In the wake of yet another company getting into the channel martech game, I ask you to examine this study.

“According to data collected by the SiriusDecisions Command Center, fewer than 15% of partners engage in the marketing programs their vendors deliver. Similarly, a compilation of three surveys of IT channel partners generating less than $10 million annually revealed that only 23% of IT channel partners with between five and 10 employees accessed or used a brand-provided marketing platform on a monthly basis in the last year.”

I see this from service providers all the time. They get MDF (marketing dollars from vendors) from AT&T for APEX or from Xerox, HP, et al. But they don’t put them to use in a Lead Generation campaign mainly due to lack of time, skill and “I-don’t-want-to-touch-that”.

Buying lists, collating data, creating an offer, copy writing, graphics design – then putting all that together and tracking it. On top of that for best results  A/B testing should be done. It is an uphill battle for most service providers and channel partners. They want to, just don’t.

There are a number of marketing firms that booth at channel expos, but that doesn’t seem to convert more partners to hire them. I have seen the proposals: often there is a disconnect between agency and prospect.

The disconnect could be budget. The budget has to be reasonable to the partner’s budget and expected return.

The disjoiner could be desired outcome (lead gen versus branding, for instance).

More likely it is who is going to do what.

If you want to get into the partner marketing game, you will need to bring  project management along.

Marketing firms would like to get in the space because TMCA (through-channel marketing automation) means corporate dollars (MDF spend, not client budget). If the martech firm can get efficient at it and scale it, it can be profitable.

“According to a recent Forrester report, the market for TCMA solutions will grow to $1.18 billion by 2023,” according to this source. Big dollars.

For the partner or provider, how do they know if the martech firm can do it?

The firm needs some channel competence. It also needs some familiarity with the telecom or IT products and services (or how does the copy, offer and message get done?).

The marketing firm has to have a project manager, an SEO expert and a copywriter, at the least. Most firms that specialize in PR or social media may not have the ability to run a lead gen campaign for a partner (MSP or other type of partner).

For the partner, you need to choose a marketing firm that has proven results that you are looking for and a playbook on how to get them. Then you have to follow the playbook, which may require some lifting on your own part. Marketing doesn’t happen in a vacuum or in a lab somewhere.

If you need help finding a firm or you want someone to project manage them, give our offices a call RAD-INFO INC at (813) 963-5884

I have had a lot of discussions with channel partners in the last few weeks. One thing is clear: the landscape of carriers is changing. Consolidation makes our life miserable. Name one carrier that ever got better after a merger?

Telecom carriers are in a state:

• Zayo is for sale. An one large shareholder points out the carrier’s issues in a letter.
• CenturyLink is in integration hell after buying Level3. The cultures don’t mesh.  And they are shedding people left and right.
• GTT has the same problem as C-Link (too many mergers).
• Windstream is in BK. Cutting agency agreements at least 15%.
• Verizon has re-orged twice in a year. There have been more execs exiting.
• AT&T is so automated, it has become a nightmare to deal with.

In the business network game, this is what a customer has to choose from. Sure, Comcast and Spectrum are available for cheap bandwidth but nothing complicated or that crosses state lines.

As a telecom advisor, I have to figure out where the lit fiber is to reduce install headaches. (Then I have to explain to the carrier that they do actually have fiber there!)

Today, I am more of a Project Manager than ever before.  I have to project manage every install. Keep each project moving forward. Then deal with the post-install headaches – like billing errors, wrong speeds, no BGP, etc. It is always something. This was a lot easier (and paid better) a short while ago.

Meanwhile, every company is shouting sell my UCaaS, my SD-WAN, my Security. Dude, if you are this hard to deal with on Network, do you think I even want to deal with anything advanced from your messed up org? 

This is a huge opportunity for the former CLECs. The mission statement of the CLECs used to be that they were a nice alternative to the ILECs. Then it became “We Suck Less.” Then the CLECs all started to die/transform.

NITEL, AireSpring, Bullseye, TPx, Mettel, even Granite – this is your time. You have contracts with 2 or more of these carriers. Take the headache away. Grow your business. The window is wide open. Don’t miss it!

