Channel Edge

Our channel is shifting faster than ever before and it's up to all of us to ensure we keep a finger on the pulse of what partners, alliances, and influencers are focused on going into 2022. Our SVP, Global Channel Chief, Steven Kellam, SVP of TMT Practice, Claudio Ayub and 360insights new SVP of Marketing, Heather K. Margolis join together in a Channel Edge special episode to review the key themes of the Channel Focus North America 2021 event. Watch this episode to understand the emerging themes that will help shape the landscape of the channel in 2022, such as: Engaging Influencers The emergence and dominance of the 'Marketplace' Partner assisted sales, marketing, and attribution

Channel Partners need to get better at marketing and demand generation. Regardless of the specific role designed for them to fulfill, partners need to take ownership and then execute on these critical tasks. But, how do you make that happen in today's frenzied channel environments? How do you amplify partner skills and accelerate the marketing and demand gen process? Some may suggest incentives, rewards, MDF, and maybe all of them combined. Channel Incentives are a powerful part of the marketing and demand generation process and the right mix of tools should be leveraged at the right time, to the right people in the right ways. Please join me and Marc Monday, VP Global Strategic Partnerships at Sage, as we discuss building both a marketing assessment and a marketing engagement program. The good news is that Marc has done this with thousands of partners, and we break it down into 5 steps (and some are not easy). However, that is what creates a competitive advantage when done well.

While channel incentive automation and partner engagement are critical factors in achieving partner success, one of the less discussed keys for many channel partners is access to capital. Channel partners are facing many new challenges in the COVID world, from digital marketing to sales enablement, so the last thing they need is lack of capital to manage their businesses. Please join me while I talk to Kiley Kunkler, Vendor Origination Lead at Wells Fargo, and discuss how the right bank can make a big difference in helping vendors grow channel sales and deepen partner relationships.

So how do you build your channel? How do you scale channel programs? What role do incentive and MDF play? How do you prioritize? How do you successfully grow and manage your channel business as your revenue, partner community and internal headcount expand? In short, what works when you have to take channel from zero to sixty really, really fast? Seems practical and strategic at the same time and that is not always easy. Please join us as we discuss this topic with Darren Bibby, former Vice President Partner Strategy and Programs at DocuSign. Darren share not only his philosophy for success, but he also lays out the  5 key steps that made it happen for DocuSign..

Admittedly, the first time I heard the term "Ecosystem Orchestration," I wasn't sure what to think. I questioned its meaning as it relates to the channel. However, I quickly realized that "Ecosystem Orchestration" is an incredibly accurate description of the synergistic management of today's complex ecosystems. No one can argue that channel ecosystems are becoming broader, more complex and extremely sophisticated. As the channel evolves in this way, participants in the channel are continuously questioning how do you get the most out of them. How do you take multiple partners, resellers, service providers and influencers and seamlessly manage them - all with the customer at the center? How can you orchestrate success? Please join us as we discuss this topic with James Hodgkinson, CEO of Webinfinity, a global leader in Ecosystem Orchestration. Listen in as James talks about why Ecosystem Orchestration is the key to successfully managing not just partners, alliances and applications outside of the organization, but all the parts of an organization's internal ecosystems as well.

Partners want leads, that is a given. However, what they really need is to learn how to sell in today's remote selling world. This goes beyond incentives and cold calling, even though both are important and deep into sales enablement: knowing not just what to do, but when to do it and to whom. Based on this trend, it's no surprise that companies like BlitzMaster's are having record years. BlitzMaster's founder and CEO Andrea Sittig-Rolf says that sales enablement services have never been in greater demand. Please join us in a lively conversation with Andrea on what is working in today's telemarketing world, where to put your incentives, what are the biggest challenges and who is winning the sales enablement game.

Forrester currently lists Channel Automaton at the top of the vendor priority list, with Incentive Automation leading the way. But how important is automation in todays Channel? Is it a real competitive advantage?  What are the challenges? Where does data play into this strategy? Why is it harder than is sounds? There are a lot of questions that need to be addressed, however one  thing is clear according to Jay McBain, Principal Analyst Channels, Partnerships and Ecosystems at Forrester. The ones who get automaton right, from Incentives to personalization, will be the winners. Please listen in as Jay and I discuss the value of not just committing to channel automation, but the upside of doing it right.

