tools
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General Health Check Approach
21
A health check review should be able to answer these kinds of general questions about your program offering:
He
alth
Ch
ecks
© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Analysis of the program business rules and processes
Does the program motivate the desired partner behavior?
Is the program well integrated with other programs and offerings?
Does the program include metrics to measure outcome/ROI?
Is the program implemented globally with appropriate regional localization?
Does the program enable partners and align with best practices for that type of program?
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Key Issues - Checklist
Top Level RTM How do I determine if I should or could go
after a particular segment?
What are the right RTM approaches and mix of direct and indirect sales?
How do I organize and present my channel ecosystem so that my entire organization can understand and buy-in to it?
Channel Coverage & Capacity How target customers want and need to
acquire my products and solutions?
How many of what kinds of accounts do I have and how are they performing?
How many of what kinds of partners to I need to achieve revenue / segment goals?
What are the practical methods of valuing and forecasting that I can realistically apply in my organization?
What is the gap between what I have and what I need?
How do I build a target list of partners to recruit?
He
alth
Ch
ecks
Partner Programs What do I need to enable my partners
and how do I accomplish it?
What are the most critical things – and in what priority – do I need to offer different partner types?
How do my hard and soft program benefits stack up against BIC and my competition?
How do I test and validate my program value proposition?
How do I optimize my channel program spend?
How do I best measure the performance of my partner programs?
Partner Communications What are the best practices for partner
communications and sales engagement?
How do I efficiently and effectively manage the flow of the right messages to the right partners through the right media?
22© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Design & Implement Programs Based on Partner LifecycleH
ea
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Plan & Recruit
Create Demand
Enable Sell Service Retain
Tools, systems and training/certification to enable partners to identify/close opportunities, sell and deploy solutions
Training and Certification
Demo/Eval Roadmap Co-op/MDF
Marketing program and resources to access new markets and acquire new customers.
Co-op/MDF Advertising
Clear engagement policies and pricing
Profitable, easy-to-execute transactions and fulfillment
Leads/OpptyMgmt
Joint sales calls Matchmaking
Partner-specific technical resources and assistance
Pre and post sales support.
RMA policy and procedures
Partner development and collaboration
Partner communications.
Rewards and incentives
Advisory boards, product briefings
Channel customer sat
Provide value proposition to target and recruit partners and to fill geographic and market coverage needs
Profiling, Registration, Qualification
Self-service, collaborative PRM
Partner Strategy/Tactics
Performance Analytics
Partner Programs/Treatments
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Health Check Example: Opportunity Registration
24
He
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Audit checklist:
Reduce administrative burden
Review program participation – are the right
partners registering the right opportunities?
Review program uptake/usage
Consider ability to support different partners,
different kinds of deals/flexibility
Reporting
ROI
Reduce program complexity
Audit reward levels – Competitive? Effective? Do
they reward the right behavior?
Analyze processes – Review opportunities to
streamline, automate
Trustworthy to partner?
Integration with other applications, databases
Payment process – Timely? Able to support multiple
currencies? Compliant with regulations?
Enter Opportunity
Review Opportunity
Approve Opportunity
Win Business
Make ClaimReview Claim
Approve Claim
Payment Processing
Reporting
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Health Check Example: Partner Communication
25
Map messaging and methods to goals &
objectives
Push the right information to the right users at the right time
Centralize all communications on
easy-to-use “self-service” portals
Measure, evaluate & modify messaging and
communications
He
alth
Ch
ecks
To FieldTo PartnerThru PartnerTo Customer
Extranets & Intranets Newsletters & RSS Partner Locator Tools Targeted Collateral Sales & Marketing Tools Blogs & Forums
Measure page views, page hits, and click-throughs
Use surveys, interviews and/or focus groups
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Health Check Example: Incentive Management
26
Audit Checklist
Map rewards to behaviors
Reward desired behaviors
Review program flexibility
For partner types
For localization
Provide end user tools & training
Review program communication
Evaluate ease of use
Reduce administrative burden
For partners
For program administrators
User guides, documentation
Opportunities to automate, streamline
Analyze program ROI
Provide differentiation between tiers
Effective reporting?
Integration with other tools, databases
Analyze payment process, regulatory compliance
He
alth
Ch
ecks
© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Health Check Example: Incentive Management
27
He
alth
Ch
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Channel Strategy• Channel spend Analysis• Program Economics• Program Effectiveness
Earn• Sales In• Sales Out (POS)• Training/Certification• Leads Referrals• Customer Sat• Business Process• Training, etc.
Channel Programs
Partners, Managers
Individuals, Teams
Spend• Business Incentives• Promotions• Rebates• Reimbursements
Analyze: Improve Program Spend Effectiveness
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RESEARCH & PARTNER ADVISORY COUNCILS
28© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Beyond the Numbers
29
Enabling your partners involves more than looking at the data about
program offering usage – you also want insight into why partners adopt
some behaviors. Partners also have insights into your end customers’
needs as well as unique perspectives on trends and anticipated needs
to sell your solution.
