Channel Partner Study

Success in the Indirect Sales Channel

Insights for Channel Organizations & Channel Partners

PDAgroup | enabling best performance www.pdagroup.net

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary 1

Introduction 1
Research Methodology 1

2 Strategy 2

Strategic Alignment 2
Customer Involvement & Retention 2

3 Risk 3

Risk Review Plans 3

Competitive Strategies 3
Knowledge Management 3

4 Marketing 4

Effective Online Presence 4

Marketing Team 4
Marketing Alignment 5

5 Sales 6

Pipeline Coverage & Opportunity Qualification 6

Feedback in the Sales Cycle 7
Case Study Development & Value Selling 8

6 Solution Strategy 9

Channel Partner Co-Innovation 9

Software Demo Landscapes 9

7 Consulting 11

Customer Satisfaction 11
Project Management 11

8 Human Resources 13

Employer Branding 13
Resource Planning 13
Employee Retention 14
Training Plans 14

9 PDAgroup 15

About Us 15
Partner Analysis 16
Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 1

Executive Summary

1.1 Introduction

The global markets of the twenty-first century are highly competi-

tive, and establishing, maintaining and growing a business in today’s
global business climate is a difficult feat. This feat can be even more
challenging for channel sales organizations as they do not have direct
control over the processes that contribute to the growth of their busi-
nesses. While channel partners can help businesses to achieve the
full scalability of their products or services, these partnerships also
present critical risks for channel organizations. As a result of poor or
inactive management on the end of channel partner, a channel orga-
nization may incur significant opportunity costs and its brand’s image
could suffer significantly.

In order to enable each channel partner’s success, effective channel

management from the channel organization is essential. Such channel
management includes a mature selection process, supporting motiva-
tion, training and evaluation of channel partners. Indirect sales chan-
nel organizations, therefore, need a comprehensive overview of the
performance of their channel partners in order to be able to improve
overall channel effectiveness.

1.2 Research Methodology

The PDAgroup Partner Analysis provides such an analysis for indirect

Strategy channel partners. The analysis gives a holistic picture of each channel
partner’s performance and covers seven business areas.

Risk By answering over 80 detailed questions in these categories, manage-

ment teams that participate in the analysis construct a comprehensive
portrait of their organizations. The questions used are developed in
Marketing
collaboration with the channel organization, ensuring that the channel
partner and the channel organization can use the analysis to align their
Sales priorities and strategies more closely. Channel partners select their
current score based on a set of predefined statements that match the
maturity of their business processes.
Solution Strategy
In the last year over 100 individual channel partners from the IT indus-
try have used the PDAgroup Partner Analysis in order to enhance their
Consulting performance and improve their alignment with their channel organiza-
tions. The following whitepaper provides an aggregated view of the
results of these analyses and summarizes the core challenges facing
Human Resources
channel partners and channel organizations, as well as what can be
done to overcome these challenges.
© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved
Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 2

Strategy

2.1 Strategic Alignment

While channel organizations may have a well-established and clearly

communicated strategy, the same is not always true for channel part-
ners. Even if the latter does maintain a strong strategy that ensures it
a strong position in the market, it is not a foregone conclusion that the
partner’s strategy will complement the strategy of the channel organi-
zation. In some cases, conflicting strategies may condemn an other-
wise profitable partnership.

The channel partners evaluated within the framework of the Partner

Analysis exemplify this latter point: while 75% of partners maintained
a detailed business plan for strategic decision-making, only 35% pur-

65% sued a strategy that was aligned with the goals of the channel orga-
nization. While this issue may appear innocuous, a lack of strategic
coordination between a channel partner and the channel organization
of partners do not align can have serious consequences for both sides. One significant conse-
their strategy to the channel quence is that partners in the channel often end up competing directly
organization’s strategy with one another, reducing both their own profit margins and the mar-
ket share of the channel organization. To avoid such issues, individual
strategy meetings between the partner account managers from the
channel organization and the channel partners need to occur on a
regular basis. With open communication on sales targets, marketing
tactics and target markets, the indirect channel business can ensure a
higher degree of market penetration and channel partners can ensure
that they maintain a strong, sustainable bottom line.

