Retail
Making a success of channel programme onboarding
Paul Thompson at Consenna examines the common point of disconnect between vendor and reseller.
T
he IT channel: a place where vendors manufacture soſtware and devices for a diverse range of resellers to sell
to the intended end-users – oſten through specially designed programmes focused on certain needs or challenges and the solutions or devices that address those. When you say it like that, it sounds relatively straight forward, but that wouldn’t make for an insightful article, would it? And that’s because the reality is somewhat
more complex. Vendors have needs and wants; resellers
have others, and they don’t always align. Indeed, they rarely do – or at least they don’t if leſt to their own devices. For vendors, the things that they want
their channel partners to deliver, the types of resellers that they want to partner with, and the intended end user will all play a part in shaping a channel programme – no doubt with a myriad of other factors. Resellers, meanwhile, have simple wants
almost entirely focused on selling more and hinged on ROI in some way. Tose at the sales coalface will consider: ‘how can I engage more customers?’, ‘how can I secure a PO?’, ‘how can
22 | April 2023
I close this sale?’ Tose in the all-important ‘vendor manager’ role will look at the rebates and incentives on offer, and importantly consider the fit with their growth strategy at the time. For those in the c-suite, meanwhile, a focus on growth, investment and a potential future sale, is likely to place importance on branding. ‘How does involvement in this programme build our brand awareness and strengthen our reputation?’ So, whilst the vendor may have grandiose
intentions, and understandably so, these don’t always easily translate into sales. What might be an entirely appropriate theme or challenge for the OEM to discuss, won’t necessarily have a natural – or obvious – sales message aligned to it. It’s here that the potential disconnect starts to become apparent. Take the education channel as an example.
A vendor may speak about equitable education, or supporting wellbeing in the classroom, but a reseller needs to turn that into a conversation that drives a sales opportunity – and quickly, so that they can move on to their next potential sale. Te transformation of a theme or story into a sales pitch is not where a reseller’s strengths lie.
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