“We want to grow revenue through our channel…”
Most manufacturers can say that. Very few can explain what it actually means for the next twelve months.
Which markets? Which partner types? What does success look like at 90 and 180 days out?
These questions tend to produce vague answers or a reference to a strategy deck nobody has opened since it was built.
This is the Strategy Gap. Not a partner problem. A program clarity problem.
Partners pick up on it faster than most manufacturers expect. When a vendor doesn’t have a clear direction for what it needs from the relationship, partners fill that gap with their own priorities. Which usually means selling whatever earns them the best margin this quarter. A manufacturer without clarity slides down a partner’s line card pretty quickly.
A well-defined channel strategy answers three questions before anything else gets built.
What do we actually want to achieve out of the program?
Who is genuinely positioned to get it there (and how to attract them)?
Are our products and our processes ready to work with partners?
Without those anchors, even a well-resourced program drifts. The activity happens. The results don’t follow. And everyone ends up blaming the partners.
Could your channel team answer those three questions clearly right now, without looking at a slide?
the Strategy Gap
