Rich Blakeman: The Power of the Hybrid Sales Channel

Channel Journeys Podcast

Go-to-market strategies keep evolving, but one thing that hasn’t gone away is the ever present challenge of channel conflict. This is especially true in regions or market segments where you co-sell with your partners. How do you get your own reps to give up control in exchange for the powerful returns partners can bring? Rich Blakeman, author of The Hybrid Sales Channel, shares how to drive revenue and profits through a sales methodology that reduces conflict and leverages the unique strengths of direct and channel sales.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Here are 5 things I learned from Rich about effective co-selling with partners:

1. The hybrid sales channel is like a hybrid vehicle that has a battery, a gas engine, brakes. All are designed for a very specific purpose that don’t overlap each other at all. Apply the same principle to in sales to take advantage of the unique strengths of the vendor and the partner.
2. Selling is all about how the customer buys and not how you want to sell. Align your resources and capabilities, and those of your partners, with what your customer needs.
3. The partner account manager focuses on the partner, not in the weeds with transactions. Meanwhile, the direct rep can act like a sales manager with a team of partner reps.
4. The seagulls in Finding Nemo chirping “mine, mine, mine” are a great analogy to direct reps who are so reluctant to let go and leverage partners. Acting that way they lose more often than they win.
5. Change doesn’t happen without executive commitment and alignment to the hybrid channel strategy. But it falls to the first line manager to make that change happen.

LINKS & RESOURCES

• Find Rich Blakeman on LinkedIn
• Read the book: The Hybrid Sales Channel: How to Ignite Growth by Bridging the Gap Between Direct and Indirect Sales
• Listen to Frank Rauch on How to Drive Growth & Profitability With A 100% Channel Strategy
• Learn more about Allbound

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