2.2 Customer Involvement & Retention

In addition to clear communication with the channel organization,

channel partners also need to make sure that their interactions with
clients are frequent and dynamic. Regardless of industry, businesses
15% today are under more pressure to connect with customers and provide
a positive end-user experience. To this end it is imperative that chan-
nel partners collect customer feedback and use the resulting data to
of channel partners do not have improve their businesses. Among the IT partners who participated in
any kind of customer retention the Partner Analysis, as many as 24% did not regularly collect cus-
plan in place tomer feedback and another 15% did not have any type of customer
retention program. Channel partners who fail to collect, evaluate and
make use of such data risk having a high customer turnover rate. Fur-
thermore, channel organizations with many such channel partners are
in danger of seeing their brands marginalized on a grand scale.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 3

Risk

3.1 Risk Review Plans

While an experienced manager can recognize risks right away, it is

impossible to keep everything in mind all the time. Furthermore, less
experienced employees may not have the skills to identify risks early

47% enough to be able to take appropriate measures. For this reason, it is

an excellent idea for companies to maintain a specific review plan that
employees can use to avoid and mitigate risks.
of partners do not maintain a
risk review plan to avoid and Unfortunately, many of the channel partners who took part in the Part-
mitigate critical risks ner Analysis did not maintain such a plan. In total 51% of these busi-
ness did not have a specific review plan regarding the risks associated
with the public image of the company. Further evidence of a lack of
attention to risk was found in other aspects of these channel partner
businesses: 47% did not maintain a review plan for product quality
risks and 44% did not maintain one for customer relationship man-
agement risks.

3.2 Competitive Strategies

The creation of viable competitive strategies is also a challenge for

many channel partners. 31% of the companies evaluated by PDAg-
roup reported that they did not have a defined process in place for

31% the regular review of their market approach and the risks that chang-
ing market conditions pose. If these conditions and their impact on
the channel partner business model are not reviewed regularly, chan-
of channel partners do not nel partners risk becoming irrelevant in light of disruptive changes.
regularly review and adapt their Especially technological developments like cloud computing, mobile
market approach solutions or the internet of things require companies to adapt their
business models and adopt a different market approach.

3.3 Knowledge Management

Channel partners should also consider implementing knowledge da-

tabase tools and regular reviews of HR risks. High employee turnover
rates among channel partners often indicate that channel partners are
losing key and high-potential employees, a trend which ultimately re-
duces the revenue produced by an indirect sales channel. Ensuring
the stability of a channel partner ecosystem necessitates that channel
organizations communicate openly with their partners on a number of
risk topics and guide them in developing processes to minimize risk.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 4

Marketing

4.1 Effective Online Presence

In the highly competitive world of today, it is essential for businesses

to make meaningful connections with their target audiences in order

60%
to attract customers. The situation is no different for channel organiza-
tions, except that they rely either directly or indirectly on their channel
partners to ensure that their brand receives attention. Unfortunately,
channel partners often lack the knowledge and skills necessary to ef-
of channel partners do not fectively promote the products or services that they provide. The re-
measure the effectiveness of sults of the Partner Analysis demonstrate the relevance of this issue.
their website to generate leads
While 60% of channel partners maintain a website, the effectiveness
of the websites in generating leads is not measured. With regard to
social media, most partners maintain a presence on a couple of plat-
forms, but 48% of the partners interviewed revealed that their content
is fixed and that no regular updates occur. In order to generate leads
that feed into the sales pipeline, channel partners’ online marketing
activities need to be interactive and content needs to be frequently
updated so that they can be considered as a thought leader.

4.2 Marketing Team

While channel partners need to conduct their own marketing activi-

ties, channel organizations need to provide support and guidance to
their partners as they work to develop these assets. Given the fact

37% that some partners are also quite small and specialized, channel orga-
nizations need to consider that partners may not have the personnel
available in order to take on new marketing tasks or learn the skills
of channel partners do not necessary to complete these tasks. Among the channel partners that
have employees specifically participated in the Partner Analysis, 37% did not have any employee
dedicated to marketing specifically designated to do marketing. To ensure that partners have
the skills to conduct effective marketing activities, channel organiza-
tions should strongly consider providing trainings on relevant issues.
Support for channel partners need not be limited to active assistance
though; a very effective support mechanism is to provide a content
platform containing materials and templates that partners can use to
optimize their websites or create content for their social media sites.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 5

4.3 Marketing Alignment

Direct support to partners from the channel organization’s marketing

department can help alleviate this problem and ensure that partner

37%
marketing is effective and of a high quality. Another 37% of chan-
nel partners that participated in the Partner Analysis noted that while
the channel organization’s marketing contact was known to them, no
meetings or joint marketing activities took place. Direct contact and
of channel partners do not meet guidance on real projects is an extremely effective way to transmit
or align with the marketing expert knowledge of all types; channel organizations should guard
contact of the channel against the temptation to leave partners on their own for these activi-
organization ties.