Despite the Wish List that we sell UC, SD-WAN, et al, a majority of the sales are still network. Take that business while you can. You can upsell / cross-sell later.

For Agents: business buyers need us more than ever to assist in taking that telecom pain away!

BTW, I saw yet another keynote that said, “Change your business or Die!” It would be great to have add-on sales to increase ARPU, etc.  It would be great if I thought the providers  pitching the new stuff could actually deliver it with a positive customer outcome. I’m not confident of that yet.  Also, it is a pain in the ass enough to just deal with voice and network!

Until you see an actual Agent standing on a stage saying you are going to die, keep doing you!

There was a big show floor in Vegas, but several attendees commented that it was one and done. Those vendors won’t be back next year.

Forrester’s McBain: 70% of Partners Want Out. Of course they want out: they grew old! There is a sea of gray hair walking the show floor. The channel has aged. Many are approaching 20 years in business. A business that has changed on them (and not in a good way). It is a lot harder than it was 20 years ago.

McBain says that “There are 36% fewer IT channel firms now than there were in 2008.” Sure. Microsoft and Cisco did a 180 – that affected most of the channel. One-third of these partners decided that they didn’t want to sell Office365 and Webex, and went on to something else.

If partners aren’t examining the landscape, they should. It looks as if we will relive the early 2000’s again as Bankruptcy becomes popular again. Windstream and Fusion (Birch what is this your 3rd BK?) are just the start.

Every partner that has been in the business for 10 years has been screwed by at least one vendor. Some went BK or just stopped commissions. Some changed channel strategy and cut the channel program. Some changed the terms of the contract. After you have survived all this, and with all the consolidation, musical chairs, debt and uncertainty, retirement looks really good.

“The average profit margin now is 17%,” McBain said. “A quarter of MSPs around the world are losing money … if you’re the average MSP, you are averaging break-even margins.” Certainly hardware margins are down. There is price pressure on RMM services and backup. The pricing on bandwidth is down. The vendors are feeling the same pressure!

I look at the middle business of 50-150 employees and think: is this current model sustainable?

10 years ago they bought software (anti-virus, MS Office, CRM, etc.) and they owned it. Now they rent it with their data sitting elsewhere, getting hacked regularly. Everything is an as-a-service subscription. How much of that MRC can a business take?

There are businesses that have moved to cloud and gone back when tehy realized how expensive IAAS/PAAS is. On demand CPU and RAM usage is not cheap. The total cost of ownership of UCaaS versus a PBX is still upside down as well.

Vendor after vendor trying to get the attention of a partner who will sell their stuff. It becomes white noise after a while. Most are just reselling other vendors, adding no value to the equation.

There is certainly opportunity for a channel partner if they want to diversify their business and change the way they sell AND what they sell… but it is all smoke… most of the revenue in our space is coming from the same thing it did 5 years ago!!! Network is still the most popular service – just ask cable companies! How can it not be when software is eating the world — and you need constant connectivity to see your data?

And that is not changing any time soon!!

Analysts like to point out the unseen channel, like Accenture. Um, if the client is paying Accenture, do you think Accenture is helping them buy network or 5G or wi-fi or VoIP? NOPE! Accenture is there to do strategy or data migration to the cloud or cut the company over to TEAMS.

The real worry that no keynote speaker mentions is the impending VENDOR doom. They can’t all stay afloat. It is too competitive – and pricing is dropping. Debt is increasing. Sales will stall as partners retire or get out. So where does that leave a provider who counts on channel for 45-100% of sales?

Who is recruiting new partners into the channel? No one. The feeder system for the channel was CLECs, who are gone now.

It’s like the shows pick keynotes to scare the attendees to do the bidding of the sponsors. The vendors – the Duopoly and other service providers – buy the big booths, pay for ads, sponsor surveys, sponsor keynotes… in other words, keep Informa afloat. So get keynote speakers who will emphasize a shift to the new “strategic” services – like 5G (cough cough, cheaper bandwidth), SD-WAN (MPLS re-packaged for less), UCaaS, IoT, cloud whatever.

