The trees are changing color here in Seattle and that means….you thought I was going to say Fall is in the air right? Well, yes, but it also means that we are all thinking about 2012 and not just those Doomsday predictions. It’s time to plan budgets and strategies for the Channel.
We talk a lot about being data driven here at hawkeye and truly believe it needs to be a part of everything we do with our customers in the Channel. For companies seeking to maximize their large investment in incentives provided to partners, access to data and the ability to analyze that data is essential. For example, one of the things we suggest to our clients is that it is not enough to just track metrics with a rebate program – a best-in-class rebate platform should be able to provide modeling to determine your financial exposure.
Next week our Chief Channel Strategist Claudio Ayub will be presenting a webinar on Channel Incentive Programs for a Sluggish Economy. Incentive programs are always of huge interest to Partners but the challenge for Vendors is to maximize the investment: who do you incentivize? Which is better – company level incentives or team/individual incentives? Claudio will look at a variety of incentives programs with advice on how to target the appropriate program to the right partners.
We’re partnering with the Baptie Community for this webinar and look forward to a lively Q&A session after Claudio’s presentation – we hope you’ll join us. Click here to register.
We’re kicking off another interesting project this week at hawkeye. One of our financial service clients has come to us with a really big question… ”Can we (and frankly, should we) use our customer’s online behavior to trigger an offline follow-up communication?” Our first step is going to be diving into millions and millions of rows of click stream data so that we can wrap our heads around what types of reasonable triggers we can come up with. We’ll be looking at things like frequent visits to our site within a short time frame, or maybe clicking on a product specific banner ad. From there, we’ll be building a strategy around what to do with the triggers we’ve defined. What channel(s) do we use? How quickly do we follow-up? How specific is our messaging? All along the way, we’re going to be walking a very fine line between taking advantage of the “hotness” of the lead, and the risk of our client’s customers feeling that we’re being too intrusive with our marketing efforts. Should be a lot of fun!
The questions that are among the most consistently asked of the channel professionals at hawkeye are often tied to MDF and co-op fund utilization. From a foundational level of understanding metrics to a more complex level of application analysis, there is much room for error and confusion. However, we have identified two mutually exclusive categories that account for almost all under-utilization that occurs with MDF and co-op programs.
The first category is fairly straight-forward, and involves under-consumption of MDF and co-op dollars by partners. Under-consumption translates to lost opportunities for both you and your partners.
If that doesn’t sound like you, you may fall into the second category, which essentially boils down to vendors leaving their channel partners wanting more support. Partners have identified 3 top reasons for MDF under-utilization:
- Complexities and administrative burden
- Long delays in approvals and payment
- Unfamiliarity or unawareness of the program
While knowing the problem may be half the battle, reaching a solution is what you really care about, right? Here are some ideas for improving utilization:
Being a data-driven organization, hawkeye has a firm belief in utilizing analytics. Learn how to use data to improve your MDF by creating a baseline for measuring partner sales over a period of time. This is essential for tracking growth and identifying problems. With this, are able to begin gathering ROI data on programs and to track activities from beginning to completion. Lastly, offering execution services often results in a drastic change, because it addresses the issue of providing support for partners.
The key to a successful MDF program is in ensuring that you and your partners have a solid foundation to build from and structured, data-oriented strategy to build with. Communicating expectations in a structured way is essential for maintaining an open and successful relationship with partners. Once this has been established, an MDF program has the necessary footing to provide value to both you and your partners.
Rewards Programs and MDF/Co-op Programs serve different purposes, but the more I speak with clients and present solutions to real-life issues, the more I think that these programs have significant overlap. Let me explain.
- Some Rewards Programs target the company to incent and reward specific behaviors that have value to the vendor and their partners.
- MDF and Co-op programs target the company and make funds available to be used in co-marketing activities.
Given that both programs are targeting and driving company level behaviors how do you use that intersection to your benefit? Let’s look at some facts:
- According to a recent CMP Media article, every year 25 percent of the $1 billion in MDF available to the channel goes unclaimed.
- Based on historical information in our running rewards programs, breakage associated with a Rewards program runs between 5 and 10%.
- There are many reasons why companies do not take advantage of your programs—ease of use, not enough funds/points to make a difference, awareness or the fact that the partner company doesn’t know the best way to use the funds.
- Partners not using your programs to the fullest are not going to be as successful selling your products and services.
One method to address these issues is to create a way for the Business Owners/Managers to use funds in some way that is program neutral—no matter where the funds are earned, they can have access to campaigns/tools/resources with proven value to both you, the Vendor and the Partner company. So how can you make this work? Read more…
Peter Ostrow, a Research Director at Aberdeen Group, is conducting a survey that will help companies with indirect selling partners assist them in hitting their quota more consistently. By participating in this brief survey, you will be able to see how your experiences in partner relationship management and channel enablement compare with those of your peers. This study offers a unique opportunity to benchmark your year-to-year accomplishments in terms of channel sales and marketing effectiveness. If your company is planning on implementing a channel or partner-based selling solution, or is simply evaluating the potential benefits, we would appreciate your feedback in this brief, 10-minute survey.
In appreciation for sharing your time and thoughts with us, Aberdeen will provide complimentary access for you to the full benchmark report (a $399 value). Individual responses will be kept strictly confidential, and data will only be used in aggregate. We look forward to hearing from you, and greatly appreciate your time and participation.
Thank you!
The topic of measuring ROI on channel MDF/Co-op programs is one that surfaces in almost every conversation with channel clients. Inevitably, when I discuss this subject with other solution providers like hawkeye, the conversation starts with how to measure and shifts to how to improve MDF/Co-op programs.
Here are 3 practical ways to measure ROI on channel MDF/Co-op programs:
1. Ask – Establish the metrics based on the type of activities that will be funded and ask the partner to provide results after the project has been executed. Consideration: Metrics are only as good as the partner provides, so reserve the right to audit periodically and reward good behavior.
2. Data Analytics – Measure sales for partners over a period of time. Compare participating and non-participating partners to eliminate environmental factors and determine the net uplift in sales for participating partners.
3. Offer Execution – Execute the project/campaign on behalf of the partner, and utilize one of many great tools to close the loop, track the lead, etc.
When MDF/Co-op activities are measured against clear and established metrics, improvements can be very specific, as they are based on real success or failure.
If you would like some MDF/Co-op improvement suggestions based on best practices with Fortune 100 technology clients, we have published a white paper that outlines practical guidelines to improve the impact of MDF/co-op programs. You can get it here.
