Why don’t channel/dealer sales teams sell?
I have been selling through channels for a good couple of decades now, from £ million B2B IT deals to SME, Call Centers and retail. What has never changed is the struggle companies have getting sales people in the channel/ dealers (especially in larger ones) to actually sell products that their target markets are not obviously begging for!
So, what’s the problem?
Ok - this is a big question and there are a multitude of answers. However here are a few of the common ones that may be familiar to you:
Low Mindshare – our solution is not top of their agenda – they would rather be selling something else
It is easier to sell something else (and often they are better incentivized by other vendors)
Advocacy – they think another competitive solution is better
They don’t make any money – they are targeted on other products
They don’t believe in our proposition
Or, they don’t understand it or have the right skills to sell it
The sale is too hard or too long
They don’t know who you are (they have a big portfolio to sell and perhaps nobody spends time with them building relationships)
They don’t have the right people, tools or resources to support them
There is not enough face to face interaction
They are allowed to get away with it
Or, of course they just aren’t very good.
How do we fix this?
Well, the first thing we need to do is not blame the sales people. As channel sales professionals we have to accept that our companies often have not done enough to get the teams selling, and then not sustained the effort for long enough. In my opinion, driving behaviour in channel sales teams is based on covering the following four principles:
Belief – Sales people must believe that customers would buy/need a given solution, know how it compares with other options, and understand and buy into the strong value proposition that sits behind it. They should have seen & touched the solution and have enough knowledge to be credible especially if selling into their existing base. Confidence is key.
Skills – This is not normally about whether they have been trained in solution selling (which we would hope they have). For me it is about:
Making sure sales teams understand the sales process for your specific product; who will be involved in the decision on the customer side for a given proposition; who to avoid, and what are the valuable touch points
Make sure they have a strong understanding of the proposition, where it fits within the context of the customer environment, how it fits with their other products and services, and how it relates to other customer business processes. If you have the opportunity to do any sort of hands on training then do it – and be aware that one off presentations to an auditorium of sales people is likely to result only in boredom and low return; it is highly unlikely they will take any of it in
Ensure they are well versed in, comfortable with and can talk to, real life examples (and make them sound like their own) so that they sound competent and knowledgeable when talking to a customer.
Will (Motivation) - You may have signed an agreement for company X to “sell” your solution. That does not mean that the sales people will be interested in actually selling it. A few questions to ask yourself to see if teams are motivated:
Does the sales team believe in the proposition (does it work) and do they (really) believe they can sell it?
How are they compensated on your product? (And how does this compare to other things they have to sell)
Do they care – How important is your product in their world? Where do you sit in the pecking order? Can it help them sell other things in their portfolio or does it allow them to talk to other valuable people in the account?
Does it bring them any other value? – Are there advantages to selling other products or hitting related targets? Or to career progression, respect, reducing boredom etc.?
Is it an interesting technology or solution area that they might want to get into?
Do they have any “personal” relationship or bond with you or your company day to day? Is it enough?
Just getting the commission package correct is NOT enough.
Lifecycle – Do you have an on-going plan of activity with your channels’ sales teams?
In many cases when we sign a new partner we have a kick off, buddy up sales people with our own teams, provide some sales literature and basically put in lots and lots of effort in an initial tidal wave during the first few weeks. Then however, we stop and wait for them to sell, at which point (often) the relationship starts to go cold, especially if the sales revenue ramp up is slower than we had hoped – and often it is.
Therefore - we should all have a lifecycle plan that covers the next 3 – 6 months with all of our channels. Areas to include would be regular face-to-face meetings/presence (not just with the management) at customer offices. Also, on-going incentives, update bulletins, case studies, offers and updated sales tools, are all of value.
What it comes down to is that this is a long-term gig and the key to success is:
Making sure you have picked the right partner for the right reasons
Seeing it through even if revenues take a while to build.