It is a pay for play world.

At the awards dinner, in a side discussion, I mentioned that several winners (not all!) came from the big sponsors, which is no coincidence. The only way that anyone could even be considered is if they had a relationship with Informa. What relationship? Customer or Sponsor.

This is the same model that Gartner, IHS, Forrester, et al have. You can’t get on their list unless they know you. They can only know you if you hire them. Pay to play.

This may be cynical, but to me it is depressing.

I haven’t listened to a keynote speech since the SMB VP of Cisco played videos and read his slides at ITEXPO years ago. That was it for me. Last keynote. I don’t need a lecture from someone who has actually not sold a service to an actual buyer in ten years, telling me what it is like in the marketplace. What I need to do with my business.

You know who I have to listen to? My clients.

My lease was up and I had to go car shopping again. I hate it. I don’t know anyone who likes it.

At the Mazda dealership, they are still using the 1972 playbook. Come inside; fill out this form; let’s photocopy your driver’s license; test drive; back to the showroom. Blah blah blah.

The Toyota dealer didn’t have the model I wanted either but they tried showing me other models. No. I came in to see the Avalon, not a Camry, not a SUV.

The Mercedes dealer couldn’t find the car I wanted to see that was a showcase vehicle on the dealer website! The Internet sales person was worthless.

I would have gone with Carvana to buy online but how do you buy a car without test driving it? How do you know it will be comfortable? That you can see out of it properly? I guess I could go find a car on a lot and then buy it online but that doesn’t solve the awful experience at the dealership.

Here’s the thing: salespeople in trade booths are still using an awful playbook too.  Look, you aren’t getting paid to give demos. You are using the demo to get prospects hooked on the product. That requires some discovery before you just start poking around on the demo.

Companies need to start spending money – not just sales training – but active sales coaching. Video tape, whisper function on phones, etc. Coach these people up on the fact that it is 2019 – and buyers don’t have time for your sales crap.

 

So many providers think if I sign up 4 or 5 master agencies sales will explode. It doesn’t work that way.

I know that the masters inflate the number of partners they have. They count everyone who ever signed an agreement, not the number who get a check or the number who log in to the portal every month.

Master agencies now have a model similar to VADs like Ingram, Tech Data, Jenne or ScanSource. They have many, many vendors that amount to thousands of product SKUs. Most interaction with partners is through a portal.

The challenge for the providers to get in front of the partners and get their attention – at the same time that 100’s of other providers are trying to do the exact same thing!

A Value Proposition is very important.

Knowing how to compete is key.

Go-to-Market and Sell-through (channel sales enablement) are critical plans.

Knowing what makes a great partner is another component.

But the sell through, the channel sales enablement is the most critical.

Microsoft, Cisco, AT&T and Comcast create Demand. The Channel supplies that Demand.

A business needing a CRM is not created by Salesforce. They have become the name in CRM despite the fact that ACT! and others have been around longer.

But if your company does not create DEMAND or a Brand, what is your plan?

Back to the Masters:

The provider sponsors the master agency for a year. Then the provider has to show up: Be at the events, glad handing, making contact with partners at the road shows, the big master events, etc. Then follow up effectively.

It is a big time and financial expense.

Luckily, you only need 20 aligned partners to make it all worthwhile. Plus you need to On-Board them correctly.

The trick is really the sell-through. The Value Prop – the Why You and not all them – and the partner profile or criteria are necessary.

You can bring a mirror. If they can fog it up with their breath and sign an agreement, Boom! But every master and provider has a file cabinet full of inked agreements where the partner never engaged and never sold a dime.

In a portal, how does the partner know which provider has the hot button feature that the prospect wants?  How does the partner know which cableco has network in that town? A lot of sales is based on price and compensation in a portal driven world. Brand plays a little part of it. Through the fog of that portal, how are you salient (top of mind)?

Channel Sales Enablement, call me: 813-963-5884

Your Team > Master Agency > CM > Partner Co. > Partner Sales > Prospect