The document outlines Stewart Townsend's expertise in building indirect sales programs, emphasizing the importance of reseller channels in increasing revenue without significantly raising operational costs. It details the characteristics and expectations of resellers, as well as strategies for successful channel partnership and management. The text also highlights common pitfalls in channel development and underscores the necessity of continuous support and investment to maintain effective partnerships.

1. Stewart Townsend
CHANNEL IN A BOX
Everything you need to set up your own indirect sales program.

2. • Started out in IT at Sun Microsystems then Oracle
• Built global startup eco system - Sun Startup Essentials
• Built largest Big Data global gathering - Big Data Week
• Built channel at DataSift then Zendesk (pre IP and post)
• Left to explore working in the real world
CHANNEL
IN A BOX
WHO IS STEWART?
Party Animal Likes Flowery attireFashion advisor

3. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
CREDIBILITY BULLETS
• Built channel program at Sun aimed at recruiting startups to purchase
high availability hardware - everyone laughed.
• DataSift - one of three licenses globally for Twitter Firehose - Built
channel from zero.
• Zendesk - Joined Pre IPO less than 300 staff - built from scratch a global
channel business.

4. • Channel. How a company sells their product
• Direct. Company to End User
• Indirect. Company to middle man to customer
• Reseller. Anyone that resells product or service
• Affiliate. Refers—does not sell (but still a channel)
• Partner. Legal term – but means reseller
• VAR. Value Added Reseller (installs, integration, training, etc.)
• System Integrator. Development capabilities.
• Distributor. Wholesale distributor
• MDF. Market Development Funds
• Co-op. Co-operated funds
• Channel Conflict. Resellers and/or vendor compete for same sale
TERMINOLOGY
CHANNEL
IN A BOX

5. • A 100% commission, indirect sales force
• They take all the risk
• They cover their own expenses
• Often provide their own leads
• Can co-sell with you
• Must build loyalty to increase “reseller recommendation”
• So… they work whilst you sleep
CHANNEL
IN A BOX
WHAT IS A RESELLER CHANNEL ?

6. • Grow your revenue and expand your service capabilities.
• The right partner will increase your revenue with no headcount increase.
• The right partner will have relationships that you are unable to reach
• The right partner once fully trained will be self sufficient and as good as
your salesforce.
• The right partner will expand your services capability
CHANNEL
IN A BOX
WHY HAVE A RESELLER CHANNEL ?

7. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
WHAT IS DIRECT AND INDIRECT SALES?
• Who sends the Invoice/Bill to the Customer ?
CustomerVendor
Direct Sale and Relationship
CustomerVendor
CustomerVendor
CustomerVendor Partner

8. • Partners: Reseller, Distributor, Refer
• Reseller Partner Bills the Customer
• Reseller Partner pays the Vendor
• Distributor is multi-tier model
• Refer gets a fee per closed client
CHANNEL
IN A BOX
PARTNERING FOR INDIRECT
CustomerVendor
CustomerVendor Partner

9. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
PARTNERING DIRECT AND INDIRECT?
Qualification
Sales /
Closing
Delivery Support
Resellers
Referrals
Strategic Partners / System Integrators
Complementary Services
Direct Sales
Lead
Generation

10. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
WHAT DO RESELLERS LOOK FOR IN A VENDOR?
Competitive
Is your product competitive
in the sector it sells into ?
– Can it be sold easily,
not having to build a
market.
Money
Can I make money working
with you ?
– Do you have competitive
margins?
– Do you have channel
conflict
– Sale cycles and Service
revenue
Support
Will you support me to grow
my revenue ?
– Will you train me and
my team?
– Well prepared sales
tools (PowerPoint,
market info, demo
scripts, sales
dialogues, content
portal, etc.)

11. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
WHAT DO RESELLERS EXPECT FROM A VENDOR?
STRUCTURE
- Levels
- Market
- Requirements
SUPPORT
- Technical
- Sales
- Training
SALES TOOLS
- Portal
- Market Info
- Sales cheat sheets
- Blocker assist
- Email templates
- Brand Guidelines
-
LEAD GENERATION
- Lead assist
- Co-sell
- Sales help.

12. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
CHANNEL ROUTES
RESELLER
- Purely sell
product
- Access to key
accounts with
plan and
accountability
TECH ALLIANCES
- Extend reach of
product
- Increase lifetime of
product
- Extended client
base
SERVICE PARTNERS
- Data analysts
- Implementation
partners
- Training partners
-
DISTRIBUTION
- Multi Tier model
- Growth to wide
market
- Sector or solution
specific.

13. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
CHANNEL ROUTES
- Multi Tier model - ability to sell products at
low entry and reliant on upsell or cross sell
to maximise cost of sale return
- Account mapping and planning expected -
to maximise the relationship treat them as
direct sales - objectives and plan
- Geographic coverage - allows for rapid
expansion with limited headcount increase
- Perimeter goals - only can increase payback
as they invest more
RESELLER

14. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
CHANNEL ROUTES
- Extend reach of product to a wider audience
through integration
- Increase lifetime of product, gives more
usage within a client but also embeds itself
as part of a larger problem being solved
- Shows maturity of product, other vendors
building integrations against you makes a
statement to the market
- Joint events/webinars/marketing etc
TECH ALLIANCES

15. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
CHANNEL ROUTES
- Extend capabilities of the services team, bi-
directional
- Implementation partners - deliver labs style
services rapidly
- Training partners - deliver training to clients
on site - allows scaling
- Data analytics / Reporting - align with
partner who has technology and resources
to extend out findings.
SERVICE PARTNERS

16. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
CHANNEL ROUTES
- Multi Tier model - Distributor > Reseller >
Client
- Accelerated growth to wider market
- Sector or solution specific - work with
distributor of cloud telephony solutions
- Complex relationship - but can bring in
deals rapidly
- Large network of partners across all sectors
DISTRIBUTION

17. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
REFER PARTNER
- Send you leads - think of as an affiliate but
focused
- Pay out is up to you - lifetime or once
- Extended marketing - give them the same
resources to grow your brand.

18. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
VARs CHOOSE VENDORS’ BASED ON
Source: VARBusiness
Product Quality 87%
Order Fulfillment 55%
Profit Margins 45%
Price/Performance 45%
Commitment 43%
Technical Support 41%
Business Documentation 29%
Terms and Conditions 25%
Channel Conflict 21%
Sales Leads 17%
% of VARS
considering factor
extremely
important

19. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
CHANNEL BENEFITS/RISKS
Benefits Risks
Direct
Indirect
Control
Higher Gross Margins
Direct customer relationship
Potentially necessary for complex sales
Harder to Scale
Higher fixed costs
Less flexible
Potentially necessary for complex sales
Can scale quickly
Established customer relationships in
play
Co Selling opportunities
Increased demand generation
Ongoing investment - Recruit/Train
Margin sacrifice
Loss of customer relationship
Quality of channel partner

20. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
WHAT CAN CHANNEL DO FOR MY SaaS BUSINESS
Channel can increase your
revenue at scale without
increasing opex at the same
rate.
Gain access to
customers that you
cannot
Reduce services/
implementation overheads
Grow your revenue at
scale to a forecasted
plan alongside your
direct sales team.

21. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
BUT I’VE BEEN TOLD CHANNEL DOESN’T WORK
• I hear it time and time again, a vendor signs up hundreds of resellers
and then says, “My channel isn’t selling anything.”
• Yet your internal sales team is selling. Why?
• You are not doing anything with your outside channel sales team. They
are 100% commission and take all the risk, so you neglect them.
• If you paid them all salary and commission—you would not neglect
them at all.
• Do the same thing as you do with your internal sales team, and you will
get similar success. Sounds obvious, but…

22. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
WHAT MAKES A CHANNEL SUCCESSFUL
• Do ALL the same things with your channel as you do with your own
sales team—and you get similar results. Seems obvious—but companies
get lazy, don’t assign resources, and are negligent…
• Invest in your channel and make them part of the organisation,
otherwise you will feel that the channel doesn’t work.
• Do you manage your sale team ? Do you get the results you want ?
Then you need to do likewise with reseller partners that trust you, help
them to succeed

23. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
WHAT MAKES A CHANNEL SUCCESSFUL ?
QUALIFY
Are you ready for Channel.
Do you have buy in ?
Do you have the resources ?
Do you want to accelerate revenue
growth.
STRATEGY
Build out a program in a box.
Provide a program customised
to your needs.
Identify partners that will be
successful
Train your team to co-sell.
SUPPORT
Ongoing support to make
certain you succeed.
Support recruitment/train and
acquire engagements.
Guide you through the first six
months of implementation.

24. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
BUILDING A CHANNEL
DEFINE
- A Partner Proposition -
Whats the offer?
- Look at your
competition.
- Partner selection criteria
PROGRAM
- Build the program
elements (marketing,
resources etc)
- Tiers and commercials
EXPECTATIONS
- What partner type?
Reseller etc
- Build goals and metrics
for achievement on both
sides.
INTERNALS
- Build internal partner
focus
- Recruitment campaigns
and keeping it real.

25. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
EXAMPLE - WHATS NEEDED?
• Partner operation plan - Resources, Time, Organisational requirements
• Legal Agreements
• Internal Training documentation
• Internal manual for the partner program
• Information for partners on how to obtain support and training
• Deal registration and channel conflict process
• Partner Proposal and Recruitment
• Marketing in a box
• MDF fund structure
• Partner Selection Matrix
• Partner Research

26. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
SUCCESS FACTORS
• Customer front and centre:Every investment is to be benefit the
customer.
• Match your solution to the channel : Marketing material and
information
• Communicate often: Make sure partners have all the information they
need to be successful.
• Monitor and measure - there is always room for improvement
• Don’t swop and change: It take 2 quarters to get a partner signed,
onboard and working. Focus on how to deliver a better experience.
• Be clear about what you want your partner to do: Make sure aligned
and clear
• Support partners pre and post sale: Offer a co sell model initially.
• Competitors - support your partners with up to date information on
how to beat out your competitor.
• Knowledge share - bring your partners together in a council.

27. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
FAILURE POINTS
• You stop : Once created you need to keep making constant
improvements and updates to the program.
• Lack of clarity : Make certain you have communicated clearly what is
required of your partners.
• Geographic diversity : Have you considered governmental, financial
and cultural differences.
• Investment in resources and systems : These takes continuous
investment and effort. Build this into the investments, its not a one hit.
• Diverse requirements : Each partner has different requirements, respect
that and work with their motivations.
• Wrong partner : You have signed up the wrong partner, change and
adapt.

28. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
FREE STUFF !!!
• http://www.channelasservice.com
Subscribe to get my free e-book “Building a SaaS Channel 101”

29. CHANNEL
IN A BOX
THANK YOU
Stewart Townsend
Twitter:
@stewarttownsend
channelinabox.co (coming soon )