Channel Sales in the New Normal

This week we start to see easing of coronavirus restrictions with pubs and clubs joining cafes and restaurants in allowing patrons back in to dine. That means we’re not far away from being able to meet with our partners and customers in person again. But just because we can, that doesn’t mean we will. While … Continued

Is Your Partner Program Working For You?

If you are a vendor, you probably have a partner program to manage your partners. What’s interesting though is how many vendors talk about how much the industry and partners have changed over the last few years, and yet they continue to manage those partners using an outdated program design created 20 years ago. What … Continued

CompTIA Event Wrap Up

Exploring ways to achieve growth – in business, personal and partner ecosystem – was the main focus at CompTIA’s latest ANZ Channel Community meetings held in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. Simon Harris, ran a workshop for MSPs on why the right business model always trumps hard work and explored 4 areas of business that can … Continued

A Look Back at the Last 15 Years

This month marks the 15th anniversary of Channel Dynamics. When we started this business in 2004, we didn’t realise how radically the channel would change over that time, nor how much we would have to adapt to remain relevant to our clients. As the industry has matured, so too has the need for vendors, distributors … Continued

Nice Isn’t Good Enough Anymore

When I first got into this industry, it was easy to be a channel account manager. All you needed was a half decent product, an expense account, and a nice personality. You built relationships over drinks or at a football game, and people bought from you. (It probably was a bit harder than that, but … Continued

Are you Really a Channel Company?

I come across many companies that say they are a 100% channel and they don’t ever sell direct. Firstly, that is probably unlikely, but regardless, even if 100% of your business actually does go through the channel, that doesn’t make you a channel company. It’s how you leverage the channel, and how the channel leverages … Continued

Manage Partners? Then Use PowerPoint Better

Over the last 12 months, the training course I have delivered most often has been our Dynamic Sales Presentations workshop. This has been incredibly gratifying for me personally, as I have long been an advocate of the importance of presentation skills for Channel Account Managers, particularly when dealing with partners/MSPs, where the challenge is not … Continued

Achieving Win/Win Outcomes With Partners

How often do you hear channel account managers or sales reps talking about wanting a Win/Win outcome with partners? But have you ever stopped to think what that actually means? A Win/Win means that the rep wins (ie. gets what they wanted) but also the partner gets what they wanted. The problem is that, not … Continued

Are You Selling Benefits or Advantages

Whether you are a partner (ie. VAR, MSP, SI, etc) selling to end-users, or a vendor promoting your technology to the channel, are you selling genuine benefits or simply selling advantages? More importantly, do you know the difference, and the enormous impact this has in helping you close business? In this article, we look at … Continued

The Four Traits of a Trusted Advisor

If I had to pick my most annoying phrase right now, it would be “Trusted Advisor”. Greatly overused, often misrepresented, and largely misunderstood, those two words are now well and truly entrenched in the “Meeting Bingo” category – they seem to get bandied about without any particular definition or consideration. But while I may hate … Continued