Lane Bess has pulled the channel trifecta in security. He has built three incredible businesses in the security space leveraging the channel. He ran worldwide sales and marketing for Trend Micro, then was CEO of Palo Alto Networks where he built the business from scratch to over $250 Million runrate and now is building the leading cloud security play at zScaler. Lane will reveal his secrets on how to build your channel strategy, when to approach them and what three mistakes you cannot afford to make.

1. Does Channel Fit Into Your Plan
‣ Do you need Channel ?
‣ When and Which Channel to Engage
‣ What must you do to have an effective channel
‣ Channel reality
‣ Creating a perfect world

2. I 2 IPO

3. Meeting Sales Productivity Objectives
Compelling Product and TAM
Sales Team
Sales
Enablement
Demand
Generation
CHANNEL

4. Meeting Sales Productivity Objectives
Compelling Product and TAM
Sales Team
Sales
Enablement
Demand
Generation
CHANNEL IS THE MULTIPLIER

5. Do You need the Channel?
‣ To Scale an Enterprise BtoB the answer is
– Leverage & Reach
– Sustained Momentum
– Contracts & Receivables

6. When and which Channel to Engage
‣ You cannot get started without a Direct/High Touch Sales
effort
– The channel will not get interested until they see initial
success and customer interest in the market
• Product success and marketing will be essential – If you don’t matter, they don’t
care
‣ You don’t need to have a formalized channel program
initially
– Make sure the margins and incentives are sufficient to catch
their attention
‣ Identifying the right channel partners
– If they do not carry a competitors product – they are NOT
likely your channel

7. When do you Engage with Various
Channel Options?
‣ VARs/VADs
– One Tier is the way to start – They can
directly engage your product and service
with the end customer
‣ Distribution
– When you see scale and volume on the
horizon
‣ Service Provider and Integrators
– SaaS and Cloud Services may find this
channel effective
‣ Direct Channels – (eg.CDW)
– Volume and scale products and services
to the Mid - Market

8. What must you do to have an
effective channel
‣ Understand When and Why they Care
– Your product or service needs to fit cleanly within
their portfolio
• Compliment/Overlap/Replace current products
• Fit a strategic direction or Niche
• Business model aligns with their current business model
• Sales organization compensation model is consistent with your
business
– The business economics must be apparent – if not
compelling
– Training – If training is not a priority to you make it
one
• The channel will not deliver the value you expect them to unless you
train them – and certify them

9. 9
Channel Reality
‣ The Channel will not come to you unless you have
something they want or need
‣ The Channel will not initiate deals and bring you
leads until you bring them deals – AND make
them lose a few deals
‣ The Channel will provide the ultimate leverage
and increase sales productivity beyond a Direct
selling model
‣ The more Channel partners, and the more diverse
the channels, the better – Channel conflict is
inevitable – It is OK

10. In a Perfect World
‣ A Compelling Product – with differentiation
‣ A Competitive Advantage against other vendors and
competing partners
‣ A Channel Program that enables Partner success – and
achieve strong margins
‣ Market Momentum
‣ Strong drag-along services
‣ You build momentum,
and you will be in control !