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Qualitative research and Partner
Advisory Councils help you understand
partner perceptions of your program.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Why Use Research
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Research provides insights into programs and partners that helps you
understand partner behavior beyond program metrics and data
analytics.
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© 2008 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Assess partner satisfaction with
current programs and identify and
prioritize enhancements
Develop and enhance indirect sales
strategies and partner programs
using information specific to the
individual program
Understand how programs and
strategies stack up in the
marketplace and against the
competition
Know what partners need to
enhance their business and
facilitate sales of solutions and
products
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Qualitative Research “Do’s”
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Do engage in research that leads to change – no ―research for research’s sake‖
Do communicate back to your partner community – don’t raise expectations about a program by conducting research and then ignore what your partners tell you
Do update your partners on changes made to your program as a result of research learnings
Do value your partners’ time – keep research efforts tightly focused.
Do coordinate research efforts across business units so that you don’t ―research your partners to death‖
Do make research a regular part of your partner enablement strategy as you continue to make program adjustments and enhancements
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Talk With Your Partners
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Qualitative research techniques rely on relatively small groups of
participants and are not analyzed statistically. Examples include focus
groups and interview studies.
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Not another survey!
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Planning a Research Engagement
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Research design is unique for each study and is developed through scoping. Some of the items discussed:
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© 2008 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Ultimate goal of the research—what is the desired outcome?
What is the desired time frame?
What is the geographic reach for the study? Affects not only language/translation, but timing given holidays in various regions, identification of appropriate methodology since some techniques are not successful in some regions.
Participants— who, how many
What other research has been conducted similar to this or with the projected participants?
Will the study be blind or sponsored? Who at the company will provide specific sponsorship if participants need to verify authenticity?
Recruitment, contact lists
Anonymity— assumed for all, unless internal stakeholders are to be identified
Participants’ stake in the research, incentives (honoraria, sharing results, etc.)
Budget
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Why establish a Partner Advisory Council?
34
PACs can give you a
significant competitive
advantage, helping you
to establish a clear
differentiation from your
competitors.
Pa
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vis
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Co
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cils
© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Partner Advisory Councils
help you stay in tune with
partner needs as well as
market trends and even
end-customer needs.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Advantages of a Partner Advisory Council (PAC)
35
A thoughtfully designed and implemented PAC can become the
cornerstone for establishing strong manufacturer-to-partner
relationships. PACs can help you continually fine-tune your partner
enablement by through effective dialogue with key, knowledgeable
partners.
Provide a formal, highly visible feedback vehicle
Build trust
Provide prestige to the partners selected
Give you valuable insight into market trends and the knowledge to maximize
your channel’s value
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Planning a Meeting
36
A successful PAC meeting begins with the planning:
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Recruiting
• Partners recognized as leaders, with significant information and expertise
• Select partners to represent your partner base
• Select a good working group size – about 15
• Ensure that partners can commit to at least one year of participation (no more than 5 years)
Structure
• Plan on meeting formally twice per year
• Duration – about 1.5 days of discussion
• Structured roundtable discussions
• Provide access to executives
Expectations
• Time commitment
• Communication
• Access to senior executives
• Results
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During the Meetings
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Pa
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Make it meaningful
• Partners are businesspeople –ensure their time on the PAC is a worthwhile investment of their time
Senior Management Participation
• Builds credibility
• Partners feel valued if key decision makers are present to act on PAC recommendations
Minimize evangelizing
• Focus on listening!
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Post-Meeting
38
It is essential to follow-up after PAC
meetings:
Translate PAC learnings into action
• Program changes
• Product/solution enhancements
Provide periodic updates to the
PAC
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© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
CONCLUSION
39© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
www.hawkeyechannel.com
Keys to Your Partner Enablement Strategy
40
Realign your partner segmentation strategy
• Use partner segmentation analysis to guide your channel investments
• Identify not only top performers but partners showing strong growth potential
Perform regular channel health checks
• Use these ―audits‖ to measure whether programs and tools achieve your goals
• Obtain partner feedback before shifting priorities
Research gives you insight into partner needs
• Be selective in your research efforts
• Ensure that partners know you have listened and acted on their feedback – circle
back!
Strengthen ties with key partners with a PAC
• Use them as a sounding board for channel program strategies and tactics
• Share technology road maps
• Obtain buy-in for your enablement strategy
Co
nclu
sio
n
© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
Free White Paper from hawkeye:
Partner Segmentation: Best Practices in Ranking and
Prioritizing Your Partners
www.hawkeyechannel.com
William Gilsing
VP, Global Channel Strategies
THANK YOU
© 2010 hawkeye, all rights reserved.
425.656.5891