Most important of all is that channel partners aggregate their market-

ing activities into a marketing plan and share this plan with the channel
organization on a regular basis. This plan will provide the foundation
for frequent collaboration and strong communication and ensure that
both the partner and the channel organization achieve the results they
desire.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 6

Sales

Regardless of the products or services a company offers, sales are es-

sential. With the right motivation, training and leadership, a sales force
can ensure the survival of a company. For some channel organiza-
tions, relying on channel partners to drive the sales of its product and
represent the channel organization brand can be an alarming pros-
pect. In addition to the challenges that face every typical company as
it seeks to improve sales, the channel organization faces the added
difficulty of having little direct influence over partners’ sales teams.

Pipeline Coverage and

5.1 Opportunity Qualification

61% of the channel partners that took part in the Partner Analysis
noted that they achieved only minor successes in acquiring new con-
tracts and that, as a result, their pipeline coverage is inadequate. One
61% significant contributing factor is a lack of soft skills; if sales personnel
do not have the skills necessary to develop relationships with new cli-
ents, then the sales force will be forced to rely on existing customers.
of channel partners face While this can be lucrative in the short-run, such a mindset is rarely
problems in acquiring new sustainable.
customers
24% of partners noted that they are only sometimes successful at
qualifying opportunities, resulting in insufficient closing rates. Pipeline
coverage and poor opportunity qualification can be particularly frus-
trating for the management of channel organizations as these issues

24% can lead to sales results that contrast strongly with analysts’ fore-
casts. A typical fix for this problem is to offer a sales training to partner
sales staff on how to classify opportunities and fill the sales pipeline.
However, channel organizations need to make sure that the content of
of channel partners have
the sales training includes the KPIs being monitored by analysts. Ac-
insufficient closing rates
cording to the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)
without on-the-job reinforcement, 87% of training insights are already
lost 1 month after attending a training. In order to ensure that chan-
nel partners’ sales personnel are really using this investment, channel
organizations should provide individual coaching following the train-
ing. Coaching can be done on-site or online, but it provides practical
individual guidance on how to implement the information learned from
the training.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 7

5.2 Feedback in the Sales Cycle

Once a new prospect has been generated and a sales cycle is under-
way, sales personnel need to pay close attention to the needs that
the potential client expresses. In order to facilitate this activity, many
businesses maintain a feedback collection and evaluation process.

Even when a deal is lost, sales managers need to understand why

the deal was lost so that they can make improvements in the future.

38%
Around 38% of channel partners reported that feedback is requested
at only irregular intervals and that this is done in the absence of stan-
dardized criteria or an analysis strategy. Without a regular analysis
of such information, it is extremely difficult for partners to implement
of chnanel partners do not necessary changes in their sales cycle and to train sales employees
regularly conduct win/loss to behave differently.
analyses or collect customer
feedback to improve sales Smaller partners in particular tend not to be aware of how to change
their sales approach even if they have a problem. Accordingly, about
35% of partners expressed an inability to use customer feedback and
their industry knowledge in order to take advantage of upselling op-
portunities. While the criteria for an upselling process had been de-

35% fined, the sales force was not able to make practical use of this pro-
cess on a regular basis. In order to avoid losing this potential revenue,
channel organizations should consider providing support to partners

of chnanel partners do not to help them develop the underlying processes necessary to support

know how to use customer feedback evaluation and upselling.

feedback to engage upselling For many partners, the ability of the sales force to use feedback for
opportunities upselling purposes hinges on their customer relationship manage-
ment (CRM) strategy and how well they use their CRM software tool.
If a CRM strategy with explicit guidelines has not been defined, then
sales personnel record their data in disparate ways and upselling op-
portunities are lost as a result of poor communication. In such cases,
channel organizations can provide some assistance in creating a com-
munication strategy for small partners to help them avoid letting deals
fall through the cracks.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 8

