Creating a Climate of Cooperation Between Partners and Vendors

The good news is there are fewer issues and less animosity between solution providers and vendors these days, at least on the surface. Sure, you'll still run into an occasional case of channel conflict or hear about communication issues and misperceptions, but overall, established IT supply chain relationships appear pretty strong today. And that’s great news for those looking to drive growth, improve efficiency and grow profitability.

How can providers and vendors create even stronger bonds with their counterparts? That’s the topic the CompTIA Managed Services Community decided to tackle in a panel session at this year’s Annual Member Meeting in Chicago. Chair Vince Tinnirello, CEO of Anchor Network Solutions, assembled and moderated an esteemed group of MSPs and vendors including:

• Jason Brunt, founder & CEO of e3 Technical Solutions
• Christine Gassman, manager of partner development for Datto
• Kenneth May, CEO of Swift Chip
• John Tippett, vice president & general manager of Aisle8

Is there a magic bullet that solidifies vendor/partner relationships? Like anything involving people, the answer would be a resounding no! But Tinnirello shared and elicited a number of ideas and best practices both sides can put to practical use in their businesses. Communications and other critical partnering processes can be adapted, streamlined or optimized to meet the needs of a greater audience. They can get personal…in a good way. Both sides just want to be treated with respect and develop effective lines of communication. After all, they each benefit if their engagement model is fair and their end customers have the solutions and services they need to be highly successful. That’s at the heart of a true channel relationship.   

What’s the Best Way for Vendors and Partners to Communicate?

Email, instant messaging, phone calls, social media and, of course, snail mail. There are more ways to reach those you wish to communicate with than ever before. Tinnirello asked which methods worked best for each of the panelists and, as you might expect, their personal preferences varied.

Brunt: "Some seem to forget we all deal with internal staff issues, with family and home commitments and distractions on a daily basis. I get as many as 500 emails a day, and have to deal with alerts while sorting through spam. That being said, I do get some great information from emails. Those are the ones that say ‘this is important’ or highlight best ways for selling our business and their products and services. For many it gets lost with too many words or over-communications ... that being said, it’s our responsibility as providers to give feedback to our vendors to improve communications. It is a two-way street."

Tippett: "I encourage partners to work with vendors and provide them with solid feedback. Share relevant information and offer advice in a clear, concise manner. Vendors should design sales bulletins to look a particular way, and technical bulletins should use a different format or style. The small differences can help improve the message and ensure partners take note of what’s important."   

Gassman: "We use a number of communication methods to ensure partners get the information they need, including a quarterly webinar where we go over all the updates and changes. We also vary how we deliver communications based on their feedback."

May: "I find I start paying more attention as I spend more time with a vendor. We have vendor and product champions responsible for sharing updates with the team and managing the relationships. That helps improve the communication process."

Communications Preferences

Some live by email, while others do their best work via phone call. No two people seem to be the same and their personal inclinations can even change over time, especially when things heat up. The panelists preferences were just as diverse, and their comments highlighted how important it is for MSPs and vendors to be flexible with their key business partners. Realize others receive and deliver information differently, and adapt when possible, especially if those communications are crucial to the success of your business (as well as those of your customers). 

May: "Email is still the best for me. The messages are still too busy with so many buzz words and marketing details. The best advice I can give vendors is to keep it to the point. The time I devote [to communications] depends on my priorities and my focus. But by phone is definitely the last way to reach me."

Brunt: "There should be some way to better highlight the main issues that interest each group. Then partners can decide what’s important to them. That’s also on us to let vendors know. If they don’t get good feedback, nothing will change."

Tippett: "There’s an ongoing, dynamic tension between me and our marketing team, battling back and forth on what information is truly needed in our messages. The technical people aren’t reading an email because it’s pretty. We have to constantly think about email and how we’re delivering it. It shouldn’t be the only way we communicate, either. It has to be a multi-faceted approach to reach everyone. If there is one thing you can control in your business, it’s how well you take care of people, and communication is a big part of that."

Gassman: "As I mentioned previously, we use webinars, emails, blogs, podcasts and other communication methods to reach our partners. We have a forum where they can share and communicate, and conduct roadshows to connect face to face. Even though we offer so many types of communications, we realize it’s still not received by our entire channel audience."

Partner/Vendor Onboarding

After MSPs make a commitment to work with a new vendor comes the hard part: establishing the rules of engagement. Onboarding is a crucial step, ensuring each side knows the expectations and processes of the other. They need to work out any issues with alignment or methodologies and identify the stakeholders on either side. Vendors should have some flexibility when onboarding new partners. Acknowledging and emphasizing best practices that have been successful for others is great, but they also have to be willing to alter processes when there are legitimate reasons for doing so. What else do managed services experts suggest?

May: "I’ve been in relationships where the vendor just signed us up and let us sell, and we knew nothing about what we were doing. When the technology is more advanced or harder to explain to customers, I like when they offer 200 or 300-level training to help us sell more of those products or services. I like the on-demand videos and webinar training, especially the programs we can use when its most convenient for my team."

Brunt: "A tiered approach is most important to me. I want to see what we can do from a sales and marketing perspective, as well as the technology side (each a separate discussion). It’s just as important to know how we can get their product out and bring in new managed services clients as it is to ensure it works."

Tippett: "We don’t have a formal onboarding process since the company manages hundreds of SKUs, but we do one-offs. We tailor the training to help partners learn about the solutions, and how to market and sell them in their managed services practices."

Gassman: "We have a number of formal processes, but I get most excited talking with new partners about our MDF (marketing development funds) program. This funding is designed to help them grow their businesses, allowing them to improve field activities and solution sales. We enjoy talking to partners about improving their success, and this is a great way to get the ball rolling."

Interested in joining the Managed Services Community’s discussions? Register for the next face-to-face meeting at ChannelCon 2016 in Hollywood, FL or sign up for upcoming webinars and other online activities.