This ITAC Marketing Roundtable was hosted at the MaRS Centre, Toronto, Ontario.  The discussion was moderated by Bob Becker, Principal, SMA.    

What’s a partner marketing relationship all about?

What We Learned

• For distributors, partners and vendors, it’s all about lead generation: all parties are focused on accelerating the sales process
• Social media tools are critical in leveraging lead generation efforts and for enabling business alignment
• Bringing marketing dollars and a time commitment to the table make for a harmonious relationship

What motivates partners/value added resellers to stay involved in distributor/vendor relationships?

Partner/VAR Perspective:

• Vendor regular communication help us better understand how and where to get information
• Gain a strong understanding of vendors’ strategic direction and align with it
• Keep messaging simple

Distributor/Vendor Perspective:

• Vendors look to partners as an entry point to a customer opportunity
• Vendors want to work more closely with partners whose goals are aligned with theirs
• Assess the value that social media promotion will bring to the vendor/partner relationship; enable more social media to align our businesses
• Vendors want to help! Simply asking a vendor to be introduced to the prospect can do wonders in developing a partnership
• As a distributor, it’s important to be sensitive to your partners’ marketing dollar

What are you looking for in a partner/distributor/vendor relationship?

Partner/VAR Perspective:

• We’ll partner with those vendors invested in marketing to fill our sales funnel
• Vendors should have realistic expectations when it comes to marketing
• Quality versus quantity: credible leads are the key

Distributor/Vendor Perspective:

• Partners needs to take their share of responsibility for the business plan
• Number of leads is irrelevant; quality is the true metric
• Embrace a combination of traditional marketing tactics (e.g., face-to-face events) with social media tactics
• Engage the sales force to support the business plan

How do you get leads to be followed up at the partner, vendor and distributor levels?

• There needs to be “skin in the game” to achieve success – not just marketing dollars but time commitment, too
• It takes as many as 5-7 touches to convert a qualified lead to revenue
• Highly defined marketing messages are vital
• With clear, aligned goals, nurturing becomes become easier and revenue will follow
• When a pipeline contains a high number of leads resulting in a low number of closes, something isn’t working 

What is your opinion on how ROI tracking is viewed?

• The disconnect between marketing and sales make tracking ROI a challenge
• Better tracking to connect vendor/partner activities may ameliorate the relationship
• Quarter-end is not necessarily an effective time measurement – leads can come alive at any time

• Avoid weighing the “pig” – how many times/angles can you weigh a pig?
• Tying leads to a campaign is golden
• Performance measurement drives behavior

Panelists:

• Michael Gavarkovs, Managing Director, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS) Canada
• John J. Blair, President, Blair Technology Solutions Inc. and BTS Technology Resources
• Ray Phillips, VP, Latin America,  OpenText
• Michael Shulman, Manager, Canada Hardware and Technology Channel Sales – VAD, Oracle Canada
• Nick Foster, SVP Business Development, Softchoice