While the “Cloud” is sometimes over-hyped and even misunderstood, it's actually a necessity in today's complex and evolving incentives industry. With that said, 360insights is excited to be releasing its 360|TECHCLOUD this week, the first launch in its multi-industry Cloud strategy. More than just the right nomenclature, this "single pane of glass" incentive cloud offers partners and vendors an industry-specific Incentive Automation (IA) platform that combines multiple components that are seamlessly bound together to address a customers' needs in a way that individual components simply cannot deliver on their own. Please listen in as Claudio Ayub and I discuss what the 360|TECHCLOUD really is, why it is so important to the Tech Channel today and what future holds for the first truly dedicated IA Cloud.

Digital marketing has never been more important for awareness and demand generation in the channel. Yet, partners still struggle so much with something that can be such a key tool for their success. So, how do you leverage assets like digital marketing agencies to help to drive success? Please join as we discuss this challenge and opportunity with Cameron Avery, Founder and CEO of Elastic Digital, a leading channel digital marketing agency.

IOT has become a universally understood application in today's business world, with benefits ranging from managing inventory and maintenance for massive construction machinery, to leveraging cameras inside of refrigerators that tell you when you are out of milk. At this juncture in IOT evolution, many manufacturers assume it is easy and seamless to create an effective connection that fully capitalizes on their IOT investment. The reality is that there are still some big obstacles to realizing maximum effectiveness. How do we make it easy for end users to connect and manage their devices? How do we incent end users to engage?  How do we ensure that connectivity providers and the manufactures are aligned on what is needed to effectively connect, report and measure success? Please join us in our latest podcast as we discuss these issues and many of the solutions with Ray Underwood, Director of Business Development at Zipit Wireless, an industry leader in bridging the IOT gap.

Planning a successful MDF or CoOp program is challenging enough without having to worry about whether or not your activities are contra vs. opex. While there are some gray areas, the reality is that determining how to classify your program is pretty straight forward - especially with the right guidance. While your program objectives are always your "North Star," it's always a good idea to get the funding right the first time. Please join us in a spirited conversation with Craig DeWolf, VP of MDF Product at 360insights as we discuss how to define, align and manage around the right funding model.  

MDF, CoOp, or BDF? What do these acronyms really mean and when do you use one over the other? Can you combine them? When are they most effective? How do you measure them for success? What my good friend Craig DeWolf, VP of MDF Product at 360insights, likes to say, “it depends”.  Your program objectives and the lens through which you view the needs of your program, are far more important than the labels used. However, there are real difference and real consequences if you don't pay attention to the details – like funding sources. Please join us as we unpack the real world definitions of MDF, BDF and CoOp, and discuss when and where to use each effectively, as well as how to manage challenges when trying to align each of these programs to channel sales goals and success.

MDF has never been so important to partner and dealer success. ROI resulting from MDF programs is now the prerequisite KPI for keeping the investment in this essential sales tool moving forward. Post COVID, CFOs are more critical of costs and are looking for proven ROI or it's on the chopping block. This is true for MDF and marketers must be able to effectively answer the following questions: 1. Why are we spending company dollars on MDF? 2. What are we getting out of it? 3. How are we measuring success? Join us on the ChannelEdge Podcast for a spirited discussion with Craig DeWolf, VP of MDF Product at 360insights, as he talks about why MDF matters more today than ever before (think digital marketing enablement in a digital COVID world) and some of the best ways to measure MDF ROI regardless of the length of the sales cycle.

So many MDF conversations today begin with questions about ROI including, "how do I measure, how do I manage and how do I report?" However, the questions that everyone should actually be asking about MDFs are, "how do I create great engagement and measure ROI at the same time," along with, "how do I live up to the customer obsession mandate, continue to drive loyalty and still get what you need to keep the funding going?" Please join us as we begin a series of podcasts with Craig DeWolf, VP MDF Product at 360insights, on just that subject. Craig and I will discuss these questions, try to answer them and provide insight about how other channel organizations and leaders should be approaching their MDF strategy. 

