Choose the Right Channel Sales Partner

Poor channel partner selection can spell disaster. The right approach includes realistic self-assessment and an effective partner evaluation framework to find complementary candidates.

EXECUTIVE BRIEF

Analyst Perspective

Choose the Right Channel Partner

As a software company leader, choosing the right channel partner or partners may be one of the most important decisions you make to drive growth, scale, and future success. However, that success is not guaranteed. The competition for channel partner mindshare has never been higher, as leading providers such as Salesforce and Microsoft actively recruit thousands of new partners each year.

We see buyers choosing specific partners more and more. This is driving providers to be ready quickly to work with their prospects’ channel providers of choice, given a buyer’s preference for channel partners who deliver the right mix of cloud and technical services such as integration and support end-users and administrators with training and superior support programs.

Software CEOs, therefore, need the right strategy to not only evaluate their need for partnership when entering new markets or seeking to open a new revenue stream, but a quick and easy way to evaluate and select partners when required by sophisticated buyers.

Read on to find ways to address two key questions: How can you, through a self-assessment process, determine what types of channel sales partners are suitable for your company’s needs? What’s a nimble approach to evaluate and select the kind of partner(s) that best enables your sales strategy?

Joanne Morin Correia
Principal Research Director
SoftwareReviews

Executive Summary

SoftwareReviews Insight:

Software CEOs must use a rigorous self-assessment of internal needs and a proper partner evaluation approach to their channel sales partner selection decisions. This reduces the risks of selecting the wrong partnerships and accelerates sought-after benefits.

What is the right channel sales partner strategy?

To find the right channel sales partnership, your partner strategy must have an internal self-assessment and an external partner evaluation framework to verify that the business, its markets/environment, and its assets are in a state that is consistent with the financial and strategic value that the organization has put upon it.

Your channel partnership largely depends on what value you are building for your customers. For that, you need to identify and define the type of partners relevant to your business and choose the best among them. The success of a partnership and channel sales lies in the value each party receives from it.

SoftwareReviews Insight:

If your channel sales strategy is derived from your self-assessment and our partner evaluation framework, prioritized sales partners will align with your sales goals.

Why pursue sales partnerships?

The right partnerships can remedy operational challenges by scaling sales reps and opportunities.

• Your firm is under fire; you are facing pressures financially from clients and your competitors.
• Your pace of scaling sales revenues and talent sourcing is too slow and limiting.
• Your competition is moving faster, and your clients are considering other options.
• Revenues and costs are trending in the wrong direction.
• You need to act now to avoid spiraling further.

“A study of 121 firms outsourcing various business processes found that 50% of those surveyed saw no gains from the outsourcing arrangement, so it is critical to make the right choice the first time.”

Source: Zhang, March 2022

SoftwareReviews Insight:

Companies are under increasing pressure to innovate, enhance their brand, increase sales, and reduce costs. At the same time, they face increased competition both in innovation and for quality resources. The right indirect sales channel partnerships can provide remedies.