Competitive Recruitment

Competitive analysis enhances ability to target critical partners

The Challenge

How do I boost partner loyalty within targeted groups?

While the client had a well-established and successful channel management program, almost all of their channel partners were also selling and supporting an array of competing products. Increasing partner loyalty would mean greater revenue and a stronger competitive position.

The client wanted to understand how they could:

  • Increase partner-driven revenue
  • Improve the efficiency and rate of return within their existing channel
  • Better understand how to motivate existing partners through competitive analysis of the client’s partner program
  • Determine how to best incent new partners to join the channel partner program and sell the client’s products and solutions as their first choice
  • Enhance field effectiveness in targeting and engaging with competitive channel partners

Touch was engaged to identify and qualify partners that were selling competitors’ products, and provide recommendations on how to motivate them to sell the client’s solutions over competitors’.

The Approach

Perform a competitive partner analysis to identify the factors that motivate partner sales decisions

  • Built a precise methodology for assessing partner business propositions
  • Applied detailed understanding of partner ecosystems and channel management to performing competitive analysis across multiple vendors
  • Analyzed qualitative and quantitative field research about competitive suppliers selling through the same channel
  • Produced actionable recommendations on changes to partner programs, policies and procedures
  • Provided transparency on project status and progress through a comprehensive communications framework
  • Drove support across multiple stakeholders and executive sponsors
  • Coordinated activities and feedback across distinct business and product groups to yield a cross-functional approach for addressing channel partners

The Result

Clear insight into how partners viewed the client’s offerings relative to competitors, and recommended program changes to improve client’s position with partners

  • Delivered a comprehensive audit of targeted partners that identified which competing partner programs they participated in and what program level they had earned within those programs
  • Offered suggestions on program changes to better incent partners to prioritize the clients’ products and solutions

Touch combined proprietary information available from the client with publicly available information on competitors’ programs to create a 1:1 mapping of partner participation across competitive partner programs. This information helped account management teams to better understand the partners with whom they were working