Blog

What did our webinar panelists have to say about the State of Partnering 2017 data?

By Diane Krakora, CEO of PartnerPath

They say hindsight is 20/20. That adage is never truer than when we analyze the results of our annual State of Partnering study and compare the responses to those of past years. Inevitably, certain trends emerge or certain assumptions are proven true (or false) that sometimes result in me sighing. Noticeably. It’s the audible sign that I have found data that’s not only surprising, but disappointing.

By Rafael Martin, Senior Customer Success Manager

Remember when you actually had to pick up the phone to get in touch with someone?  When was the last time you remembered a phone number? Emailing has become the go-to method of communication and simply  picking up the phone to call a customer or partner seems to have gone extinct practically overnight (at the least the dinosaurs had millions of years before saying their good-byes!). Sometimes little things make a huge impact on our customers’ experience. And in the case of the channel, your customers are your partners. Taking simple and consistent steps to establish and maintain a good relationship can make all the difference to customer/partner success.

By Diane Krakora, CEO

I'll tell you now, this is not one of those blogs where I give tips and solutions to make your channel program awesome. Rather, this is what is sometimes called “channel therapy” – a.k.a. our twice-annual channel roundtable with channel executives. We share problems, listen with empathy to ever-growing challenges and give advice to each other. At the end of these sessions someone always comments, “So, we're all facing similar problems. That's good to know. No one has it figured out.” Indeed.

By Amanda Hawkins, Marketing Director

Benjamin Franklin only named death and taxes as certain, but channel conflict seems destined to join the list. In our annual State of Partnering report, we ask partners to anonymously tell us their top complaints about vendor programs. The answers are, sadly, very similar year to year. But as the market changes and partner business models evolve, there are always new (and vehement) submissions.

By Diane Krakora, CEO

Dramatic. Yes, I’m going with ‘dramatic.’ There are a host of other words to describe the mergers and divestments, technology and culture, protests and politics of 2016. (I’ll save those for a cocktail party.) But no matter what side of the divide you stood on in any debate, 2016 was not a quiet year. But I keep telling myself change is good. Change brings new ideas, new challenges, renewed participation and unanticipated advancements.