Ecosystems in the channel have traditionally been ad hoc, partner driven and not particularly efficient. However, as complexity in sales increases, efficient vendor-managed ecosystems are a necessary part of delivering successful customer experiences and outcomes. But, managing those ecosystems can be a significant challenge - especially if you're still using spreadsheets. Well designed programs bring together all the right partners and influencers, enlist incentives to reward and engage those within the ecosystem, and then utilize automation to track, manage and create a frictionless experience. Please join us at Theresa Caragol, founder and CEO at Achieve Unite, as we talk about how to effectively manage your ecosystem. Whether this is a new endeavor for your team or you're an experienced pro, Theresa offers some great ideas and insights.

We are becoming more and more addicted to getting data when we want it, getting it fast and getting it anywhere. From life altering support of remote heart monitors, to everyday activities like checking how much milk is in the fridge from our mobile device while actually at the grocery store, our dependencies on IOT and data mobility is surging. So what does that mean for the channel? How can vendors like T-Mobile enable their B2B Business partners to make the most of this opportunity. Join as Paul Spencer, Director of Channel Sales at T-Mobile talks about how to drive partner success, how to remove friction for his dealers, delight his end users and incentivize his channel to capture all the market share they can.

90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual and it is perceived 60,000X faster than text. What does this tell us? Video marketing is no longer a "nice-to-have." Rather, it is a necessity for brands of all sizes to better connect with customers and partners, communicate your messages, improve brand experiences and break through the noise to capture attention. Video use cases are endless - from partner training and engagement to product introductions and sales pitches. Video can also be the key to gaining traction with a customer at the right time throughout their entire buying journey. We know video works, so why do so many companies still shy away from creating an arsenal of video marketing content?   Robert Cassard, CEO & Co-Founder of Voodoo Video chats with 360insights' Reggie Waterman about the power of video, the latest video trends, its perceived challenges and ways to use this medium to achieve mind-blowing ROI. 

Customer obsession takes patience and creativity today. The need for that customer obsession in the home appliance market is more critical than ever. The Wall Street Journal states that retail spending rose by 10% in March, with everything from mid-range refrigerators to high-end coffee systems flying off the showroom floors. It's clear that home appliances are in high demand and today's consumers are willing to spend money on them. However, the challenge is, how do you delight the customer and enhance your brand when consumer expectations, sales enablement, consumer incentives and supply chain are not all aligned? How do we get the most out of our incentives? How do you make customers feel good about waiting 12 weeks for a refrigerator? While we don't know what the supply and demand relationship will look like in six months to a year, customer obsession in this space needs to happen now. Please join us as Melina Aguilar, consistently one of the top high-end appliance sellers in all of Southern California, talks about what she sees as the challenges and the opportunity in retail today, and what vendors can do to capitalize on all the action.

Right now, Channel Enablement is a top priority for everyone that interacts with partners and/or dealers as their route to market. In fact, Sirius Decisions indicates that 62% of high-performing organizations having some sort of ongoing Partner Enablement in place for multiple partner personas for 2021. So, how do you get ahead of the curve in these particular areas? How do you maximize your time and efforts in optimizing your relationships with your partners and dealers - resulting in better business outcomes? Join us in a candid conversation about these critical topics and more with Taylor Macdonald from Sage Intacct. Hear how Taylor has solved the sales enablement challenge by giving his partners the chance to not only learn the skills they need to drive revenue, but also the opportunity to teach and learn from each other in a community environment.  According to Taylor, nothing is more effective than learning from those that face the same challenges as you do every day.

So what happens after International Women’s day? How do we extend these critical conversations beyond just one day or one month and leverage all that attention, celebration and honoring? One way is to tell stories, even if they are painful. I went into my podcast interview with Adele Hedrick, talented data scientist at 360insights, believing that this was going to a solemn 30 minutes, then I got to know Adele better. She was incredibly open and told her own personal story about success,  joy and a celebration of the moment. Through this authentic conversation, I believe I made a friend. Please join us as Adele walks us through her journey, the abuse and harassment that altered the course of her life, and how she refused, with purpose, to let it keep her from achieving everything she wanted.

