Fortinet specifically hired Bill Hentschell, who worked at Worldwide Technology (WWT) in the '90s and maintained relationships there, to rebuild their high-value partnership. This underscores the power of pre-existing trust and insider knowledge in strategic channel management and relationship repair.
A channel leader's primary hiring filter should be personality and likability, asking "Would I genuinely want to have dinner with this person?" Technical skills can be taught and should be vetted by the team, but the innate ability to build relationships is paramount and cannot be trained.
To repair a struggling partnership, first listen to raw, unfiltered feedback. Then, frame performance gaps not as failures but as shared revenue "opportunities." This shifts the conversation from "sell more for me" to "how can we grow your business together," positioning you as a strategic advisor.
WWT proactively invites vendors to share early code under NDA. Their teams, backed by real-world customer experience, test the products rigorously, providing invaluable feedback for improvement. This elevates their role from a simple reseller to a strategic development partner for vendors.
Instead of generic interview questions, ask what truly motivates a candidate and what they'd do for a hobby if money weren't an issue. The way they describe these passions reveals their energy, personality, and core drivers far more effectively than rehearsed answers about work experience.
WWT made a significant upfront investment in a virtual layer one switch for its labs. This technology allows them to reconfigure complex network demos for customers instantly, without physically moving cables. This agility in their Advanced Technology Center (ATC) solidifies their value and deepens customer trust.
To be a high-performance channel professional, you need domain expertise in three areas: sales (carrying a bag), technology (how data flows), and business (profit margins, NPV). This trifecta allows you to be a credible, authentic advisor who understands a partner's entire operation, not just a product pitcher.
Instead of pushing for quick, high-margin sales or meeting vendor quotas, Worldwide Technology focused on multi-year relationships and solving core business problems. This customer-first, long-game approach was foundational to their growth from a few hundred million to a multi-billion dollar giant.