Channel Engagement: Trust, A Holistic System, Impact Measurement Essential скачать в хорошем качестве

Channel Engagement: Trust, A Holistic System, Impact Measurement Essential

This recent Enterprise Engagement Alliance YouTube show on the latest trends in channel engagement effective practices suggests that many organizations continue to overlook the best ways to optimize sales through distribution partners. Here is the state of the market from the perspective of three veterans in channel advisory services, market research, and marketing strategies and tactics. Establishing a strategic and systematic distribution strategy, building trust, helping distributors build their businesses and address key challenges; tailoring support based on the needs of each partner, and carefully measuring both outcomes and actions are key elements to establishing an effective channel engagement strategy. These are some of the highlights of a recent Enterprise Engagement Alliance Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder Management Show on Channel Engagement Effective Practices. Guests are: • Paul Donehue, President, Paul Charles Associates, which provides ongoing strategy and sales training in technology, financial services, healthcare, pharma, media, manufacturing, retail, construction, hospitality, and more, with decades of experience in channel engagement. • Rick Garlick, Visiting Professor, Penn State University School of Hospitality. He also serves as a Consulting Partner to BVA BDRC, a global research company that was recently acquired by Ipsos, one of the largest market research providers in the world. He has worked for the Incentive Research Foundation, with a resume that includes research positions at Gallup, Maritz, and other well-known organizations. • Rob Legge, with years of experience working with leading brands as Vice President, Consumer and Channel Marketing, EGR International, a New York based engagement agency. The panelists agree that despite the challenges of selling through distribution partners, whose loyalty is almost always to their own businesses, it remains a viable option in many business and consumer industries. In fact, they say, a lack of knowledge and training, and minimal demands from senior management for clear return on investment measurement, has led to a general ad hoc approach to channel engagement with sub-par impact metrics. With proper design, they agree, channel engagement strategies can provide a clear impact to many organizations. Here are highlights: A changing landscape due to e-commerce and disintermediation. The relationship between manufacturers and channel partners is evolving, notably because of e-commerce and the growing shift towards direct relationships between consumers and manufacturers and the consequential loss of trust. This in turn creates an atmosphere in which large distribution partners especially want much more control over the programs manufacturers wish to throw at them in terms of training, communications, incentives, marketing, sales support, etc., observes Legge. Garlick notes that this can also create an opportunity for savvy brands that figure out how to help distribution partners protect themselves from disintermediation by identifying the best ways to add value. A strategic, holistic approach is critical yet not the norm. A surprising number of organizations lack a strategic and systematic approach to channel engagement, meaning they fail to collaborate with all stakeholders to develop a clear purpose, goals, objectives and value proposition for the channel engagement effort, but rather develop ad hoc promotions, incentives, and training programs that benefit the brand more than the distribution partner. Collaboration builds trust and enhances results. Actively involving distribution partners in your planning not only results in better outcomes but helps build confidence that their needs are being considered. A sense of purpose. Distribution partners are people too, especially their salespeople. Look for ways that your brand uniquely addresses a business need. Focus on value creation. Every marketing and sales support tactic should be looked at through the lens of how it creates value for the distribution partner and the customer. One size never fits all. Understand that each distribution partner has different goals and objectives and challenges. Make your tactics flexible to address different priorities or challenges, Legge stresses. Establish a communication plan for each distributor, whether it be face-to-face, by phone/video, e-newsletter, and make sure the meetings focus on listening, not selling. Metrics and measurement. With channel engagement, it’s generally easy to measure the outcome in terms of sales, repeat business, sales per order, productivity, even customer acquisition costs and overall profitability per customer. Even more important is to understand what is precisely driving sales—is it the co-op marketing program, the incentive trip, communications, training program? It’s easier than it sounds. Track the activities as well as the outcomes; correlate actions with results.