INSIGHT
“Unless trust exists, and clear ground rules & boundaries are established up front, it is difficult to have
What is the best currency
in partnerships?
Channel managers have
no direct power, only
in uence. In channel
management, you gain
in uence by the quality of
attention you pay to your
partners’ needs, expectations,
hopes and fears. Your in uence
builds based on how well you
help your partners get their needs
met, help them achieve their
goals, meet their targets, both
business and personal.
You’re judged by your partners
by the value of your contribution
not how much value you can
extract from them. You achieve
prominence in their minds by
putting their interests before
your own and helping them
be successful. In a crowded,
competitive market where in
all but a few cases they can go
anywhere else, you will struggle
to gain a preeminent position
compared with your competition
if you are sel sh, egotistical or
self-absorbed. You and your
products don’t feature in their
thinking most of the time, and if
all you represent is an unwelcome
interruption as you ask “what
do you have for me?”, then
serves you right when they don’t
produce, don’t let you near their
clients and don’t want to engage
with you.
It pays to remember that you
are judged by the promises you
keep, not the ones you make. All
the contracts in the world will not
protect your quota if you break
constructive conflict without the wheels coming off.”
Marcus Cauchi, Sales Trainer Sandler and Author
Trust is earned. It cannot be assumed. It’s not an entitlement. And it’s easily
lost. Ahead of his seminar sessions and training workshops at Channel Live this
September, Marcus Cauchi, Sales Trainer at Sandler and Author, explains why trust is
such an asset in any channel relationship.
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14 | Comms Business Magazine | July 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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your promises because once you
breach someone’s trust, they may
forgive but won’t forget.
Establishing and developing
long term partnerships that
deliver mutual value require
both sides to establish the
correct foundations from the
start. is means having mutual
understanding. What does each
side want to achieve for their
business and personally? Establish
clearly de ned expectations and
boundaries, roles, responsibilities
and accountabilities. It means
having a clear escalation
procedure in the event of
non-performance so mole hills
don’t become mountains. And
above all, it means being clear
about both sides’ rights in the
partnership and respecting them.
Your up front contract (before
getting any lawyers or formal
paperwork) needs to be mutually
agreed, mutually accepted,
mutually understood; there must
be mutual commitment and
mutual comfort with what will
be the basis for your partnership.
Even agree who gets to keep
the kids in case you ever get a
divorce.
Unless trust exists, and clear
ground rules & boundaries are
established up front, it is di cult
to have constructive con ict
without the wheels coming o .
Constructive con ict is a very
good thing. If you agree on
everything, you are going to
become a Stepford partnership.
Consensus is not always
essential, just a majority and once
the decision is made, for everyone
to support it. No backstabbing,
no feuding and no petty
politicking.
Good questioning delivers
insights. Often, the most
naive, simple questions can be
powerful. What if we stopped
doing that? Why do we do that?
What if we said no? What if
we did the opposite? Can we
partner with other partners in
your ecosystem? Am I the right
person to do this? Would you be
better working with one of our
competitors on this project?
Vulnerability is a strength,
not a personality defect. It
takes courage to put yourself in
harm’s way and do it anyway.
It requires you to have a spine
to tell your partners the kind,
nurturing, assertive truth and
to ask tough or uncomfortable
questions even when you may
not like the answers. And in
order to encourage others to
be vulnerable, you need to be
willing to be vulnerable rst.
Never forget, your partners
are your best customers. Fall
in love with them. One highly
productive MSP/VAR is worth
a score or more end users in
most cases when you take into
account the lifetime value
of your relationship. Love
them to death. Make them
richer than you. And protect
them from the idiocy of your
senior management who play
fast and loose with partners
commissions or discounts or
attempt to cut them out of
deals. Nothing will break their
trust faster than this.
,Marcus Cauchi, Sales Trainer
Sandler and Author
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