Your most critical resource, or your worst enemy?

A characteristic of every relationship we have now, or that we have had in the past, or that we will in the future, is the consistent feeling of keeping score. Who is putting more into the relationship than the other? These dynamics are seen in any negotiation, and are highly significant in channel relationships.

Vendors use channels to go to market because it’s more cost effective than doing it direct.

Channels will sell vendor products and services for their own reasons and not the vendors’.

If you’re keeping score with channel partners, you have a cultural issue. The relationship between vendor and partner defaults to control. Seeking control in any commercial relationship is a recipe for failure. 

Using vendors isolates the organisation even more from the in-market change at work. Success is critically dependent on feedback loops and adaption, not control.

Letting go seems foolish, reckless even, yet that’s where the work begins. Connect with the change, build mutual trust, and develop feedback loops. Cultures of accountability bring awareness that foster trust inside your organisation and towards your partner.

If there’s no trust shared by your organisation and vendor or channel partners, how can your customers trust your organisation?

Culture Now connects organisations with channel partners, builds mutual respect, and develops joint accountability.