Preparing your sales teams with the product and market knowledge they will need to be successful is critical. An Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partnerships is a solution - built on three pillars: operations, marketing and sales. The Research Brief by SiriusDecisions breaks down the sales component into four focus areas, explain why they are critical and who is responsible for their oversight, and share best practices for each.

1. © SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 1
Research Brief
While politics might make strange bedfellows, it has nothing on many original
equipment manufacturer (OEM) partnerships, where today’s competitor
becomes tomorrow’s ally. Particularly strange to watch are the high-powered
sales teams that have competed fiercely with one another now collaborating to
win a mutual piece of business.
In the brief “A Strategic Look at OEM Partnerships,” we shared a framework for
developing a new OEM partnership – or revitalizing an existing one – built on
three pillars: operations, marketing and sales. In this brief, we break down the
sales component into four focus areas, explain why they are critical and who is
responsible for their oversight, and share best practices for each.
One: Channel Conflict
The first thing to do before adding an OEM solution to any sales rep’s arsenal is
to consider the types of conflict that may arise. Next, develop an OEM playbook
that outlines potential conflict scenarios and sets a rule structure which can be
employed by both direct and channel resources to mitigate these situations.
Best practices around creating such a playbook include:
• Requirements. Playbooks should describe specific scenarios (e.g. what
happens when an OEM partner’s existing customer responds to promotional
activities coming from the other company) and the points of contact on
either side that will be used to arbitrate these situations. Include a list of each
supplier’s certified resellers (companies or individuals purchasing goods or
services for resale rather than to consume or use) that will actively market
the OEM solution, which territories they cover and what, if any, competitive
products they may represent. Detailing the process to enter information
into a deal registration system within the playbook will help protect existing
accounts, avoid channel conflict and gain visibility into reseller activity.
• Best practices. Leading organizations employ a “live” playbook on a partner
portal, offering secure access to both parties’ sales and management teams.
To the mandatory components listed above, these types of playbooks often
include bundled price lists; conditions for resale (e.g. not allowing a product
to be sold in a standalone fashion by the other party); and tracking of
referrals. Live playbooks also may include organizational charts that indicate
what role specific individuals (e.g. lead product manager, key support
contacts) play in the relationship and how they can be contacted.
OEM Partnerships Deep Dive: Sales
Requirements
Original equipment manufacturer
relationships often fail to meet
expectations because key sales issues
weren’t addressed at the outset
Determine what program and
personnel resources will be required
to drive sales, and commit to them
before moving forward
Preparing sales teams with the
product and market knowledge they
will need to be successful is critical

2. Research Brief
© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 2
Two: Coverage Model
Unlike traditional reseller or distributor relationships, OEM
partnerships typically require a single business development
resource. Part ambassador, part troubleshooter, the OEM
alliance manager develops new business initiatives, plans new
bundle offerings, resolves conflict situations, and takes part in
the execution of sales and marketing programs. A closer look
reveals just how critical this resource is:
• Requirements. OEM alliance managers should be assigned
no more than five to six key relationships, and have
experience selling both directly and through channels to
achieve program goals. Business development experience
and excellent communication skills are required, as the
resource will be asked to explore new initiatives and present
them externally as well as internally so that proper support
resources can be secured. Establish a separate track within
your existing channel program so alliance managers can
leverage existing program assets, but allow them to define
a separate set of program deliverables for new OEM
opportunities.
• Best practices. Best-in-class organizations offer OEM
managers plenty of latitude to explore new initiatives with
non-traditional partners. Some choose vertical industry
experts who understand a different set of players and
leverage their experience to develop new solutions with
them. Others establish reporting lines between the OEM
alliance manager and the head of channels – or at least
assign executive sponsors to these relationships – so they
can gain firsthand knowledge of the progress of high-profile
initiatives and arbitrate sensitive conflict issues.
Three: Sales Readiness
Successful channel partners are made, not born; this is
a statement that is certainly true when it comes to OEM
relationships. Alliance partners must systematically enable
each other’s sales channels through building product
knowledge and training, and delivering it through an existing
partner portal. Here, specifics include:
• Requirements. It’s critical to keep co-branded materials
where they can be easily accessed; too often, OEM partners
have to sift through non-relevant program materials to find
what they need. One question sales reps will need to answer
is: “Who else is using this solution?” Offer them case studies
that highlight important accounts in vertical industries that
may be early adopters. Once OEM products are baked into
your price lists, share these with other channel partners,
making sure they’re kept current. Also, include competitive
comparisons that show why two best-of-breed solutions
may be better than a suite of products developed by a single
competitor.
• Best practices. Some b-to-b organizations entering new
vertical markets via OEM solutions quickly establish a
“lighthouse” account strategy, recruiting leading companies
as early adopters at little or no profit. These agree to first-
mover discounts in return for case study write-ups or use
as a reference; commitments must be firm on both ends
in order to set proper expectations. As OEM products are
made available to larger sets of resellers, set up a sales war
room specific to that OEM bundle; it can provide a single
source for product or pricing information and serve in an
advisory role to field-level sales activities.
Four: Partner Data Sales
After committing their well-guarded budgets to funding
an OEM initiative such as a road show or launch, channel
marketers often come to discover they have no idea how
these investments are measuring up due to lack of sales data.
Steps can be taken to mitigate this issue, including:
• Requirements. Establishing back-end support to collect
data may require getting help from third-party service
providers, or developing internal dashboards that will be
populated using sell-through data from finance. When
working through tier-one distributors, require them to
collect level-two reseller data, and provide it in a format
that can be easily uploaded to in-house partner relationship
management (PRM) systems. This will likely require careful
explanation to sub-resellers as to how your organization will
use the data; we advise including a confidentiality clause in
partnering agreements. Look to make a connection between
market development funds and a deal registration system,
so that partners who register deals benefit more than those
who don’t. If both OEM partners have separate portals
and the issue becomes where to enter the data, consider
outsourcing the registration process on a per-campaign
basis as an alternative.
• Best practices. One innovative approach to ensuring deal
data is entered into partner portals is through the use of
rep-level incentive programs (usually points that add up to

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Research Brief
some dollar equivalent that can be used to buy goods or services). Leading
companies are also scoring leads for partners and training them to use
the channel waterfall (as described in the brief “A Cascade of Demand: The
Channel Waterfall”) to communicate conversions at critical points in the
process. A multitude of tactics are being used, including: influencing reps to
enter data; enlisting teleprospectors to call partners and employing third-
party point-of-sale vendors to pull data from distributor sources.
The Sirius Decision
While rivals teaming up to conquer new markets through OEM partnerships
isn’t new, taking greater care to coordinate the sales effort often is. While
better documentation plays a critical part in capturing the processes that
support these initiatives, don’t forget about the role that good management
plays, particularly in terms of strong support from the executive ranks. OEM
relationships, like a coalition of two diverse political parties, can bring progress
and success if run successfully; if not, expect strange bedfellows to quickly
want to go their separate ways once again.