From what I know of Tina Gravel, I'd guess that channel growth, incentive automation, ROI on channel programs, PRM and TCMA are all on her mind. As a successful channel leader with years of experience under her belt, driving channel success is always on her mind, but as an advocate for women, she's also thinking about how to help women achieve success in the channel and in life. Join us as we immediately change topics from how to grow the channel to how to grow as a person. The irony, according to Tina, is that it takes the latter to make the former work so much better.

Where are we today with regards to inclusion and diversity for women in the channel? Why is it so important to push for both diversity and inclusion and what's the difference between the two? How can we all work together to make inclusion happen? Please join us for a personal discussion around Women in the Channel with Theresa Caragol, founder and CEO of Achieve Unite and former Channel Chief. A life-long advocate for diversity, equality and empowerment in the workforce and beyond, Theresa talks about the real challenges that still exist today for women, while celebrating the notable progress and success that continues to happen every day.  She also provides some meaningful insight into what really needs to happen in order for more people and organizations to celebrate more achievements in these areas - for all. 

What happens when the pandemic ends? Naturally, there’s an inevitable rush and expectation to go back to business as usual. But, surprise! So much of a successful channel partner’s go-to-market strategy doesn’t always immediately revert back to pre-COVID times. As Larry and many others are surmising, COVID did not create a change or even spark new transformation. Rather, the pandemic and the world’s various responses have just accelerated what was already happening.  What kind of environment does this evolution of channelnomics really create?  How does it impact partners’ selling motion, marketing motion, and revenue generation? Join us for another eye-opening conversation on what happens when partners realize that while the “new” reality may still be new, the wheels have been in motion well before COVID and buyers are better off for it.

The question every partner and dealer wants to answer is: How do we drive profitability? The answer is so critical because profitability is exactly what they need more of now and in the future. During an upcoming ChannelEdge Podcast interview, Scott Mann from Scale Computing, discusses how he believes it's all about keeping things simple, which is never as easy as it sounds. Please take a listen as Scott talks about Scale Computer’s "Keep it Simple" culture, which he attributes to better partner/dealer engagement and improved overall CX/PX at every contact point throughout the buyer's journey. From product, marketing and sales, to finance and customer support, simplifying experiences leads to greater partner and customer satisfaction, which ultimately results in more profitability for channel organizations. 

What happens in the Channel in 2021? How do we learn from the challenges of 2020? What do we keep, what do we throw away, and what do we need to build new?  During the most recent ChannelEdge Podcast, Steven Kellam spoke to 306insights’ founder &  CEO, Jason Atkins. Please listen to their discussion as Atkins shares what he learned from 2020 and what he expects as we move forward in 2021. Jason is incredibly well positioned to share key learnings, as well as his forecast for success as the CEO of the largest per play (CIM) Channel Incentive Management Company in North America.  So, tune in to understand what is necessary to ignite growth, manage retention and drive loyalty in both the B2B to B2B2C in 2021.

Channel 2021 is here, that joyfully said, what can we take from an incredibly wild ride in 2020 to be successful in 2021? Theresa Caragol, CEO at Achieve Unite, believes that while everything from the need for Incentive Automation to the rise of influencer Channel programs will be a integral part of the journey, the one essential consideration is building Channel trust, individually and corporately. Please join us as Theresa talks about the what and the how to accomplish just that, along with other key takeaways to get the most of what we have learned from Channel 2020.

Is how you sell today different from past years? In most businesses, the answer is a resounding yes. The coronavirus global pandemic changed selling. Was your business ready for it? This week’s Channel Edge guest Tiffani Bova the Global Growth, Sales and Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce, talks about how companies that focus on digital transformation adapted better those that don’t. Tiffani challenges channel leaders to think about how much time they’re spending on running their businesses versus transforming them. She sees a big difference in the performance of companies balancing their time versus those that don’t. Listen in and hear her thoughts on “the growth mindset” and who leads the transformation the vendor or channel partner. Tiffani recently conducted a webinar named The Future of Sales 2020, in which she shared ten future trends. This Channel Edge podcast dives deeper at a couple of those trends, where leaders should focus, and how we’re not likely to swing back to where we were pre-pandemic.

