Questions to Ask For Your Plan to Meet

For amateur marketers, like me, meeting the channel sales strategy and the actual marketing plan can be a pain. And unless you have in your hands some good software which could make both the plans meet and be plausible enough to work or even profit, the opposite of it usually takes place.

You see there are a handful of hindrances, obstacles and unexpected events that occur during the plan, most of which either delays the marketing plan or derails the focus of the channel sales strategy that you have meticulously prepared. My suggestion? Evaluate first. Any plan won’t work if you hadn’t properly evaluated or at least set realistic goals to them. In order for it to pan out well, asking the right stuff may work for you. Below is a list of things to ask before you set your channel sales strategy and marketing plan into action:


partner profiling

1. What does the SWOT analysis tell you? The SWOT would usually tell how good your channel is and how it fits to your marketing action.

2. Is there any competitive variation in the channel that “personalizes” your style from the others? Don’t underestimate the power of being identified with a certain object or service. It’s what lures and strengthens customer loyalty.
3. Does the potential market share fare well compared to the current Channel market share? If no, you already know what that means.

4. Is the Channel Price Quality ratio significant enough to make a mark that would position us well against the rivals? Remember being different, distinguishable and customized is essential in building brands.

5. Is the company emphasizing its strengths on the right channel segments? The wrong one could prove costly so before anything else make sure that the aspects that you consider your strengths are put to the right tasks where it can grow.
6. What risks are involved regarding the meeting the sales and marketing plans? The purpose of this is to gauge events that will happen and avoid any unexpected happenings.

There other things that you should consider to make your sales and marketing plans meet other. Sometimes error maybe inevitable so the next thing to opt for is how to minimalize it.

Reviewing Channel Management Services and Strategies

In a bird’s eye view, channel management is simply a set of tactics developed to control the flow of the company’s business. It’s a group of decisions created and inputted in the system to establish a sense of check and balance. While it is also true that this type of management are like unbendable philosophies and concepts, in my opinion I think it’s better in a business to have a flexible strategy. Perhaps this is primarily due to the policies and work ethics employed by the company. It may also be because a company has its reliance on channel management services or other software their business requires. However, the thing is that while most services and technologies ascertain the quickness and efficiency of a company’s processes, it may also be the cause of delay.


channel management solutions

The problem with either being too reliant on technology or not having a concrete, good enough business strategy is that, for one thing, the company won’t be able to catch up to the conditions of the industry scene for several reasons like technology always upgrading and constantly changing effect of economic circumstances.

This is why the banking and marketing industry are always pushing themselves to the limit of their capabilities because one, big error may set a chain reaction in the company. At worst, their company will be left in the dust. Investments in channel management services are always an in demand product for very large organizations who need handle different channels. However, as most reports would claim, it’s the manager’s aspect, perspective and decision that ultimately controls the way the business is handled.

This is to say that the managers have first learned and understood what the company is really about, where the unapparent strengths and hidden weaknesses truly lie and how can the company can achieve its goals with the least bit of error in the execution phase of any business plan. I think while it is true that the power of company lies within the members who do the work, it is also in the manager that lies the motivation and performance of the workers. Technology is efficient but nothing can beat the combination of the human heart and mind.

Intel and Kenyan Ministry of Education Partnership for Better Elearning Development Tools and Solutions

Nairobi, Kenya (June 23, 2010) – Kenyan elearning will benefit from Intel Corporation’s endeavors to cut down the expenses of education delivery by teaming up with the country’s ministry of Education. The partnership will ease in the incorporation of elearning development tools and solutions into the standard curriculum. The effort aims to improve learning delivery experiences across the nation.

Elearning is taking the world by storm with its offering of convenience, cost-effectiveness and efficiency. Various educational institutions from all over the world have already established the use of elearning in their own processes, and Kenya is beginning to join the bandwagon. The design of such an innovation involves the appropriate use of various authoring and elearning development tools for the creation of high quality electronic learning courses and programs.


channel sales strategy

The program from the joint efforts of Intel Corporation and the Kenyan Ministry of Education will reduce the expenses of education by including the increasingly popular innovation into the nation’s learning curriculum. It will provide a more beneficial ratio of a 1 is to 1 relationship. However, this will not be a standard relationship limited between the student and a teacher, but the student with the community of learners and the various resources made available by electronic learning. According to Suraj Shah, Corporate Communications Manager for Intel Corporation, “We have a number of school representatives that have already been taken through this solution and some are ready to have this rolling out.”

The program will focus on the needs of the students with their unique needs. It will allow them to interact with a community of online learners. They will be able to create new projects, learn and practice new set of skills and share new knowledge and information with a variety of people from across the nation. A more important effect will be the increase in independent learning as students are encouraged to take initiative in their learning. The emphasis on self-direction will allow them to explore more and acquire more relevant knowledge and skills.

Through the proper use of ICT initiatives and elearning development tools, students will enjoy increased benefits from improved engagement, an active set of courses, and less limitation traditionally imposed by mere books and classroom discussions. It will provide learners with the necessary knowledge and skills and result in more meaningful learning experiences. This will contribute to a more successful education for them, allowing them to compete in a global setting. The deputy director of Kenya Institute of Education John Kimotho explained, “We view this technology as a tool for building these skills and advancing individual and national competitiveness.”

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Importance of Lead Management Modules in Partner Portal

Lead management semi automation is one effective feature of partner portals that channel mangers and partners love. Opportunities are better handled with a system integrated to the sales process. We had a problem before of leads getting wasted because of poor documentation and recording. Because our firm decided to enroll in one of our vendor’s portal, we’ve seen remarkable improvements in our sales activity.

In the lead registration, conflicts are avoided because leads are not duplicated. It’s harder to steal leads with the channel manager monitoring and authorizing each lead that comes in.

We can finally concentrate on what we do best and that is selling. Tedious tasks previously needed to be done manually are now automated so we are freer to focus on the main prize.


partner channel

Lead management modules can facilitate distribution of leads to different partners as long as they are registered and active in updating their accounts. Real time processing eliminates waiting time so resellers can act quickly to close deals.

The automated system tracks where leads originated, when it was submitted and the action by the sales representatives. It even computes the commissions, and profits expected by both the reseller and the vendor. It can’t get more automated than that!

Report generation is another feature in partner portals that makes the investment worth it especially in the long run. We’ve had some issues in the past where figures were mistyped or miscalculated. With the automated feature, these kinds of errors are eliminated.

The partner portal is also another venue where we can communicate with the vendor. By checking our reports, sales statistics, the channel manager can immediately point to the weak areas or strong areas of our sales activity. The portal’s graphs function reflects the progress we’ve been having. And it can also show where we can improve.