Optimize Your Channel Selection. So many companies sign up third party resellers and distributors and system integrators and OEMs without giving proper rigorous attention to the process that's required in order to define the selection criteria, find adequate channel partners, and actually go through a process of due diligence in order to screen them, select them, and bring them onboard. A well developed channel selection process, a reseller selection process, looks a lot like a very rigorous process for hiring and acquiring members of your senior management team or your key employees in sales and marketing. It starts by defining very clearly which markets you're after, which segments you want to reach, what types of customers you're trying to acquire, and then doing research and analysis to determine which companies are actually calling on and supplying goods and services to those customers day in and day out in your focused market.
Once you've defined those customers and those market segments that you're after, then looking at the different types of reseller organizations that are available for you to get your product to those customers becomes the next task. This step involves making sure that you understand exactly what sales and support structures required for your product in order to deliver it as a solution to the end customer. Some companies use manufacturer's reps that are just basically commissioned agents. Other companies use value added resellers, others used stocking distributors, and yet others use system integrators that actually build their products into complete turn key systems for their customers. So you're going to want to make sure that you do some analysis to figure out which kinds of reseller channels you need in order to most adequately provide your product to your customers in a solution that they're willing to buy, and then make a decision about that type of channel structure. Many companies use multiple types of resellers to reach different types of customers as well.
salesmarketing