Starting Out Your Channel Journey - It's All About You
For technology businesses like many others, the path to market expansion often runs directly (or more aptly ‘indirectly’ 😉) through channel partnerships. But here's the truth that many business owners miss – successful channel development begins with introspection, not external partner recruitment.
Look Inward Before Looking Outward
Before you start courting potential channel partners or designing elaborate incentive structures, pause and take a hard look at your own business fundamentals. The most successful channel programs are built on a foundation of business ‘self-awareness’.
Your Value Proposition Must Be Crystal Clear
Can you articulate in a single sentence why partners should care about your solution? If not, you're not ready to court the channel. Your value proposition needs to resonate with both end-users and potential partners. Remember, your partners will be essentially "borrowing" your value story - if it's muddled or unconvincing, they'll struggle to represent you effectively in the market.
A compelling value proposition for broadcast and video technology solutions should emphasize specific outcomes e.g. increased production efficiency, enhanced creative capabilities, improved viewer experiences, or measurable cost reductions.
Know Your Customer Like Never Before
Channel success demands customer clarity. Who exactly needs your technology? What specific pain points does it address? How do they make purchasing decisions?
Develop detailed customer profiles that your partners can recognize immediately. For instance, if you're selling a cloud-based media asset management solution, is your target the creative director at a mid-sized production company, the CTO at a broadcast network, or the marketing director at a corporate marketing department?
The more precisely you can define your customer, the more efficiently your channel partners can identify and pursue qualified opportunities.
Build a Sales Process That Makes Sense
Your partners need a proven roadmap to success. Before launching your channel program, refine your sales methodology based on your direct experience. Document the steps, objections, decision criteria, and competitive positioning that works.
For technical solutions like specialized software, the sales process might include proof-of-concept implementations, technical workshops, or ROI assessments. Having these processes defined and tested removes significant barriers to partner adoption.
Building a channel program without addressing these foundational elements is like constructing a house on shifting sand. Many technology companies rush to recruit partners before they're truly ready, resulting in false starts, disappointing results and damaged relationships.
Take the time to get your house in order first. Define your value, understand your customer, refine your sales approach, then begin the outreach to potential partners.
In our next installment, we'll explore how to identify, attract, and onboard the right channel partners once your foundation is solid. But remember - the journey starts with you, not them.