Event: Lisbon, June 2024
Topic: Motivating and Engaging Partners When You’re Not One of Their Biggest Vendors
In June 2024, the Channel Executive Council EMEA met in Lisbon to discuss how vendors can build and expand relationships with partners when they’re not one of the partner’s primary vendors. This session, held under Chatham House Rules, brought together various vendors to explore strategies for growing mindshare and business when they represent only a small portion of a partner’s overall business. Here’s a summary of the key insights from the discussion.
Overview
Most partners work with 10–16 vendors, meaning only the largest vendors (e.g., Microsoft) manage to be a major focus. Smaller vendors need to be strategic, as their offering may only cover a small part of a partner’s business or tech stack. This challenge can also stem from competitors holding the majority share of the partner’s attention.
The conversation highlighted the importance of understanding the partner’s perspective. Vendors must focus not only on developing their product but also on its interoperability with the broader technology ecosystem. While distribution can help manage the long tail of partnerships, it has limitations in building deep, trusted relationships.
Discussion Highlights
1. Market Size and Growth Support Many Vendors
The overall market is large and growing, meaning there’s room for vendors of all sizes. It’s natural for smaller vendors to hold partner relationships where their products aren’t the top priority.
2. Building Trust Takes Time
Partners tend to prioritize their largest vendor relationships due to the depth of experience and trust built over time. For smaller vendors, the challenge lies in demonstrating how they can contribute to partner growth. This requires an open-minded approach and a focus on problem-solving.
3. Self-Awareness Is Critical
Vendors with specialized offerings need to recognize where they fit within the partner’s business. Whether it’s supporting service revenue or driving AI implementations, the key is helping partners solve their business problems.
4. Vendor Size Matters
Smaller vendors should emphasize how their offering opens new markets or complements the partner’s existing portfolio. For larger vendors, the challenge is often about displacing an existing provider, which requires sustained effort and momentum.
5. The Paradox of Personalization
The best partnerships are built on a personal touch, but this approach is typically reserved for the largest relationships. Smaller vendors must rely on simple, automated programs, removing unnecessary complexity like rebates and deal registration. The focus should be on providing relevant benefits without adding administrative burden.
6. The Importance of Training
Training is vital for building mindshare and internal advocates within a partner’s organization. Vendors must carefully consider how to incentivize training and which medium—webinars, web-based, or in-person—is most effective.
7. Leveraging Partner Evangelists
Partners often talk to each other, meaning creating evangelists within the partner ecosystem can help build influence. Sharing insights from other partners and understanding their communities can drive growth.
Challenges in Growing Relationships
1. Traditional Partner Tiers and Distribution Models
Traditional models, like tiered partner programs, can make it challenging for smaller vendors to grow their relationships. Partner outreach needs to be well-judged, relevant, and offer future opportunities for building business.
2. Online Hubs and Escalation Processes
While online hubs for technical support can be useful, they often fail for smaller partners because they aren’t customized enough. It’s essential to have an escalation process that quickly connects partners to someone who can help when needed.
3. Tools and Technology as Enablers
Automated tools can assist in onboarding and marketing, but they should support—not replace—human engagement. Partner Relationship Management (PRM) systems can help segment partners and provide tailored content but can’t fully substitute personal interactions. AI can help ensure partners get the information they need quickly and efficiently.
4. Vendor Consolidation Among MSPs
For certain partner types, especially Managed Service Providers (MSPs), vendor consolidation is becoming more common. MSPs often rely on a smaller tech stack to reduce costs and simplify relationships. Vendors need to ensure they have the scale or ecosystem benefits to be part of these streamlined vendor relationships.
Building a Successful Channel Program
1. Breaking Down Silos
One of the most productive ways to identify growth opportunities is by breaking down silos between direct sales and channel teams. Sharing information across teams allows vendors to better support partners and uncover hidden opportunities.
2. Direct Customer Feedback
Direct feedback from existing or target customers provides valuable insights that can drive growth in partner relationships.
3. Collaborating with Other Vendors
Working with other vendors in your ecosystem can create upsell and growth opportunities, allowing you to build stronger partnerships with shared goals.
4. Automation for Scale
Automating as much as possible allows vendors to cover more partner accounts while maintaining the quality of communication. This helps ensure that partners feel valued and supported, even when the relationship is managed at scale.
5. Leveraging AI for Partner Insights
AI tools can help vendors identify and segment partner offerings by analyzing data from multiple sources. By combining this data with a deep understanding of the vendor’s core strengths, new opportunities can be discovered.
Conclusions
- Trust Takes Time: For vendors who aren’t in a partner’s top three, building trust through personalized, consistent engagement is essential.
- Simplicity is Key: When time and attention are limited, keeping partner programs simple and focused is crucial. Training is one of the most valuable long-term investments in building partner comfort and advocacy.
- Support Partner Goals: Vendors should focus on how their offerings can help partners achieve their goals, rather than simply outshining the competition.
- Building Momentum is Vital: Continuous engagement, using success stories and data, is essential for building momentum and preventing redundancy in communication.
- Collaboration Unlocks Growth: Breaking down silos between teams and leveraging external feedback from customers and vendors can help identify new opportunities and “hidden gems” within the partner network.
Ultimately, partners want to grow their businesses, and vendors that are simple, predictable, and profitable will be the most successful. Engagement must respect the partner’s time and focus on building relationships that deliver real value.