The founder of Johnny Cupcakes is a true entrepreneur starting sixteen businesses before he was sixteen years old. Who would have guessed the one that would stick would begin by creating a T-Shirt advertising a bakery that didn’t exist?  Johnny Cupcakes is a story of branding, but more importantly, brand adaptability. The initial batch of Johnny Cupcakes’ T-Shirts sold out right away, so he took the money and made more T-shirts. Before he knew it, Johnny was the keynote speaker at events, opening retail stores, and training Cake Dealers. What started as a fun T-Shirt idea has become an International story of brand adaptability. Like every good story, every decision doesn’t work out. From hungry people not finding any baked goods in stores to those who disagree with his social justice stance, listen as Johnny Cupcakes shares the brand’s many twists and turns with Channel Edge.

In the old days, a salesperson would walk into a prospect’s office, observe pictures, books, and other items on the desk and walls, and start a conversation about something of mutual interest. Those conversation starters broke the ice and created a bond between the salesperson and the customer. Today, we’re doing this online, and we call it breaking into the new narrative. This week Gabriel Carrejo, award-winning Director of Global Social Marketing at Automation Anywhere, and Michael Brito, EVP Digital & Analytics at the Zeno Group, join Channel Edge and discuss the evolution of social selling and marketing and what they call the new narrative. What is the new narrative, and why should you care? It’s about understanding your target audience’s affinities and interests and using that data to connect with them and create meaningful engagement. Listen in as Gabriel and Michael talk about how salespeople can use data to find the right angle to start a conversation and create an immediate bond with prospects. It’s also being used by marketers to achieve better engagement.

Influencers like Kim Kardashian, The Rock, and Taylor Swift have had a profound impact on consumer buying behavior. This phenomenon isn’t new, and it impacts how consumers spend billions of dollars.  Does the same thing exist in the B2B world? This week’s episode of Channel Edge discusses influencer and their role in both B2B and B2C.  Larry Walsh, CEO and Chief Analyst at The 2112 Group, rejoins Channel Edge to discuss some recent research his organization has done around influencers and his unique take on the subject. Listen in as Larry shares why influencers are important and why we shouldn’t ignore them. Influencers come in many forms and operate at many levels. Your host Steven Kellam and Larry Walsh discuss essential topics like rewarding influencers and building programs to support them. Larry believes influencers have been in B2B all along and we’re just now starting to pay the proper attention to them. He discusses how he sees companies institutionalizing and monetizing influence. We spend inordinate amounts of time developing channel programs. We need to start giving time to referrals and influencers. Larry and Steven discuss why and offer a place to start.

This week Ryan Schopp, Vice President of Marketing at AppDynamics joins Channel Edge to share his thoughts on investing in the right channel partners.  Listen in as Ryan shares his company’s approach to determining the group of channel partners to focus upon and how they go about categorizing partners at AppDynamics. At the heart of AppDynamics’ channel program is a modified version of the MEDDIC enterprise sales process they’ve coined as BEPIC (pronounced “Be Epic”). Ryan uses this acronym to guide and focus his team. The acronym stands for: Belief – The foundation of the program is to get both sides to believe strongly in AppDynamics and the value it will provide customers. This happens over time starting with a structured sales deck that everyone is trained to present. Executive Sponsorship – Finding and building a belief with the right executive sponsor is critical to success. An executive is identified and targeted during the Belief part of the process and their commitment to the program is secured as a second step. Propensity to Buy – Ryan’s team and the channel partner work together to identify the twenty accounts with the highest likelihood to buy. They then narrow the list to the top 5 and work together to secure the business.   Interlock –AppDynamics’ uses what Ryan describes as a value pyramid to present the offering to customers. Cadence – is all about holding each other accountable to how often they get together and work on these accounts and track their progress. Ryan also shares how investing in the right channel partners helps AppDynamics amplify what they achieve in the market. He describes the approach as being like Account Based Marketing but focused on investing in the right channel partners. Ryan’s team sounds truly committed as they are spending 80% of their time and budget on their top 50 partners; a list that is revisited every six months.

