Several people and companies have of late talked to me about the need of Channel Account Managers to understand the business model of their partners.  They tend to focus on the need for knowiing how the finances work in the partner organization but acknowledge that the need for understanding is more than just financial.  Clearly, this is driven by vendors acknowledging that they need to have a knowledge about what is driving the partner's decisions.

The financial model of the partner does matter.  If the partner is trying to make a profit, the vendor needs to understand the challenges that the partner has in making money.  Cash flow issues and other matters that may not be immediately obvious to a vendor are critical in that study.

However, there are several other factors that shouldn't be forgotten. For instance, not every reseller is interested in growth.  Growth is an acceptable goal for many, but some are interested in just maintaining their business volume or changing their product mix to improve their profit margin, but not grow their revenue.  Some are even interested in shrinking their overall volume.  A vendor would be ill advised to just assume that every partner wants to grow.

Another consideration is that different members of management may have different objectives.  The GM may have an entirely different perspective than the Sales Director or the Technical Services Manager.  When speaking with the partner, it is important for the vendor representative to know who he or she is talking to and what is important to that person.

In short, it is not good business to overgeneralize.  Know what is important to the business overall and know how the business operates.  Then go to the next level.  Understand what is personally and professionally important to the key stakeholders in that partner organization.  Then act accordingly.

William Vanderbilt

+1 630 343 6261

WVanderbilt@InnovativeLearningChannels.com