5.3 Case Study Development & Value Selling

Convincing a potential client to spend lots of money on a new product

or service means that sales personnel need to show the return on in-
vestment (ROI) to the client. Whether the sales representative works in
retail or for a B2B service provider, he or she will need to demonstrate
the value that this purchase will bring to the prospective client. Of the
IT businesses investigated, 46% were able to express what the ben-

46% efits of the purchase were, but were not able to attach these benefits
to solid, measurable facts. Furthermore, personnel had difficulties in
positioning the business case within the sales cycle. Knowing when
of channel partners were not to introduce a business case is a difficult task, but even more difficult
able to communicate their is providing a quantitative measure of the benefits that a product will
solution’s benefit using a solid, bring. In order to do this, sales personnel need to be able to under-
measurable fact stand the business models at work within the prospect’s own organi-
zation.

In addition to trainings on how to analyze business models and ROI

estimates, channel sales organizations should also encourage part-
ners to specialize whenever possible. A software vendor who has only
ever sold to banks and other financial organizations will likely find it
very difficult to estimate the benefit that a solution will bring to a man-
ufacturer. Channel partners sometimes spend months chasing deals
for which they do not have the appropriate industry knowledge; even
if the product provided by the channel partner is superior in every
way, the competition may be able to present a more effective, and
convincing, case study. In addition to the costs that the partner will
incur for its misplaced effort, both the channel partner and the channel
organization will incur significant opportunity costs. With better guid-
ance from the channel organization, these costs can be minimized
when partners specialize and focus on deals for which they have the
industry knowledge.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 9

Solution Strategy

6.1 Channel Partner Co-Innovation

Another issue making headlines in business magazines the world

over (but which is not often considered by channel partners) is in-
novation. Despite the proven utility of innovative processes such as
30% Design Thinking on today’s global marketplace, many channel part-
ners consider innovation to be the “channel organization’s job”. The
widespread nature of this opinion was demonstrated in the Partner
of channel partners did not Analysis, where 30% of the channel partners admitted that they did
regard innovation as crucial to not regard innovation as crucial for their businesses.
success
While direct innovation with regard to a finished product may not be
necessary in many indirect sales channels, channel partners should
nonetheless be vigilant in trying to innovate their approach to custom-
er service. Innovation in this area is especially important for business-
es that rely on a subscription model; if changing customer needs are
not met quickly, or even anticipated in advance, then customers can
easily switch to another provider for a minimum loss. For this reason it
was particularly noteworthy that only 28% of channel partners evalu-
ated offered the option to customize products for clients. Any channel
organization using a subscription business model needs to consider
how it can support and cultivate an innovative culture among its chan-
nel partners to ensure that customers have a high lifetime value. One
method for achieving this goal is to have channel partners take part in
a Design Thinking workshop where partner executives are taught how
to make innovative processes a part of the DNA of their organizations.

6.2 Software Demo Landscapes

Although the strategy for developing and showcasing new solutions

and products may not be relevant for all channel organizations, this
topic is key for businesses in the IT sector. Implementing a new solu-
tion is often an expensive affair, and potential clients need to be able
to see the value that partners offer before they commit to an invest-
ment. Even in non-IT businesses, turning a prospect into a customer
often necessitates that channel partners demonstrate in-depth knowl-
edge of the specific industry, and a ready-made demo can make that
task far easier for sales personnel.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 10

Only 12% of the IT businesses in the Partner Analysis said that they
do not use demos at all, indicating that the overwhelming majority
use demos in their sales cycles to various degrees. One way chan-
nel organizations can support their partners is to provide them with a
range of basic demos, which partners can then tailor to fit their needs.
However, even the best demos need to be tailored to fit the target au-
dience, and channel partners need to be trained in how to use demos
effectively in their sales cycles. Providing trainings on how to tailor
demos to a target audience and use them to optimize their impact on
the purchasing decisions of prospects will be of significant benefit to
both the channel organization and the channel partners.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 11

Consulting

7.1 Customer Satisfaction

Around 57% of the participants in the PDAgroup Partner Analysis indi-

cated that they do not gather and evaluate customer satisfaction data
according to a standardized process. The absence of a standardized
57% process renders it difficult for partners and channel organizations to
determine if feedback on individual projects is indicative of a trend or
if it is relevant only to the individual project. In order to take advantage
of channel partners do not of new trends and ensure that they remain competitive in the future,
systematically evaluate both channel partners and channel organizations should take the time
customer satisfaction data to ensure that their employees collect and evaluate customer satisfac-
tion data regularly.