Our partners, agents, dealers, etc. are people and to effectively engage, communicate, and market to them we need to understand and empathize with their journey and lives. In the channel, this is creating a pivot towards hyper-personalization. This week Kristine Stewart joins Channel Edge to share her observations and findings and five key hyper-personalization themes she sees emerging: Hyper personal experiences Simplify and virtualize everything Better together Alignment with sales Channel automation and analytics The world has gone virtual out of necessity and there is a need for vendors to reduce friction and move the customer and partner experience needle. Vendors are innovating their approaches to personalization, lifecycle engagement, customer journeys, and much more at an incredible rate.  Listen in as Kristine shares her findings and how this is impacting CX & PX.

As we settle into a new normal created by this pandemic, it’s time to get back to focusing on customer and partner experience. This week Theresa Caragol, Founder and CEO of AchieveUnite, joins Channel Edge to discuss the good/bad/ugly of the current state of the channel and where partner experience is headed. On the good side, Theresa shares that we seem to have settled into this normal and we’re getting back to focusing on things that matter. On the bad, she still sees some companies and individuals paralyzed, and Steven adds the ugly are those companies not executing plans they announced. Theresa shares key partnership experience themes AchieveUnite developed from research conducted in partnership with CompTIA which include: Partner lifetime value is key Partner communities and ecosystems are the new channels The power equation has shifted towards customers and partners Enablement is the new currency These themes and the underlying research were shared and discussed in more detail at CompTIA’s ChannelCon event. Listen in as Theresa and host Steven Kellam, VP Marketing at 360insights discuss these themes and current channel trends.

What is compassion marketing? This week’s guest, Nabeel Ullah product manager at 360insights, shares his thoughts and his company’s latest activities related to how brands can leverage consumer rebates to align with customers in supporting social causes. Many corporate value statements include taking some form of social responsibility. The activities companies engage in to fulfill these commitments are known as compassion marketing. Often companies engage their suppliers and distributors in compassion marketing. This podcast shares an innovative approach to also engage a brand's consumers. “Incentives are about influence, giving back to individuals who act in alignment with brand strategy,” said Nabeel. “360insights has made it easy for customers to align with brands in a giving strategy." Listen in as Nabeel shares his company's latest efforts to align the objectives of brands with consumers to create social value through consumer rebates.    Jason Atkins, Founder of 360insights, embraced corporate giving as a strategic initiative from the company's first days. It is woven into the company's core DNA and now it has manifested itself on the product side of the business. With the global pandemic, more companies are embracing compassion marketing and 360insights latest product innovation creates a new avenue to engage consumers. 

The insurance industry is about as established as an industry gets, but it isn’t immune to digital transformation. When it comes to insurance marketing, old school tactics are no longer working, and agents are aging out. The industry also isn’t known as a destination for Millennials or digital natives. What’s insurance digital transformation look like today? Listen in as our latest guest, Pat Moore a Farmers Insurance Agency Owner discusses trials and tribulations of successfully adopting new technology. Pat shares his experiences and his view of the future of insurance marketing.

Covid, Covid, Coronavirus,i  t seems like this pandemic is all anyone can talk about. Isn't there a lighter side of the channel? We hear you, and for this episode of Channel Edge we're going to take a break from the news of the moment and take a look back.  Join us as Janet Schijns, founder of the JS Group, and Jason Eberhardt, Global Vice President Cloud & MSP at Bitdefender, talk about some of the odd and crazy things they've seen on the lighter side of the channel. Take a break, sit back and relax and hear Janet and Jason share real channel experiences from dealing with people who don’t know what a channel is to those making changes because someone thinks it’s their job.

Digital transformation has never been more relevant than it is today with the COVID-19 pandemic occurring alongside most IT channels transitioning to some form of a subscription model. This week Kristine Stewart, Vice President, Client Success & Marketing at Channel Impact, joins ChannelEdge to discuss a nine-step process she co-developed with Robert Saxe of nVision for achieving channel success in an X as a Service (XaaS) economy. Kristine shares her nine-step business model framework for transitioning to XaaS and discusses with ChannelEdge host, Steven Kellam, the nuances of each step. Listen in as Kristine and Steven discuss getting the right mechanisms, incentives, and analytics in place to successfully transform a channel organization to XaaS. Learn about vendor and partner roles and responsibilities in achieving channel success through the transformation.

