comp tia breakaway2012 beyond content syndication joint vendor partner lead gen solutions tony...

Beyond Content Syndication:

Joint Vendor/Partner Lead Generation Solutions

Tony Serino

Serino Channel Services

Agenda for an interactive session



o Goals … Achieving sales budgets and enhancing relationshipso Companies providing automated solutions; at a glanceo About Tony Serino … channel-centric backgroundo Traditional issues impacting vendor/channel lead generationo Just “Content Syndication” is insufficiento Beyond Content Syndication: The “state of the art” addresses/resolves

• Issues and opportunities• For both vendor and channel company

o Case Study: ISV and partnerso Questions / Answers / Discussion

Some of the companies with capabilities and/or solutions

Qualifications to address the CompTIA membership

Tony Serino’s background is heavily channel-centric

o 15 years work FOR/AT channel companieso 5 years work for/at OEMs/ISVs; 1 at Media Companyo First hand perspective of impact of JOINT/lead gen on

• Sales• Technical pre-sale• Technical management• Sales management• GM/P&L• VP Marketing• VP Vendor Relationship

o 10+ years “applied channel consulting” and Lead Generation• Serino Channel Services

Traditional issues impacting relationships/results; some unique … some conjoined

o Unique-to-Channel matters• Resources … Time, money, enough personnel with marketing skills• Traditional promotion … “product trumps partners’ skills”• Others

o Unique-to-Vendor matters• Scale• Working within their own guidelines/legalities• Promotional monies invested vs. ROI Measurability• Perspective; Belief that Enablement equals Motivation • Turnover in channel-facing roles• Launching promotional activities with partners• Others

o Conjoined; Both channel and vendor• Relationship with one another• Relationship with “mutual” end customer• Trust• “Best interest” as unilateral or bi-lateral• Control• Refined measurement• Sustaining promotional activities with one another• The shrinking marketing budget• Others

Just “Content Syndication” is not enough

o It’s “just one of many pieces,” but NOT a solutiono Chic’

• But “best method” is elusive/evolvingo Gaps between knowing/having

• What’s important … • Getting it to the right people • At the right time• And knowing when it is consumed• And knowing what to do next• And actually doing what to do next

Beyond Content Syndication: What the “state of the art” addresses and resolves

o “Enablement” vs. Motivationo Consider the acronym C A R M A

• Control• Accountability• Results/ROI• Motivation• Acceleration


o Unique-to-Channel matters• Resources … Time, money, personnel with marketing skills

15 minutes a month Cost is roughly equal to the cost of the least expensive employee Regardless of marketing skill and priority-interrupts, the program runs

• Traditional promotion projects that “product trumps partners’ skill” While still meeting vendor co-op/MDF and branding guidelines, the vendor’s content is “packaged”

within the partners skill set … So the partners’ SKILL enhances the product In terms important to the end user audience

• Differentiation Provides one or more differentiation proof points

o Unique-to-Vendor matters• Scale

An inexpensive solution, yet the pricing drops sharply as scale expands Automation deals with scale issues

• Working within their own guidelines/legalities Set it and forget it. One-time touch

• Promotional monies invested vs. ROI Measurability HIGHLY measurable as a whole and high measurable in many parts

• Perspective; Belief that Enablement equals Motivation People are responsible for “their responsibilities and interests” not ancillary matters A positioning of equals

• Turnover in channel-facing roles A core platform that will run continuously (to a degree) but can be tweaked as needed New person does not force “relationship reset” … but has a track to follow

• Launching promotional activities with partners Easy for everyone … Partner and their skills are SHOWCASED


o Conjoined … both channel and vendor• Relationship with one another

This is a planning, execution, and review process … just repeat SUPERB sales/sales management – partner-review reports

• Relationship with “mutual” end customer Vendor messaging get through verbatim Vendor message enhance with partner’s expertise related to the end customer’s people’s needs

