Bigger Than The Widget

There are three steps required to sell into a channel. I am oversimplifying, but I think that if you follow these steps you will find success. These are linear, so you cannot do Step 2, before Step 1.

STEP 1: Sell Yourself
STEP 2: Sell Your Company
STEP 3: Sell Your Product

This is very logical if you work backwards and ask yourself a few questions. Would you buy a product from a company that you didn’t trust or believe in? Would you buy from a company that had a reputation for poor service or one that didn’t have a compelling value offer? Let’s say the company was one you respected and they had a competitive product, but the sales person was unresponsive or not keenly aware of the industry and your challenges? It is really hard for a bad salesperson working for a bad company to sell a great product.

When you build your channel business think about the people that you need to represent you and your company. Get the best channel sales people. You must then arm them with a story…a real story, not just some marketing fluff. A story about the experience the channel will have when they work with you. Back that up with an infrastructure that supports your story. Make sure your operations and service teams are in place. Make sure your marketing programs reinforce the story and make sure your executive team is your top evangelists. Make your product bigger than the widget. Create switching costs through your sales excellence and channel support infrastructure. De-commoditize your product.

It is just simply not enough to have a great widget, because the product is really much more.