Achieving predictable and repeatable sales growth comes down to two major areas of focus – productivity and capacity. When you’re able to make your salespeople as productive as possible and you have enough team members to execute, your revenue numbers naturally increase.
Productivity x Capacity = GrowthUnfortunately, many sales leaders overlook the value of enabling a channel organization and the positive effects it can have on meeting your revenue goals. At a basic level, the more people you have selling your products the better (capacity), but what are the specific steps you can take as a sales leader to drive productivity within your channel partner community?
There are a variety of areas to tackle including sales manager enablement, better channel solutions and effective marketing campaigns. All of these are important, but if your channel partners are not able to fully execute in front of the buyer, these other important areas will fall short. You’ll spend thousands of dollars on programs that won’t make a difference because they are not accounting for the channel partner’s ability to execute at the point of sale.
The Value of a Productive Channel
As in any channel sales opportunity, your ability to control the sales process is limited, if not eliminated. You have to accept that your partner controls the time frame, message to the customer and ultimately your forecast. For any sales leader, the loss of visibility and frankly control can be frustrating. However, the benefits of a robust channel program often outweigh the perceived negatives. Your cost of sale decreases, reach into new markets improves and overall seller capacity grows without necessarily adding internal headcount.
A channel program can help you reach your growth goals faster. For many sales organizations looking to increase market share, investing in a Channel Program makes sense. All too often, channel sales investments are an afterthought of direct sales implementation. It’s true, we take care of the immediate family first and that will always be the plight of a channel leader. It comes with the territory. But, as you build territory assignments, demand generation campaigns and technology investments, accounting for the value of your channel will help you increase the productivity of this important sales avenue.
