(Untitled)- March 18, 2005 Channel Trend: Packaged Services Create Opportunities Several vendors are making real opportunities for mid-market VARs. SAS is doing it right, taking key VARs from Microsoft with the most direct of value propositions: BPoC (Big Piles of Cash). IGS's expansion into the mid-market is similar to Cisco's channel recruitment push of the mid-nineties. By targeting VARs with customers in the 100 tohttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheChannelProfessional/~3/76653311/channel-trend-packaged-s... (Untitled)- March 18, 2005 Channel Impact: Reach Extends Beyond Expectations I had a great phone call with a channel provider today. Last weekend I had a voice mail on my home phone that said "If this is the Scott Karren who used to run MSI Consulting Group, please call me." Today I connected with him. Here is his story. In the late nineties, he read a white paper we wrote called The Emergence of the Solution Provider.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheChannelProfessional/~3/76616716/channel-impact-reach-ext... (Untitled)- March 17, 2005 Channel Management: Partner Assessment I just finished Alan Deutschman's 'Second Coming of Steve Jobs. Interesting read for people in our industry. Near the end of the book, Deutschman quote Susan Barns research about characteristics that help entrepreneurial companies survive. The are just a relevant for channel partners as for Apple. 1. Pure Staying Power 2. Persistence 3. Continuing Beliefhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheChannelProfessional/~3/76616717/channel-management-partn... (Untitled)- March 17, 2005 Channel Marketing: The Role of Branding in Distribution I recently read the book Brand Royalty by Matt Haig. Some publicist sent it to me, having found my name among a list of bloggers. I hated it. I dislike most business books, especially marketing books. Brand Royalty is no exception. It lacked insight and applicability. The case studies were shallow. The 'secrets' were a mix ofhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheChannelProfessional/~3/76616715/channel-marketing-role-o... (Untitled)- March 9, 2005 Channel Strategy: Demonstrating a Committment to Value According to CRN, 3Com is migrating back to value and eliminating volume-based Gold and Silver categories. That's good, if they really mean it. Our advice to 3Com is to get its channel objectives straight and back them up with action. MDF and rebates make the program overhead rise, and they often do not deliver the market impact desired.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheChannelProfessional/~3/210575407/channel-strategy-demons... (Untitled)- March 8, 2005 Channel Strategy: Channel Performance All the talk in CRN about whether the next HP CEO is 'channel friendly' misses the mark. Most important for HP partners is channel performance. Instead of 'channel friendly' how about channel savvy or channel capable. The Channel Pro Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheChannelProfessional/~3/210575406/channel-strategy-channe... (Untitled)- March 8, 2005 Channel Marcom: Hitachi Gets Message Right for VARs Hitachi's ads for storage partners show a wallet stuffed with cash. Soon you will need more storage.. It then touts its program as a profitable relationship. Well done to the team at Hitachi. The Channel Pro Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheChannelProfessional/~3/210575404/channel-marcom-hitachi-... (Untitled)- March 8, 2005 Channel Strategy: Create a Competitive Advantage Work with clients this year seems to be about refreshing and launching programs. When I ran The Launch Group, clients always asked What can we do to launch like the big boys It's a mistake to try to mirror a competitor's programs or to focus on a launch event. Instead, work to find a process for channel management that uses scarce channelhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheChannelProfessional/~3/210575408/channel-strategy-create... (Untitled)- March 8, 2005 Channel Programs: Forget Copying Microsoft What to include in a channel program is often a problem both for companies new to the channel and for channel veterans. Copying another program is usually not productive, especially if the vendor you are copying is the market leader with sales many times higher than yours. They have scale, process and momentum on their side. Dare to do somethinghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheChannelProfessional/~3/210575410/channel-programs-forget... |