Business leaders with new products or services often face a dilemma: what’s the best way to sell them? Some choose to sell directly to their customer, perhaps through their website, while others develop relationships with companies that can sell those products and services on their behalf. Expanding
your business model beyond direct sales can provide distinct opportunities to reach customers faster and enlarge revenue potential.
However, developing an effective sales channel strategy the first time around can be daunting for any company. Both direct sales and partnering with others present opportunities and disadvantages, but if you’re interested in creating a sales channel for your business, here are a few things to consider.
Potential sales channel partners take many forms. A partner could be a retail shop that caters to your target customer, a household services company, a maintenance contractor or a business management consultant; it all depends on the nature of your product or service. Regardless of the type of partner, effective channel-focused sales are based in policies, programs, terms and other factors that serve the interests of all parties involved. Cultivating a community of channel partners helps individual businesses network and exchange knowledge, while collectively establishing industry standards that lower the barriers to success for everyone with the IT community.
Businesses must differentiate themselves from their competition. If you can make it easier to sell your product than a competitors, there is a good chance you’ll come out on top. Helping your partners to specialize in one of your products or to develop specific applications of your products for niche groups of customers allows partners to align with their customers needs and develop their business. It’s also good to keep an open mind and be flexible as things develop so you’ll be equipped to make any necessary adjustments.
Continually evolving your channel policies and programs based on feedback will help you to consistently create programs and resources that your partners will use, help them sell more and help maintain satisfied customers. By receiving direct customer feedback using surveys and other sources, it will help inform your business decisions and communications. For example, Microsoft has for years helped validate its partners claims of specialized skills and high-quality service delivery by incorporating customer feedback into its process for certifying participating companies that allowed customers to identify companies with the skills and experience they are looking to tap.
In a competitive economy, where sales and business growth opportunities can be elusive, it may be time to consider creating your own sales channel of business partners. To take full advantage of the opportunities and connections partners can provide, seek to understand how those partners define success and find a way to combine your objectives. From the start, your success will be determined by how well and how quickly you can identify areas of need and create value for your business partners.
Jane Dickson is a regional general manager for managed partners in Microsoft’s Small and Mid-market Solutions and Partners group. For free technology tips, go to www.microsoft.com/business/en-us. To learn more about how Microsoft operates its channel programs, go to www.microsoft.com/partner or www.microsoft.com/pinpoint.
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