• Trust This is a humanistic trait and matter, helped by the clarity and understanding of the system’s

purpose and the role/expectations of each person at respective companies• “Best interest” as unilateral or bi-lateral

The effort is conjoined. There is only a whole, not multiple parts.• Control

Vendor maintains control of technical messaging Partner has control of “their highlighted messaging” Together vendor/partner control the “aiming process”

• Refined measurement HIGHLY measurable In MANY parts Highly measurable as a whole

• Sustaining promotional activities with one another Easy! Directs responsibility to people who are responsible for the respective “action”

Case Study

o Abouto Goalso Set-upo Launcho Tweako Measureo Very Rough Budgetary Cost

Case Study … About

o An ISV and its channel partners focused on product development solutions for • Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and• Product Lifecycle Management

Case Study … Goals

ISV’s goals …

o Drive top-line sales with/through its channel of technical resellers and IT service companies o Meet its dramatically increased sales budgetso Win market share within a small window of timeo Build deeper relationships with its partner network.

After polling its partners to gain a first-hand understanding of their needs, the ISV learned that the following matters were very important to “most of the partners.”

Joint ISV and Partner goals …

o Co-branding their businesses, focus, and skills with their “vendor partner” application/solution o Minimal disruption to their day-to-day operations and sales efforts o Training/Education for themselves and the ability to extend the appropriate

information/materials to their clientso Final say on target market focuso Ability to objectively assess joint lead generation efforts

Case Study… Set Up

Getting content and deploying a system that provides access, monitors consumption, nurtures, and communicates to stake holders … based on “urgency” … for

The Buyer’s Journey From Their Current Product Development Environment to the Enhanced Method… available from the ISV with/through its Reseller Partners.

• A taxonomy was defined and used to segment and facilitate finding content by topic s aligned with the typical end-user pain points (business needs; financial implications) and other typical “common topics” prospects/customers seek out, such as “product” and “industry”

• The ISV provided , and approximately 100 pieces of its sales collateral , were deployed as electronic files.• These documents became accessible to each partner for viewing via a “sandbox” work-in-process microsite • The sandbox allowed the partners to envision THEIR microsite … and understand where and how to “add copy, offers,

calls-to-action, logos, and images “so the final site would match the partner’s primary website in look /feel and voice• A web tool was used for/by partners to upload “some/all of the above” during and after an on-boarding session • The partner’s input was deployed onto the sandbox site transforming a template into the partner’s customized microsite• The partners final microsite was deployed (as is or after some tweaks)

• A calendar of topical messages, in the form of email templates, was defined. The email would be automatically delivered to a defined set of people “in the name of the partner” via email and social media marketing platforms once each month. The emails became customized automatically by using some of the same input used to customize the microsite

Case Study … Launch … 1 of 2

Winning Partner Buy-In

After a “sandbox web site” and a series of emails in template form were available, the ISV presented the concept and details of the proposed joint-promotional efforts to its partners to win buy-in. Using a web meeting, the company’s channel manager and a platform consultant presented the plan which included the following steps and assets:

1. The concept and details for a joint effort, which included defining the ISV’s and partner’s expectations and program requirements such as financial contribution, commitment of resources, and lead follow-up/reporting

2. The web site sandbox, featuring:• Its visitor capture, scoring, and communication capabilities. • Content about the industry• Content about the ISV and its solution• Faux copy about a fictitious partner, that when modified, would become that of “the partner in the web

meeting,”

3. A preliminary calendar of email topics very tightly aligned with the ISV’s promotional efforts and time lines.

4. A promotional strategy for each partner, with the ISV ensuring each partner had their own customized site with promotional copy on their organization, as well as the partner logo and all Calls-To-Action.

5.Upon acceptance (buy-in), the partner would become part of the ISV’s lead generation/ lead nurturing system.

Case Study … Launch … 2 of 2

• The six-month campaign, including web site and email series, was rolled out in about 60 minutes by leveraging the ISVs existing content and campaigns. After set-up, it took each partner “about 20 minutes per month” to sustain the effort, including authorizing use of each new email creative before it is sent.

