Channel Enablers’ highly acclaimed Selling Channel Value workshop is an intensive two day, fast-track program that was developed to improve the productivity of channel management professionals.

This packed program was built for Channel Managers who are short on time and hungry for results. SCV combines essential content from Channel Success Fundamentals and Influencing Partnership Outcomes to create a two day crash course in the core skills and processes of selling through and with channel partners.

SCV content ranges from what might be regarded as channel management foundation concepts – to more advanced topics on understanding partner business imperatives.

• People who are new to channel management will develop a broad understanding of the skills and processes required for success.
• Participants with extensive sales experience will understand what makes them successful helping them to systematize best channel selling practices, refresh and expand their knowledge and polish vital interpersonal relationship building skills.

Workshop Content

Selling Channel Value covers a huge range of topics and skills. While other Channel Enablers’ programs go into much greater depth in some areas, Selling Channel Value examines the vast majority of channel management success factors.

Topics and learning outcomes include:

• Channel management best practices - How the role of the partner manager has changed and current best practices in partner management.
• Agreement on what the partnering team ‘sells’ to channel and alliance partners (not just product). Understanding the real value they bring to the channel.
• The partnering influence process. The skills and processes required to gain investment commitments from channel and alliance partners. Questioning to build mutual value awareness, qualifying and investigating, identifying value propositions, and overcoming partner concerns.
• Strategies for influencing partner behavior and changing partnership outcomes, including building empathy with partners and understanding the business imperatives that shape their thinking and drive their decision making at executive levels.
• Identifying needed change commitments.
• Understanding the target end-user customer’s buying process and how roles and responsibilities between vendors and partners are shared to address end-user requirements.
• Building one-on-one trusted business relationships.
• An introduction to effective partner communication.
• Self analysis of the participant’s influence style and its inherent strengths and weaknesses.
• Identifying ‘growth’ partners.
• Predicting channel success - metrics for proactive channel management.
• Some key elements of channel account planning and review.
• Personal commitment planning. Specific, measurable actions that each sales person will commit to as a result of attending this workshop. These can later be formally reviewed by the channel management team.

Workshop Benefits

Selling Channel Value has been highly acclaimed by Channel Managers in over 50 different countries. This fast-paced, highly interactive and engaging program is organized to:

• help Channel Managers better understand their changing role, and the value they contribute to their organizations and to their partners.
• establish a common understanding of best practices among the channel management team.
• provide a step-by-step process to analyze a channel territory, optimize resource allocation and create ‘change momentum’ amongst partners towards win-win business outcomes.
• establish a minimum skill base upon which channel managers can improve their ability to drive new business and increase market share through partners.

Workshop Format and Media

Selling Channel Value is:

• normally run over two days, including one late afternoon or evening session
• suitable for between 10 and 15 participants
• caters for groups of 15-25 participants (requires two Channel Enablers trainers)

(An off-site residential venue is preferred to cater for a heavy workload and facilitate the inclusion of an evening session.)

Through pre-course interviews and discussion SCV is customized to fit each organization’s special circumstances.

Channel Enablers has produced focused variations of this program to cater for different types of channel roles - ranging from ‘inside’ telephone-based channel management through to Channel Managers who are responsible for resellers, distributors, ISVs and alliance partners – and even Territory Managers who ‘sell with’ influencer partners.

Variations may also be made to allow for differences in channel management process – such as the mix between ‘inside’ sales, direct sales and ‘face-to-face’ channel and alliance selling.

This workshop employs a variety of media to maximize learning of the mechanics of channel selling as well as to increase understanding of how to build relationships with different kinds of people. These include:

• comprehensive printed reference material covering general principles of the partnering influence process and how to best deal with people who have different behavioral styles
• presentations and discussions that relate these principles to participants’ own situations, opportunities and accounts
• provision of channel sales analysis and planning tools for on-going use after the event
• a mixture of individual and table team exercises providing variety and maximizing personal engagement
• role-plays which form a major part of the program and provide the opportunity to practise channel selling skills using the participants’ own partners and sales situations as examples

We typically invite senior representatives of partner organizations to become directly involved in the program. This provides channel managers with deeper insight into the issues that affect partner behaviors.

Video analysis offers a method of providing feedback to participants as well as coaching. We aim to work like ‘golf-pros’ - showing participants their own ‘swing’ and helping them to improve.

Extensive feedback contributes to overall development planning for every individual.

Throughout the workshop participants are challenged to identify specific activities they can commit to after the course in order to put best practices to work in the field. As a final exercise, participants review their learning and develop specific improvement plans.