The one-size-fits-all channel incentive program is dead. As partner ecosystems grow more complex — spanning VARs, MSPs, distributors, GSIs, ISVs, and non-transactional influencers — the old approach of lumping everyone into a single compensation model no longer works. Four industry leaders recently joined a Channel Focus Community webinar to share what’s actually working.
The panel included James Hodgkinson, SVP of Ecosystems at 360insights; Ellen Linkenhoker, Insights & Strategy Leader at ITA Group; Kenneth Fox, Founder & CTO at Channelscaler; and Casey Epley, Director of Product Advancement at Maritz. Moderated by Rod Baptie, CEO of Baptie & Company, the discussion tackled how to build incentive strategies that actually address the needs of vastly different partner types — without drowning in complexity.
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Why Traditional Program Design Falls Short
The traditional approach to channel incentives relies on clearly defined partner categories: MSPs get one program, VARs get another, distributors get a third. But today’s channel landscape has blurred those lines considerably.
“Traditionally in the established channel routes to market, it was quite easy to identify personas and put labels on those personas and talk about MSPs versus VARs. But now it’s starting to become more complex in that we are seeing many more moments and touch points and motions around the end customer which can often involve different players — non-transactional influencers, or maybe multiple partners working together on certain objectives, and a convergence between internal sellers and channel partners and co-selling strategies.”
— James Hodgkinson, SVP of Ecosystems, 360insights
The result? Programs designed around partner labels miss the reality of how business actually gets done. Partners don’t fit neatly into boxes anymore, and incentive structures that force them into those boxes create friction rather than motivation.
Design Around Motions, Not Partner Categories
The most significant shift the panel identified is moving from partner-type-based programs to motion-based incentive strategies — designing compensation around the go-to-market objective rather than the partner label.
“What we’re starting to see now is how do you actually build incentive and compensation strategies more around the motion of the go-to-market objective. So if your goal is to achieve X outcome with a client using these partners, these internal sellers and these external influencers, how do you create incentive structures to identify and reward that behavior in a way that’s a lot more personalized and specific to the outcome you’re trying to achieve?”
— James Hodgkinson, SVP of Ecosystems, 360insights
This approach has a secondary benefit: adoption rates improve because the incentive is directly relevant to each participant’s work.
Stop asking “what program should MSPs get?” and start asking “what behavior do we need to motivate to achieve this business outcome — and who’s involved?”
The Behavior Matrix Framework
Casey Epley shared a practical framework for moving away from one-size-fits-all: the behavior matrix.
“If you’ve got an understanding of all your partner types, if you’ve ever done like a persona mapping exercise, it’s really beneficial to look at all the people, all the folks and the entities in your ecosystem and understand them across a couple different layers. And it might be about the value they create, but also what are their business models and what are they striving for.”
— Casey Epley, Director of Product Advancement, Maritz
The framework works across three dimensions:
A critical insight from Epley: don’t overlook the steps before a deal closes. “There’s a lot of things that happen before deal close that we want to encourage and reward and recognize and potentially even incentivize,” she noted. Tracking only transactions misses the full picture of partner contribution.
Break Down the Silos Between Partner Types
Ellen Linkenhoker challenged the assumption that different partner types always need separate incentive programs.
“I think we saw a lot of walls put up between those partner types, between an MSP, a VAR, a GSI. Those different types maybe don’t need to be as segregated as they once were. If you’re really focusing on — okay, I’m in this influence stage, I’m looking for behaviors like lead generation, referrals — great. Anybody could really do that if they wanted to. So, why not reward them equally?”
— Ellen Linkenhoker, Insights & Strategy Leader, ITA Group
Her advice: anchor every incentive decision back to business objectives. If you’re trying to increase adoption in a specific market, region, or product set, focus your incentives on the behaviors that drive that outcome — regardless of partner label.
Making Complexity Simple for Partners
The programs themselves may be complex, but the partner experience cannot be. Kenneth Fox emphasized that presentation is everything.
“Everybody can make things complex. Not everybody can make things simple. When that partner comes to your portal or their rebate or their spiff or incentive — whatever it is — it must be very clear to them: this is what I’ve earned and why I’m earning it.”
— Kenneth Fox, Founder & CTO, Channelscaler
Fox shared specific tactics that work:
- Visual dashboards that show earning potential, progress, and payouts in a single view
- Week-over-week tracking for quarterly programs so partners can see momentum
- Internal enablement — making sure your own account managers understand the programs, because they’re the front line with partners
- Short launch webinars (15-20 minutes) walking partners and account teams through new programs
And one point the entire panel agreed on: pay quickly.
“It’s really, really, really important that vendors pay out quickly. You’re trying to influence partners to do things for you as a vendor. If they can’t relate that payment to the action that you wanted them to take, they’re not going to remember. They’re not going to do it again.”
— Kenneth Fox, Founder & CTO, Channelscaler
Handling Multi-Partner Deals
As deals increasingly involve multiple partners — a referral source, a transacting VAR, an integrator, an MSP managing post-sale — attribution and incentive allocation become a real challenge.
“Even if it isn’t perfect, there is no perfect attribution to these different partners. Even something imperfect is better than not addressing that fact at all when you know you have multiple roles kind of dipping into the same pot.”
— Casey Epley, Director of Product Advancement, Maritz
Epley recommended weighting roles based on their involvement — giving more to the transacting partner, less to the referral source — and considering auto-allocation within your incentive platform to reduce manual overhead.
Key Takeaways
- Design around go-to-market motions, not partner categories — incentivize behavior tied to specific business outcomes
- Use a behavior matrix to map partner motivations, desired behaviors, and appropriate reward types
- Break down partner type silos where behaviors are shared — a referral is a referral regardless of who sends it
- Keep the partner experience simple even when programs are complex — visual dashboards, clear communication, fast payouts
- Address multi-partner attribution even imperfectly — something is always better than nothing
- Start small — pilot with one motion or partner segment before scaling across the ecosystem
Looking Ahead
The panel’s consensus was clear: the future of channel incentives lies in personalization. As James Hodgkinson put it, the question is shifting from “how do we build a global incentive program that works for all partners?” to “where should we apply incentives to achieve specific outcomes — and only invest where the business case is clear, strong, focused, and the participants involved will care about what we’re doing?”
That’s a fundamentally different way to think about compensation models — and one that the most forward-thinking channel organizations are already beginning to adopt.
This article is based on a Channel Focus Community webinar featuring James Hodgkinson (360insights), Ellen Linkenhoker (ITA Group), Kenneth Fox (Channelscaler), and Casey Epley (Maritz), moderated by Rod Baptie. Watch the full webinar.