With such a process in place, channel partners can even use custom-
er satisfaction as a quantifiable KPI in their project management ac-
tivities. While 23% of the channel partners evaluated formally include
customer satisfaction as a KPI already, they also noted that this KPI is
rarely measured. To ensure that customer satisfaction data is evalu-
ated according to a unified standard, channel organizations should
provide a series of templates for channel partners to use in evaluating
their projects.

7.2 Project Management

Many channel partners need to conduct regular projects with custom-

ers. While these projects present significant opportunities for creating
long-lasting relationships with clients, they can also present signifi-
cant risks. If a long-term project runs poorly and does not satisfy the
client’s needs, years of damage may be done to the reputation of both
the partner business and the channel organization. To mitigate such
risks, channel partners need to maintain high standards for their proj-
ect management activities. However, ensuring that the project man-
agement skills of partners are up to the challenges they face requires
specialized knowledge on a number of topics.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 12

For 82% of the IT partners who took part in the Partner Analysis, most
or all projects were completed within the stipulated time and budget-
ary constraints. However, project marketing within the projects pre-
sented a challenge: 39% of channel partners noted that their project
teams attempted only on occasion to get in contact with employ-
ees on the customer side to tell them about changes to solutions.
Although active project marketing is sometimes considered a minor
point in project management, overlooking the communication of im-
portant changes can easily result in a solution that fails to deliver what
the customer wants.

One way that channel organizations can promote good project man-
agement is to provide channel partners with a list of best practices
that they can use as a checklist for evaluating their own projects.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 13

Human Resources

While HR is often regarded as a purely internal affair for companies,

channel organizations have a vested interest in ensuring that their
partners incentivize their personnel properly. If channel partners do
not motivate their employees effectively, then even the best channel
partner will find it difficult to sustain its success.

8.1 Employer Branding

At least 40% of the channel partners interviewed for the PDAgroup

Partner Analysis reported that the appeal of their company as an em-

40%
ployer was well understood on the human resources market and that
this appeal was used occasionally for recruitment purposes. While
having a good reputation is great place to start, companies need to
actively communicate the benefits of the workplace they provide to
of channel partners do not
the labor market in order to make sure they acquire the best talents.
persistently use employer
Given the fierce competition for skilled personnel, organizations can
branding to differentiate from
not afford to lose any resources to competing companies. For channel
other employers
partners in smaller countries, the supply of eligible candidates can be
slim even in the best of times; channel partners should make use of
social media platforms and job fairs at local universities to increase
their exposure and position themselves as attractive employers.

8.2 Resource Planning

Knowing when it is necessary to hire new personnel can also present

a challenge for some channel partners. Although 33% of the partners

33%
evaluated in the Partner Analysis reported that while HR demand plan-
ning takes place on a regular basis, these processes are also informal.
As a result, the person making the decision on whether to hire a new
employee may not have all the details regarding what skills the re-
of channel partners do
quired person should have. This could lead to the steady accrual of
ad-hoc recruiting without
a knowledge deficit within the company that impacts the company’s
strategic demand planning
overall performance.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 14

8.3 Employee Retention

A related issue is employee retention. Retaining employees over the

long term is a crucial factor in the success of all companies. 39% of
partners who participated in the Partner Analysis reported that only a
few key employees are able to use key industry and product knowl-
edge. If such employees were to leave one of these companies on
short notice, the ability of the channel partner to deliver value to cus-
tomers could be severely compromised.

Channel partners should consider taking a two-pronged-approach to

solving this issue. After hiring the right employees, partners need to
put in place an incentives model that will ensure that key employees

29% are not tempted to leave. 29% of partners noted that while measures
are taken to identify and motivate employees, these actions were ad-
hoc in nature. In all but the most exceptional cases, incentives should
of channel partners mainly use be provided according to a standardized scheme that is understood
ad-hoc incentives to motivate by all employees; if employees are not aware that they will be reward-
employees ed for exceptional contributions, then it is quite possible that they will
settle for providing a lower level of effort in their daily activities. The
second measure that channel partners should take is to actively sup-
port the sharing of critical industry and product knowledge among
employees. In addition to thoroughly documenting this knowledge,
channel partners can facilitate the active exchange of information
by creating mentoring programs for more experienced employees to
mentor younger employees for a specific amount of time each week.
Implementing such measures will help to ensure that critical knowl-
edge is maintained within the workforce and expertise is gained over
time.

