Women in Technology – “Enabling the Channel” Sales and Marketing Event
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of participating in a panel for the Women in Technology event: “Enabling the Channel – Insights from Leading OEMs and Distributors.” The event was hosted by our friends at Google at their fun and hip office in Washington DC.
My fellow panelists, Theresa Caragol, Vice President, Global Alliances & Partners, Ciena;
Liz Anthony, Public Sector Channel Marketing Manager, Cisco; and Lynne Corddry, Vice President, Business Development, Public Sector, Red Hat, Inc., and I enjoyed a lively discussion and some very intuitive questions from the audience. The event was moderated by Christine Schaefer from DLT Solutions and Mary Conley Eggert from Tech Image.
The diversity of the panelists provided unique insight into the many varied channel strategies. One thing was agreed by everyone, though, it’s about quality, not quantity. Building great relationships with your channel partners is essential and doesn’t happen overnight. All of the channel partners need to show value in the relationship and, as a result, everyone benefits.
The question I found most interesting was: “How can partners differentiate themselves from their competition?” The responses were varied from the panelists, depending upon their unique position within their channel structure. Knowledge of the IT products being sold, self sufficiency, and having a non-competitive policy were mentioned several times. Responding to this question, I was able to highlight that we differentiate ourselves by offering contract vehicle access, business development, lead generation and relationships with system integrators. We also have a deep understanding of our public sector marketplace and that helps us to put together technical solutions that our customers are seeking, which certainly benefits our partners.
In her recap, Mary Eggert mentioned another element of the discussion: “An additional take-away I got from listening to these channel pros is the value of enthusiasm and trust in building profitable channel relationships. Each one mentioned a personal investment - beyond the norm - which has enabled them to mentor or develop their teams or partners. It's this other-centered focus, discussed in Jim Collins' "Good to Great," that I believe has enabled them to achieve such spectacular results in the channel.” I totally concur. Channel relationships are just like other business relationships; you build them through integrity and trust.
I sincerely enjoyed participating in this event and convey my thanks to Women in Technology for the invitation and to Google for providing the venue and a terrific lunch. If you’d like to learn more about Women in Technology, please visit their website: http://www.womenintechnology.org/ or Google: www.google.com.
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