The document describes a methodology called "The Channel Compass" to evaluate and improve a company's channel management. It involves mapping out key areas like cooperation, alignment, capability and capacity across both the company's internal channel team and external partners. Representatives from different internal teams then discuss strengths, weaknesses and prioritize actions like recruiting new partners or training during a facilitated workshop. The tool provides a structured way to get alignment, identify priorities for improvement and create an action plan to drive the channel forward.

1. Evaluate your channel

2. Where is your Channel Management? Lack of resellers Overloading processes Wrong partners Inadequate T&Cs Channel Marketing sucks Too many resellers

3. The Channel Compass A methodology to identify, vizualise, and communicate the key directions for your channel management pragmatic and straight forward tested successfully at many IT companies easy to run developed by Lemon Operations as open source

4. Recommendations All teams that touch the channel to be represented (Sales, Marketing, Support, Admin) 3 hours face to face meeting Material to be sent upfront to attendees for them to come prepared

5. Master Principle Best IT Channel Management always relies on Ability (capacity, capability) Relationship (cooperation, alignment) of Channel partners Yourself

6. The Channel Compass How do we Drive our Channel? How do we assess our channel partners?

7. Rating 5 (close to arrow) = meet/exceeds expectation 1 (close to center) = put the business at risk Great Channel Management Weak Channel Management

8. Us

9. Fill in the tables Present all the tables to the attendees to save confusion among the topics Get back to the first table and start reading the questions. The list is not exhaustive. Write the positive facts in the «Strong» column. Bullet points, no phrase. Keep it short and focused. Write the facts to be improved in the «Weak» column. Put an overall rating for this topic on the speed meter. 1 for weak, 5 for strong. Get to the next table

10. Our Cooperation 1 2 3 4 5 Weak Strong Key Questions Strong Weak Do we treat our resellers/distributors as an extension of our own Company? Do we trust them? Do we have regular dialogue on the business perspectives, upfront the business plan? Do we easily share market and customer data with our channel partners?

11. Our Alignment 1 2 3 4 5 Weak Strong Key Questions Strong Weak Are the channel account managers and channel marketing well aligned? Are marketing strategies well aligned with the channel strategies and vice versa? Are there regular meetings between channel and marketing management to align strategies?

12. Our Capability 1 2 3 4 5 Weak Strong Key Questions Strong Weak Are the channel account managers skilled to coach their channel (sales + marketing)? Are our marketing managers skilled to coach their partners? Do we have the right tools in place to measure our channel performance (sales, marketing, ROI)?

13. Our Capacity 1 2 3 4 5 Weak Strong Key Questions Strong Weak Do we have enough resources to follow up our current channel partners? Do we have enough resources to expand our channel? Do we have enough resources to follow up the marketing activities of the channel? Do we have resources to work on future channel strategies?

14. Our Channel Partners

15. Channel Cooperation 1 2 3 4 5 Weak Strong Key Questions Strong Weak Do channel partners demonstrate a good mindset on our products, strategies? Do channel partners proactively propose business strategies for our products? Do channel partners share their market/customer data with us?

16. Channel Alignment 1 2 3 4 5 Weak Strong Key Questions Strong Weak Do channel partners focus on the right business priorities? Are the channel marketing programs aligned with MDF guidelines? Are channel partners selling in the right way? Are they using the right messages?

17. Channel Capability 1 2 3 4 5 Weak Strong Key Questions Strong Weak Do resellers understand our market and demonstrate enough expertise? Do partners drive efficient marketing activities with strong ROI? Do partners have good process to deliver on their sales/ marketing? How efficiently resellers deliver on service to customers?

18. Channel Capacity 1 2 3 4 5 Weak Strong Key Questions Strong Weak Do we have too little/many resellers to address the market? Is our channel equipped to cope with the growth/decline of our business? Do our channel partners have enough resources (sales/mkt/services) to cover market needs? Do we have credit issues with our partners?

19. The Outcome

20. Our Channel Compass Channel Capability Channel Alignment Channel Capacity Channel Cooperation Our Cooperation Our Capability Our Capacity Our Alignment Our Channel Us

21. Options By Division By Country/Geography By Channel Type Compare to previous period to evaluate progress

22. Action Plan Involve our partners in our next biz plan definition Recruit new resellers Train our team on channel management URGENT: CALL LEMON OPERATIONS!

23. Benefits A key foundation to build best-in-class channel Great eye opener Align channel management teams Focus on top and right priorities Easy and time efficient Free