Diagnose / Prioritize / Execute / Grow

Find out why your channel isn’t selling.

Channel Forensics investigates the gap between what your partners should sell and what they do sell, then builds the plan to close it. Activation, management and acquisition, worked from the evidence up.

Book a diagnostic call See the framework

A three-step framework for channel revenue growth

Every engagement follows the same order. Partners can’t be managed for mindshare until they can sell on their own, and there’s no point adding new partners until you know why the current ones aren’t performing.

  1. 1

    Channel activation

    Growth through enablement

    To what extent can the channel operate independently, and compete and win?

    Signs of a problem

    • Partners don’t know how to quote, pitch the product or position against the competition
    • The channel needs a lot of sales support
  2. 2

    Channel management

    Growth through capturing mindshare

    Will partners recommend you over other options, and can you help them win new business?

    Signs of a problem

    • Partners are slow to respond to requests
    • Partners don’t recommend you over the competition
    • Partners have had limited sales of your product
  3. 3

    Channel acquisition

    Growth through expansion

    Is the channel performing to plan, and are there gaps in your go-to-market?

    Signs of a problem

    • Some partners perform much better than others
    • Competitors use different routes to market
    • There are markets you aren’t reaching

Activation comes first

How ready is your company to support a channel? That means onboarding, a documented buyer journey with an ICP and personas, and the right content for each persona at every stage.

What we look for

  • Customer ICP and personas
  • Documented buyer journey
  • Sales plays and battle cards
  • Partner portal with the content partners need
  • Deal registration and deal desk

Questions we answer

  • Do your onboarding tools cover every channel type you sell through?
  • How much of your enablement is generic, and how much is specific to each market segment?
  • How do your activation tools compare to the competition’s, and which gaps should you close first?

Six primary channel types

Each type earns, sells and needs support differently. Enablement built for one rarely works for another.

Reseller / VAR

Buys at a discount and resells products.

Walmart, Grainger, Ace Hardware, WWT

Manufacturer’s rep

Sells on behalf of another company.

KW Realtor, G. Miller Company

Services supplier

Sells services with the product as part of the solution.

Tata, Accenture, AC Design (HVAC)

OEM / ISV

Sells another company’s products as its own.

Cisco, Johnson Controls, Costco

Influencer

Recommends another company’s product to its customers.

McKinsey, Bain, Jacobs Engineering

Cloud marketplace

A captive online buying location for apps that integrate with the host company.

AWS, Microsoft, Salesforce AppExchange

When channel sales miss expectations

A bottom-up view of why partners don’t deliver expected revenue. The symptom is the same; the causes are not, and each needs a different fix.

Channel sales are not meeting expectations

Selling

  • Salespeople can’t sell effectively
  • Salespeople are non-responsive
  • Partner sales are focused on other suppliers and products

Pipeline

  • Limited new opportunities and leads
  • Leads exist but don’t convert to business

Stability

  • Support issues with existing customers slow new sales
  • High turnover of partner salespeople or leadership

Partnership maturity model

Six pillars, five levels. A shared baseline that you and each partner assess together, from emerging to strategic.

    Score a partner

    The partner scorecard rates commitment, capability and economics on the same five levels. Pick the description that fits a partner you work with today.

    Partner score

    –/ 5

    Rate at least one criterion to see a score.

    Prefer metrics? Score new-logo contribution as partner-sourced leads divided by your top partner’s count, then place each partner in its 20% band.

    Channel Forensics: Diagnose, Prioritize, Execute, Grow

    Start with a diagnosis.

    A short conversation about where your channel stands and what it should be delivering. You’ll leave knowing which of the three steps to work on first.

    Email Channel Forensics

    Led by Ralph Vetsch, author of the Channel Growth Framework.