Why does the Channel think Vendors don't care?
I just got back from moderating two interesting workshops at DISTREE XXL 2008 in Barcelona, an event where vendors from around the world get to meet distributors from 80 countries.
One of the workshops I ran was a discussion about how an increasing number of vendors, both manfacturers and software vendors are trying to convince their channel partners to sell Services as a Product. As usual, one of the participants was particularly outspoken and had strong opinions on everything, smothering the group with his views. In particular, he seemed convinced that the software publisher (whose name I will withold) represented by a young lady who had flown all the way from the northwest of the USA (get the clue?…) absolutely didn't care about the channel.
It so happens the reason a significant number of representatives of this vendor were present was precisely to have discussions with as many channel partners as possible to find out how they should develop new Services sold WITH and THROUGH the Channel.
For having spent many years managing Channel operations with major vendors (and many additional years advising vendors on how they can better work with their partners), I know only too well that vendors don't hate the channel! On the contrary, they seek their feedback, their partnership (and for once, that word really qualifies) to grow business in a mutually beneficial manner.
Pushing Vendors away results in the vendors having to find new solutions and if your Channel doesn't want to work with you, there aren't that many other solutions to sell your products to the end user than to go direct or build a new Channel.
At a time when large companies are looking at the financial world melt away like an iceberg (remember…90% is not visible), when emerging markets and countries are going to need to bail us out as we start sinking, vendor survival is becoming increasingly dependant on the Small and Medium Businesses of the world. SME and "Mid Market" businesses rely on their IT Partners, namely the Channel who are in this case their outsourced IT department. Vendors know this only too well and when they tell the Channel they want to work with them, the Channel should listen and not push them away.
Of course, there are clumsy vendors, of course there are stupid territory account managers, but it is too easy and too dangerous to blame a vendor with trying to cheat the channel. Exactly like with the world economy, we are all in the same boat and the channel should not ignore the vendors just because they are big…we all need each other, its called a symbiosis.
Should Carlsberg get a prize for innovative marketing?
Carlsberg seem to be specializing in alternative marketing. Last August, they littered the streets of London with £5,000 worth of £10 and £20 banknotes with a sticker on them saying "Carlsberg don't do litter. But if they did it would probably be the best litter in the world". Click here to check it out!
Cost: 400 green stickers, someone to chuck bank notes on the pavement and £5,000 worth of banknotes.
Result: certainly hundreds of thousands of people (if not millions) talking about Carlsberg.
The other day, I received a "Gift" from a Facebook pal: it was a picture of a bottle of Carlsberg. Of course, it was posted to my Funwall, and everyone found it great fun and the bottle certainly started circulating at hyper-speed round the Facebook-world.
Cost: you name it! one photo, 10 minutes on Photoshop to turn it into just the bottle, AND THAT'S ALL. We all did the rest!
Result: …how many people have a Facebook account these days?
Clever!…sounds like beer makes you smarter!