Theresa Caragol, Founder and CEO of AchieveUnite, joins ChannelEdge to share what she’s hearing in recent round-tables her organization is facilitating related to the Covid-19 crisis. Listen in as Theresa talks about superpowers a topic that came up in her most recent round-table on collaboration and innovation. What makes a business or person extraordinary or special (superpower) and how to capitalize on it?  When the going gets tough we tend to fall back on these superpowers, so understanding them and knowing how to draw strength from them is important. This dovetails into a conversation prompted by our host Steven Kellam on trust as a superpower. Is trust a superpower? Is trust innate or can it be built? Hear Theresa reveal AchieveUnite’s eight ingredients to building trust.

Lisa Penn rejoins ChannelEdge to discuss driving channel success and improving customer experience post Covid-19. Lisa drops key wisdom bombs like: “Vendors need to acknowledge your partners are going through some critical issues and they need help” She also shares her three key steps to driving channel success now and post the pandemic: Get your own house in order - look inward first – get it right internally – know your strengths and weaknesses Put the Customer first – from partners to the install base, don’t just offer assistance, be genuine, be empathetic, build long term relationships Drive consistency – be there for your channel, stay consistent and flexible – emphasis communications, leverage field people to social We’re living in a new world paradigm and to survive and thrive we need to adapt our channel strategies to drive customer and channel success. Shift from hard selling, show some empathy, share thought leadership to help them survive. This will create loyalty amongst existing customers and help you uncover net new ones.

In today’s new world, we need to do a better job establishing human connections. Listen as this week’s guest, Janet Schjins CEO of the JS Group, discusses her thoughts about returning from the pandemic to a new digital normal. We’re no longer in digital transformation we’re in a new digital normal. Steven and Janet discuss the need for relevant and actionable content and the importance of having a platform to communicate with your audience. Hear their thoughts on how people are shifting to social and the need to modify demand generation tactics to keep up with the movement. The need to invest in learning, new marketing tactics, and content that resonates in today’s world. As Janet says, “we all need to pull together to help the channel.“

How has Covid-19 changed prospecting? Listen in as Andrea Sittig-Rolf, “The BlitzMaster” shares how the approach to prospecting is changing due to the virus.   The BlitzMaster recommends companies rethink their value propositions in the light of the current situation and invest in sales enablement, partner rewards and partner assistance. Everyone simply needs to step back and ask: “How can my product/service help others through today’s challenge?”    Andrea Sittig- Rolf is Chief BlitzMaster at BlitzMasters and author of The Seven Keys to Effective Business-to-Business Appointment Setting. Andrea frequently emcees and delivers keynotes at corporate events. For over 25 years, her interactive and entertaining approach has inspired and empowered salespeople to be their best.

Why is Marketing enablement more important than ever? And why is it so critical to view through a superior dealer/partner experience lens? This week’s guest, Cameron Avery the CEO of Elastic Digital explains why he believes you start with 3C’s: Content, Cadence and Communication. Listen in as Cameron discusses the importance of portal design, the evolution of marketing enablement and the need for set & forget multi-tactic lead nurturing. Cameron also shares his thoughts on how digital marketing and partner portals should work together to engage channel partners.

Is there any optimism left out there? You bet there is, and sometimes you find it in the most unlikely places. This week, Larry Walsh the CEO of the 2112 Group, joins us and shares his thoughts on some recent research on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the peak of the pandemic the 2112 Group reached out to Channel Chiefs and senior channel professionals, asking about the impact of this crisis. Their findings show some real leadership and uncovered optimism in the face of great adversity. Join us for this special Covid-19 podcast and listen in as Larry Walsh and your host Steven Kellam discuss the findings and their thoughts on what’s happening in the world today.

If you could build a program any way you want, what would you do? Would you change everything? Or would you tweak what you have? This is a question many ask on a regular basis, but historically few have been able to act at will. Join us as Sandra Glaser Cheek, veteran Channel Chief, discusses the strategy behind making sweeping changes, and to no one’s surprise, data and measurement play a big role. A proven leader with a reputation for innovation and inspiration, Sandra  is a seasoned executive with a track record of driving strategies that build successful partnering practices across various disciplines, including sales, marketing, strategy and business development. Take a listen now to part one of two episodes where Sandra discusses the strategy for what it takes to maximize program results. And next week, join us for part II as we follow up Strategy with Program Execution.

