The paradox of channel enablement

While channel partners usually drive a huge chunk of the overall revenue, they get way less support than their direct counterparts. It’s a paradox that has long been accepted: it has, quite simply, been too difficult and expensive to support and systemize channel enablement. At least until now.

Here is one of the scariest facts-of-life for CEOs and CROs: what generates the most revenue gets the least support and systemization. It has been that way for so long that few even question it. Direct sales can be systemized, supervised and supported, while indirect sales happen outside of our domain, and thus have to fend for themselves. So direct sales get a nice CRM, forecasting tools, enablement and automation, while indirect channels are left with spreadsheets, email chains, and whatever support they can get by dialing a number.

But what would happen if we started to support our partners as well as we support our direct teams? If we gave our partner sales reps as much attention as our own account executives? What if we could resolve the paradox, and enable everyone on our partners’ teams at all times?

It may sound like a pipe dream. After all, there are countless reasons for why companies still accept this, and why channel enablement is still manual, cumbersome, barely there. For example:

Direct teams ARE easier to manage: Internal sales reps already live inside systems the company owns, while partner activity and interactions — who has been trained, who they’re quoting, what they sold etc. — primarily lives outside your walls, and within your partner’s organization. Which means that your channel is inherently more difficult to oversee, and even harder to prioritize when it comes to investing in tools and enablement platforms. We just haven’t been able to prove what they do with them, and if it’s worth it.

Existing software hasn’t been up to the task: Many PRM platforms are either huge, expensive machines that require hefty investments and resources, OR they’re lacking the fundamental tools required. They also aren’t as readily available as all those tools your internal team work with, and tend to be so much more difficult to deploy.

The true cost of manual work is invisible: Yes, it is hard to prove ROI of a platform that takes care of all the tiny things that fill your partner managers’ days. You know, like chasing certifications, answering the same questions from different partners, gathering information on deals-in-progress and reconciling a partner’s guesstimations with the reality and so on. And all those hours they spend on things that could have been automated, put in system, and all the opportunities they miss as a result, ARE difficult to measure exactly.

All these points are solveable, of course. It is why SP_CE exists. Our PAM AI, the first autonomous channel manager, can support each partner, in their own language, and provide them with everything they need, from training to content, at all times. Our platform can be deployed in weeks, even days, and gives you and your team a total overview of all partner activity happening therein. You can even let partners add and manage their deals and tickets in the same place, so that they, in effect, become as close to your organization as your direct sales teams are today.

But that’s a side note. The important thing is that all the arguments for not enabling your channel are all based on the assumption that there is a gap between you and your partners; an unbridgeable distance that means that it just isn’t feasible to invest in systems, automation, support. An assumption that may have been correct, once, but now isn’t. Because the paradox isn’t really a paradox anymore, and there are no longer any obstacles to prevent true channel enablement.

Which means that the question remains. What would actually happen if all your channel partners were enabled at all times, and what happens if you continue the same way you always have?

Lets start with the status quo. So, what happens if you continue on doing the same, and provide your channel partners with the same manual, or somewhat manual, processes and support that you, and they, are used to?

• At some point the growth will stop: If certifying a new distributor, getting them ramped up and ready to sell, takes a long time and steals a lot of your partner managers’ time, your partner growth will hit a wall at some point. There just won’t be any more human resources to throw at the problem, and hiring more will only add to the time and cost. It might not be a problem today, but it will, at some point.
• An inconsistent partner experience will hurt relationships. The partners you love – you know, the active ones that perform well over time – have plenty of options. And if others can offer more, or easier, support and enablement, your mindshare is bound to dwindle. Because experience matters. And partners do business with those that are the easiest, and most rewarding, to work with.
• Mistakes will happen. It could be that manual processes mean compliance catastrophes. Something as simple as updated material not being distributed to all partners, or someone using material that carries mistakes. Or it can be that the forecast gets messed up because it’s all based on guesses, and guts, instead of data. Whatever the specifics, an over-reliance on manual processes, with a constant risk of human error, means that mistakes will happen. And they may be costly.
• Your channel team becomes glorified FAQ sheets. Your partner managers, export managers, and all those other smart, capable channel experts you have employed  will spend all their time answering questions, and doing administrative work, instead of growing the business. Which means, once again, that growth will be capped by a lack of human resources. Because they’re busy just keeping partners afloat.
• You’re flying blind on future revenue. Remember the mistakes that can happen? When it comes to the forecast, it doesn’t even have to be a mistake involved for bad results to come. It may be enough that you don’t have a system to track partner performance over time, or see deal flow, and just like that you can’t predict what will happen. What partners will grow, how much inventory to keep etc. Which means that all the decisions you make for the future will only be guesswork.

Now, all the above is what may happen if you don’t do anything. But what would happen if you do? To find out, you can book a call with one of our experts, who can walk you through what true channel enablement may mean for you and your organization. Or, you can see what happened when some of the worlds’ most innovating companies decided to do that very thing.