• To ensure that partners’ sales team was “aware, capable, and motivated,” a “Sales Readiness Site” was built for the partners’ sales reps. This site functions as an “electronic cheat sheet” allowing the sales rep to study/research the topic prior to making a sales call on a lead … using the ISV’s content and internal/partner-use-only materials about customer pain points and competitors’ weaknesses.

• The sales readiness site, along with the expectations of each person at each company was used along with the now-customized website as the framework for partners’ internal sales kick-off meeting and subsequent sales review meetings with the ISV and partners.

• The system sends an email campaign once each month, automatically communicated with partners, and nurtures visitors’ based on their behaviors and other key performance indicators during web visits.

• Daily and periodic reports are sent to stake holder based on urgency• Links are included for each prospect visit included within each report to allow reader to

“access all the detail about the visit”

Case Study … Tweak

o After each email the send/open results were sent to the partner and analyzed. Partners could then refined• Their messaging• The parameters of any new contact records that would

be added • Number of contacts within database

o This action allowed the future emails to be aimed at a “better” audience

Case Study … Measurement/Results … 1 of 2

Each Partner Received:

1. A website asset including• >100 pieces of vendor content• Partner’s logo, CTAs’, and company content and sales collateral• Visitor capture, tracking, scoring, and nurturing systems based on visitor’s action

2. Outreach (all pointing back to the partner’s website)• Email - One per month sent to ~5,000 contact records• Automatic nurturing - based on web visitor ‘s actions• Social media connectors• Telemarketing of 75 outbound calls during the 6 month period

3. Measurement• Email send/open metrics• Capture of visitors’ actions; by areas of visit• Scoring of visitors’ actions; by location and time spent during visit

4. Communication• Daily emails to partner, with specific detail for any hot leads (based on score)• Periodic recaps to partner and ISV, with general and specific to-date detail

5. Sales Readiness website (for partners’ sales rep use … not to be shared externally)• ISV-created sales tools, calculators, competitive guides, presentations, etc.

Case Study … Measurement/Results … 2 of 2

o The rough cost of the six-month initiative with 12 partners was $112,000

• That is $18,666 per month x 6 months

o Cost split … 50% vendor / 25% distributor / 25% reseller

• $9, 333 per month x 6 for vendor = $55,000+• $4,686 per month x 6 for distributor = $27,500 • $4,686 per month x 6 = $27,500 / 12 partners =

$2,291 per partner per month which they paid for using co-op/MDF

o The results: A snapshot of the results from the first email campaign for one partner includes: • More than 200 unique responses and 6 hot sales opportunities• $500,000 forecasted in services and licensing revenue

Calculated by isolating the “highest scoring” visitors Based on a conservative 15% (roughly 1 in 6) conversion rate from prospect to

customer• 50:1 forecasted pipeline-to-ROI ratio; and• 5 closed deals.



o Discussion / Questions / Answers



o THANK YOU!

o I HOPE you’ve found the time worthwhile!



Tony Serino


[email protected]

www.ChannelsMarketing.com

mailto:[email protected]

About the presenter:Tony Serino

Extensive first-hand experience working for/at/with channel companies (primarily), and OEMs, ISVs, and media companies

Managing Director of


(est. 1993 … reestablished 2006)

Serino Channel Services helps technology vendors and channel companies drive new revenue, together, and in a highly measureable manner… with automated systems and processes and by mobilizing and motivating the people who comprise the partnership.


1 Hopkins St; Suite 100

Wakefield, MA 01880

www.ChannelsMarketing.com and

www.ChannelCARMA.com

[email protected]

781-718-7395 … phone

781- 683-0597 … fax

http://www.channelsmarketing.com/

mailto:[email protected]

comp tia breakaway2012 beyond content syndication joint vendor partner lead gen solutions tony...

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