4. Two thirds of all tech products are sold through the channel. Heather Margolis takes a deep dive into channel enablement!

Heather Margolis brings a special, deep knowledge of channel marketing, channel management and channel enablement. We first met more than fifteen years ago to discuss the sales enablement market and emerging technology vendors. Along with indirect sales channels, we share a love of cars, the outdoors, and New England. In this episode Heather and I share a small slice of our ongoing conversation about sales and channel enablement best practices and lessons learned.

Join our conversation on channel enablement -- how it differs from direct sales enablement and how to do it effectively. Heather points out that while a vendor's direct sales team may be "captive", the partner's sales organization typically represents multiple complementary and competing vendors. It's up to the channel enablement team to inform the partner on how they can make money with the vendor's products, and how they can be positioned in the partner's portfolio. It's "not just about the tech...it's about how they make more money, what's easier to sell, what has less...or more customer service need if they can wrap services..."

Many, perhaps most direct-sales centric vendors forget that partners have choices...and they also communicate broadly among themselves. Heather shares some personal insights regarding the strengths of the partners' communications networks.

Heather also suggests key channel enablement metrics for vendors (and partners) to track, referring to "Return On Engagement."

• Are partners logging into the ecosystem management tool?
• Are partners registering deals?
• Is enablement driving an increase in new deals?

Importantly is the partner participating in regular business reviews, both looking back at what happened in the previous month or quarter, and planning ahead for future joint business development activities.

Key takeaways:

• Channel enablement is far more than onboarding. Enablement must cover all phases of the relationship - recruiting, onboarding, outcome management, and retention.
• Understand the channel partner's business model and enable accordingly. Tailor the enablement to their needs; cookie-cutter enablement does not work, nor does merely "cutting and pasting" the direct sales enablement assets.
• Provide consistent, quality support for all partner touch points. If you promise a "Four Seasons" experience, make sure that channel sales people in each remote office enjoy that same level of experience.

To follow up with Heather, you can reach her on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠ or via 360 Insights.⁠

To provide feedback on this podcast or to suggest additional topics or guests, please visit The Thoughts On Selling™ podcast ⁠⁠website⁠⁠.

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Thank you!

Lee Levitt