Many vendors arrogantly assume partners should be grateful to sell their "best-in-class" technology. This "vendor vanity" ignores the partner's own business objectives and GTM strategy, leading to misalignment. A respectful, business-focused conversation is required instead.
Contrary to predictions of its demise, distribution remains essential. It acts as a central funnel, shielding partners from vendor overload and providing crucial intelligence on technology trends. This guidance helps partners place strategic bets and navigate the evolving market, ensuring distribution's continued relevance.
Many MSPs are technically brilliant but struggle with marketing and customer acquisition. Vendors can significantly strengthen these partnerships by offering practical support like content, use cases, and marketing materials. This helps evolving MSPs acquire new business and bridges the skills gap in their sales and commercial functions.
Distributors possess a long-standing "secret weapon"—a massive repository of clean, well-understood data on partner behavior and transactions. As AI becomes prevalent, distributors are uniquely positioned to leverage this data to provide superior business intelligence, solidifying their role in the channel ecosystem.
Partnership success hinges on more than executive alignment; it requires buy-in from the partner's technical team. These individuals are on the front lines, understand end-user problems intimately, and can quickly determine if a vendor's technology genuinely solves a recurring issue and fits their existing stack.
The tech industry often makes technical roles sound intimidating by equating them with coding. To attract new talent, companies should create apprenticeship programs, similar to those for electricians, that focus on practical skills like deploying vendor technology. This reframing makes the field more accessible to a wider pool of candidates.
Vendors often waste time pursuing large, well-known partners without checking for strategic alignment. A more effective approach is to first research a partner's website, target sectors, and existing solution stack. This simple due diligence can quickly reveal if there's a genuine fit, saving countless sales cycles.