8.4 Alignment of Training Plans

Another way to ensure that the supply of qualified personnel is ad-

equate to the growth needs of the channel organization and channel
partner is to train personnel in-house. In many cases both the channel
partner and the channel organization offer training plans that overlap
in terms of the topics covered. In other cases, significant needs are ig-
nored as both sides assume that it is the job of the other organization
to train personnel on these topics. In order to avoid wasting money on
superfluous trainings or ignoring blind spots, channel organizations
should develop an enablement plan around one year in advance and
share it with channel partners. With better communication and align-
ment, the channel organization can meet the real personnel needs
within its partner landscape and allocate its funds more effectively.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 14

PDAgroup

9.1 About Us

PDAgroup enables companies and their people to be prepared for

“​ PDAgroup’s speed and
the future. Our analytics, consulting, recruiting, training & coaching
responsiveness has enabled
programs assist channel organisations & their partners to sustainably
the SAP Ecosystem and improve their businesses. We have been providing our expertise to
Channels (Asia Pacific clients such as SAP SE and their channel partners, guiding them to
Japan) to execute innovative reach their best performance.
programs, resulting in
No matter what changes your organisation is undergoing, they all start
faster time to value for our with your employees. Our unique blend of analytics, consulting, re-
partners as well as internal cruiting, training & coaching programs place your people at the heart
stakeholders. Thank you for of the challenge.
contributing to our success!”
Our expertise in sales and marketing, channel management, innova-
Ting Ching tion, strategic development and HR management can assist global
Senior Director Solution Center
Asia Pacific Japan & Greater China channel organisations and their partner network to succeed in the fu-
SAP SE ture. Our comprehensive approach is built to be sustainable and with
our global network of professional consultants & trainers, we have the
experience to help your business to reach the next level.

9.2 PDAgroup Partner Analysis

The PDAgroup Partner Analysis is conducted via a personal interview

“​ We used the results of the
with the CEO and managers from relevant departments to assess their
Partner Analysis as both a
company’s maturity in the form of a self-assessment. The analysis
guide for our discussion on consists of 80 questions which are divided into seven business ar-
the company strategy and as eas (strategy, solution strategy, consulting, sales, marketing, risk, hu-
the basis for our future growth man resources). This way the whole value chain of the channel partner
plan. The Partner Analysis business can be analysed to show a holistic picture.
was especially useful because
For all questions, six specific maturity levels have been defined by
it gave us an overview of the an expert team who has created the evaluation scale. These defined
competitive landscape and levels support the detection of the status quo of each indirect sales
identified actions that we channel partner. It provides the possibility to set future targets and
could take to improve our identify challenges, which have to be eliminated in order to ease the
situation immediately.” path towards your business goals.

Martin van Wyk An analysis report summarizes the core results for the channel partner
Managing Director and recommends actions. Channel organisations will receive a com-
Westrocon (Pty) Limited
prehensive dashboard to understand where their partners have the
biggest challenges. This helps them to set up appropriate programs
to support their partners through training, coaching or other activities
to increase the channel’s effectiveness.

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

Channel Partner Study - Success in the Indirect Sales Channel 15

Benefits for Channel Organisations for Channel Partners

Identify high/low performing partners See how you perform compared to

and trends in your partner landscape other partners in the same industry

Get a holistic view of your channel to Identify common skills gaps and understand
identify common skills gaps how they influence different business areas

Create more effective partner programs Determine follow-up activities to overcome

which are based on real partner needs weaknesses and utilise strengths

Get an overview of your channel’s per- Use the overview of strengths, weaknesses
formance and a benchmark to compare and opportunities as a basis for competitive
it with other channels differentiation and growth

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved

 PDAgroup GmbH Rennweg 1, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
enabling best performance Tel/Fax: +43 512 56 09 70

[email protected] | www.pdagroup.net

© 2015 PDAgroup GmbH, All rights reserved