The document discusses effective partner recruitment strategies and best practices, highlighting the importance of defining the 'right partner' and aligning recruitment goals with corporate objectives. It presents 14 key rules for successful partner recruitment, including assigning responsibility, optimizing communication, and treating recruitment like a marketing campaign. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for continual refinement of the recruitment process based on performance metrics.

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2. FINDING THE
RIGHT PARTNER:
Needles in the Channel
Haystack
Tim Harmon, July, 2017

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About ICLP
Strategy Insight Engagement Technology Customer
Management
For 30 years, ICLP has helped clients on the journey from acquiring customers to
transforming them into advocates. It’s our dedication to driving customer devotion
that makes us different.

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Multi-regional peer-to-peer network of senior channel
executives who meet to discuss industry topics and
channel strategies in which ICLP plays a pivotal role

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THE STATE OF PARTNER
RECRUITMENT TODAY

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Partner recruitment today: 3 approaches
1. “Law of Large Numbers”
• Open partner program – anyone
can register
• First year’s performance
determines advancement
• Assumes the best will “rise to the
top”
The challenges:
• Passive approach that misses out
on some partners (leaving them
for more proactive competitors)
• Cost of supporting passively
recruited partners can quickly
exceed their revenue contribution

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Partner recruitment today: 3 approaches
2. “Outsource” recruitment to
distributors
• Common approach with a 2-tier
distribution model
• Distributors manage most
partners
The challenges:
• Distributor accountability
• Performance goals and metrics
not always in place
• Distributor commitment
• Distis have many vendor
relationships and programs to
juggle

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Partner recruitment today: 3 approaches
3. Vendor-controlled recruitment
• Recruitment viewed as vital to
growth and channel eco-system
health
The challenges:
• Dedicated partner recruitment
resources, programs, processes
• Technology to manage
recruitment and onboarding

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THE “RULES” – BEST
PRACTICES FOR RECRUITING
THE RIGHT PARTNERS

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#1 – Define “right partner”
• There is no universal “right” partner, but these characteristics are core
attributes:
• Partners who align with channel KPIs and corporate roadmaps
• Partners with strong customer relationships
• Partners who are willing to adapt and evolve as technologies change
“I am increasingly thinking that there is no such thing as the
‘right partner.’ Actually what VMWare and I think most
vendors need is the ‘right partner mix.’
Alanzo Blackstock, VMWare

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#2 – Assign responsibility
• Establish a single point for accountability in meeting recruitment goals

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#3 – Set goals
• Partner recruitment time
• Funnel conversion rates
• Cost of partner acquisition
• Number of partners by:
• Size
• Region
• Competency, and other categories

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#4 – Establish a virtual partner recruitment team
• Corporate/global framework
• Regional/local field execution – involve your CAMs!

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#5 – Regional team collaboration
• Share best practices across regions
• Operationalize corporate frameworks with learnings from other regional
teams

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#6 – Align partner recruitment goals with corporate goals
• Do you need to enter new markets?
• New regions?
• Expand product lines?
• Change delivery method?
• Reach out to a different customer decision-maker?

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#7 – Anticipate the channel partner loyalty factor
• New partners generally fall into one of these categories; each with it’s
own set of loyalty prediction attributes and each with a different
investment-loyalty balance to consider:
• Pre-developed competencies
• Complementary/adjacent
• Net new - greenfield

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Balance your partner portfolio
GREENFIELD
PRE-DEVELOPED
ADJACENT
INITIAL
REWARD
INITIAL
RISK
INITIAL
INVESTMENT
X
X
X
X
X
XX
X
X

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#8 – Tell a compelling story
• Motivate prospects to join your program with an attractive story and
opportunities for success
• What is unique about your brand and products?
• Ease of doing business with you

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#9 – Structure partner recruitment as a marketing campaign
• Treat your partner recruitment campaign as you would customer
acquisition –
• Marketing campaigns
• Recruitment website and URL
• Communication and follow-up

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#10 – Score partner candidates
• Formalize your partner candidate
vetting process with a scoring
mechanism to identify “right”
partners
• Technology enable the process for
partners and your recruitment
team

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Use what you know to refine your recruitment process
Partner
Performance
“Right Partner”
Recruitment
Partner
Profiling

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#11 – Shepherd new partners during a defined
incubation period
• Defined onboarding process
• Technology-enable the process

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#12 – New partner incentives
• Offer special incentives to new partners to help them gain traction
• Not all monetary
• Reward partners for more than sales
• Training completion
• Execution of a lead gen campaign
• Submission of a business plan
• Information sharing (expanded profiles, increased touchpoints for vendor)

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#13 – Continually refine the recruitment program and process
• Use first-year metrics to close the partner recruitment performance
feedback loop
• Feed insights back into “right partner” definition and review annually

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#14 – Communicate!
• Evangelize a consistent understanding of “right partner” and align all
stakeholders:
• Recruitment program
• Recruitment process
• Marketing
• Performance goals and progress
• Corporate
• Field team
• AND…to partner candidates, distributors, etc.!

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CONCLUSION, QUESTIONS

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14 rules for “right partner” recruitment
1. Know what makes a right partner
2. Assign responsibility
3. Set goals
4. Establish a virtual partner
recruitment team
5. Regional team collaboration
6. Align partner recruitment goals with
corporate goals
7. Anticipate the channel partner
loyalty factor
8. Tell a compelling story
9. Structure partner recruitment as a
marketing campaign
10. Score partner candidates
11. Shepherd new partners during a
defined incubation period
12. New partner incentives
13. Continually refine the recruitment
program and process
14. Communicate

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Questions?

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