The Extended Sales Enterprise
Measuring Sales Effectiveness to Channel Better Results
For organizations that rely primarily or entirely on an indirect sales force via the channel, resellers, distributors, alliances or partners, the de-centralized nature of sales management presents increased challenges in overall productivity. These obstacles represent both internal visibility into and control over channel performance, as well as external-facing support and enablement for both indirect selling partners and the end customers themselves. While Aberdeen Sales Effectiveness research frequently documents the best practices and technology adoption trends among high-performing direct sales teams, are these solutions and approaches equally robust enough to maximize revenue within a larger, dispersed marketing/selling ecosystem? Or instead, are there additional ways in which the channel can be uniquely empowered by the original vendor, OEM or producer to deliver substantial, accurately forecasted sales results?
Featured Insight of the Day
In Figure 2 (below), companies that deploy indirect sellers reported insufficient mind share among partners, partners not having sufficient sales/marketing ability, partners yielding too little top-line revenue, and de-centralized selling clouding the sales pipeline as the key challenges to channel sales success. It is a good possibility that these challenges can be mitigated by empowering sellers with better tools, content, training, and overall infrastructure. Empowered sellers will be gaining mind share, feel supported, and, ultimately, produce more revenue.
How Demand Metric Can Help
If you are looking to support your indirect sales channels and ultimately develop stronger partnerships, check out the following templates:
Partnership Objectives Template
Sales Support Process Checklist
Sales Support Effectiveness Survey
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