The Slack vs. Microsoft Teams story reminds us the value of distribution. Distribution trumps design and innovation in most cases. Its a partnership game – and can come in different variants – distributors, dealers, franchisee, channel partner, reseller, etc.
As an enterprise or principal, it is critical to invest in your digitization, but equally important to help your partners.
Most partners would not have means or capabilities to implement cutting edge digital strategies. It pays (in multiples) in long term. Some examples:
1) Customer analytics to identify their top clients, their habits, and how they can be up-sold or cross-sold. You can bring out insights, suggested actions, and even automation to maximize potential of each partner.
2) Sales analytics to understand highs and lows of customer demand and supply, so that they can normalise distribution. Your job is not to sell to them, but to help them sell without keeping excess inventory.
3) Better segmentation for recommending the right product to the right customer at the right time.
4) Sharing of best practice across partnership network.
5) Digital marketing to generate more demand for them to act upon.
6) Ability to monitor sales performance of their sales and servicing team, such that the sales effort and customer experience can be centrally monitored.
7) Centralised and gamified learning and development of all employees, more so for customer facing team members, so that there is a consistent experience for customers across the board.
You get the drift?
The idea is to not think them as mere sales channel, but your own organisation, and provide them all digital tools to compete and serve in the market. The better you enable them, the better they will deliver.
How do you enable your channel? What can you do to help them do their job better?
p.s. till the time they do not serve as good as you (as a promoter) do, your job of channel enablement is not done.
Heart @ Marketing | Mind @ Technology | Soul @ Entrepreneurship