The Top Ten Issues Facing Today's Channel Providers Excellent Channel Article From Scott Karren For Ziff Davis Channel Zone: 1. Sales Team Productivity: The sales productivity formula is a tough task master. Only by changing the individual components of headcount, order size, frequency and close rates can sales productivity be increased. Where is the untapped power in your sales force? 2. Branding and Product Positioning: Proper positioning can make the difference between 10 point 40 point margins for the exact same service. Ask yourself: Why are your customers buying your solution? 3. Marketing and Promotions: Although generating qualified leads is the objective, few providers put their best foot forward. In-house materials can be both unprofessional and ineffective. What is the ROI on your marketing spending? 4. Launching New Technologies: New products and technologies require investments of both cash and overhead with no payback for as long as 12 months. Even worse, most product launches fail. How can you avoid launch disasters? 5. Services: For years everyone said services were the key to profitability. But Dell offers $500 dollar service contracts for servers. Where is the profitability in competing with that? 6. Blood Sucking Overhead: Every employee, every square foot of space, each hour of time and every asset has to deliver. And in a services business, employees are the largest expense category. How can you make better staffing decisions? 7. Alliances and Channel Development: Everyone knows the potential of alliances to touch customers and enter new markets. Unfortunately, alliances are often even less productive than government employees. What will take to get more than press releases out of your alliances? 8. Capitalization and Cash Flow: Since the dot.com collapse, less than 1 percent of ventures get funded. Vendors also have reduced their soft dollar support. Where will you get the money to fund your next big idea? 9. Specialization to Increase Gross Margin: There is no safety in selling any technology, no matter how big the vendor or how attractive the market. No matter how hot the product, over time its margins drop. What changes can you make to ensure your continuing relevance and value-add? 10. Business Strategy: Nothing stays the same. Technology matures, customer needs evolve, markets decline. Sometime we are so busy with the current project challenges we miss the signals about our role in the ecosystem. What big decisions need to be made this year?
8:32:30 AM 
|