“An equal world is an enabled world.” We cannot say it any better, women have come a long way when it comes to equality in the workplace. We should all take a moment to celebrate the many great social, cultural and economic accomplishments during this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD 2020). However, we must keep a keen eye on what happens next, and support a passionate drive to iterate and improve. Meaghan Sullivan joined us to celebrate IWD 2020, and to candidly share her experience, dreams, and expectations. She openly discusses her personal experience of being a woman in a male-dominated industry. Meaghan’s perspective illustrates the dynamic qualities of so many women as she shares her advice on this journey and how she thrives in the face of the expectations that accompany her roles. Meaghan Sullivan is the vice president of Global Channel Marketing at SAP. In this role, she is tasked with accelerating global indirect revenue through channel marketing practices as well as the SME route to market overall for SAP. Sullivan focuses on Demand Generation activities to provide SAP partners with innovative programs, campaigns, and resources that enable them to more efficiently market their SAP solutions and services.

How good is your end to end partner/dealer CX, really - be honest? How do you enrich a single customer’s moment, interaction and transaction? Or as Liz Cope puts it, their “in the moment customer experience”. Everything the partner goes through from the moment that relationship is built should feel like a smooth personalized business experience. “To our partners the entire business experience is a brand experience”. Liz Cope is the Global Director, Marketing Operations and Technology at Ingersoll Rand. Liz is channel marketer veteran and has used her deep domain experience to successfully build and lead multi-cultural global marketing teams responsible for digital transformation, brand strategy & activation, marketing analytics, demand gen, channel partner GTM, and channel partner program development/management. Additionally, she has led the strategic direction of her digital platforms, marketing technologies and marketing operations at the enterprise level, enabling the B2B and B2C global marketing function to deliver growth, and an enhanced customer experience. Join us as we discuss the importance of a great CX across all your partners/dealers’ touch points. Listen now:

“It is not about the transaction, it is about the relationship,” says Theresa Caragol— founder & CEO of AchieveUnite. What really is partnering for success, and how important is it to a successful go-to-market strategy? How and where does customer experience play a role? Where do you start, and how do you build those powerful and lasting relationships? Please join us as we discuss these hot topics with Theresa and hear about the processes, she has designed to drive channel success in both B2B and B2B2C routes to market. Theresa is an accomplished channel chief, speaker, author and consultant with over 20 years of experience in building and managing multi-million-dollar indirect channel teams and strategic alliance programs. Listen now to hear Theresa’s strategy and execution with successful partnering.

Where are you in your customer success journey? Are your customers feeling the love… literally? Many organizations are taking the leap and embracing the move beyond just the “customer first” notion and instead becoming “customer obsessed.” Simply because, as Heather Tenuto puts it, “the customer has never been more powerful than they are today.” In this ChannelEdge episode Heather Tenuto, CRO of Zift Solutions, joins us to discuss all about the what, where, and how’s of customer success. Bringing her 20+ years of experience working with B2B, B2C and SaaS providers, she knows a thing or two about how to make the customer paramount. Listen now to hear how you can strengthen your customer relationships.

"What I'm terrified of is losing that humanity as we grow..." Melanie Zevenbergen is an American living in Rotterdam, and working as the Vice President of Sales & Channel Enablement for Commscope. Her impressive background includes working with some of the largest brands in the world as well as leading in the introduction of new technologies, processes & initiatives such as launching & developing a global partner network, Salesforce communities expansion, DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management), intelligent building performance lighting, modular data centers and DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems.)

"The first thing is making sure you have the right mix of partner types in your ecosystem..." Jennifer McCready is the Global Channel Chief for Steelcase, bringing more than 18 years’ professional experience successfully managing sales teams, marketing teams, project teams and technology/devices strategy for enterprise companies like Microsoft. Upon joining Steelcase, Jennifer had the chance to build her channel programs from a clean slate - a compelling opportunity for any of us who have been dropped into legacy ecosystems.

“ They NEED to all stick with rebates...” Melinda Aguilar is back for round two. After kicking up dust in her first appearance back on ep. 38, Dear Vendor, Let Me Introduce You to Our Customer…. she is back to share her perspective on what makes a great partnership with a vendor.