Channel Management as a “System”

I love systems. I love them because if you have a good one it can sustain your operation for a very long time. I first realized this through sports. Great sports dynasty’s all have systems. Throughout history there are countless examples of this:

* The San Francisco 49ers of the 80’s and 90’s. Their West Coast Offense was a system that dominated the NFL for over a decade.

* Duke Basketball: Their system is so refined that it impacts their recruiting. They don’t necessarily go for the best athletes, but rather they choose players that fit their system. They do this better than anyone else.

* New York Yankees: They have had a number of systems, but most recently they have leveraged their financial strength to attract top talent. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the Oakland Athletics that use a system of scouting intelligence to fill their roster with a very small payroll.

* The Triangle Offense of the Chicago Bulls in the 90’s. Sure they had Michael Jordan, but the system is now working for the Lakers.

There are many others, but this got me thinking about business and business philosophies that use systems to drive success. General Electric, Cisco, Google, and Microsoft (to name a few) are examples of big companies that have maintained their success by adhering to their philosophy over very long periods of time. Then look at Motorola, Nortel, Sun Microsystems, and Yahoo!. Each of these companies were industry behemoths that abandoned their “system” and have fallen from grace.

The important thing about “systems” is that they have to be flexible. You have to maintain the basic philosophy, but adapt to changes. Joe Montana was very different than Steve Young, but both had great success in the same system.

I believe that as a channel leader you need to build a “system”; one that is sustainable and flexible. If you are constantly tinkering with your model or changing your channel philosophy you will lose your channel partners. It is important to adjust, just don’t lose your system in the process.