|
|
Wishbone Zen
Did
you ever wonder where the tradition of wishing on the Thanksgiving
turkey wishbone originated? Me neither. Year after year,
however, it's something that many families include in their
time-honored Thanksgiving rituals - along with who hosts the
dinner, who carves the turkey, who brings what, and which
tableware to use.
As
a child, I marveled at my father's success rate in "winning"
his wish year after year, as one of my siblings or I pulled
and twisted the wishbone to get it to break in just the right
way. What I learned years later is that the trick to getting
the wishbone to break in my dad's favor was his use of an
effective "low-touch" strategy. As it turns
out, holding your end of the wishbone steady, while the other
person applies pressure and maneuvers to affect the result,
somehow puts the right amount of force in play to break the
bone in just the right place - in your favor. I'm sure there
is an engineering equation out there to explain this, but
that would be over-analyzing, don't you agree?
And
so, what better reminder is there to carry forward in this
precarious economy, as you design and refine your partner
strategies and programs for 2009? Low touch (and sometimes
no touch) programs are oftentimes more effective and welcomed
by partners than high touch, time-consuming offerings.
In other words, minimalism has never been more in vogue!
As
you fine tune your partner strategies, operations, and programs
for next year, some of the following low touch tools and
approaches may be worthy of additional attention.
1)
Order & shipping operations - Can your partners
easily place an order
and track it online through shipment?
This sounds so basic, but the
minute someone has to pick up the phone,
costs increase and
satisfaction wanes. The consumer
world has this down to a science all
the way through home delivery using mobile
devices, and online problem
resolution using real-time chats. What
else can you do to make it easier
for partners to place and track their
orders real-time?
2)
Web-based training and e-meetings -
Anything that keeps your
partners and sales reps out of the
middle seat on a flight to meet with you
or attend events is a winner. Popular
services like www.WebEx.com
and www.GotoMeeting.com
are efficient forums to bring partners together
online. Most of us are willing to
forego the face-to-face experience
for the time, energy, and expense we
can recoup when we don't
have to travel.
3)
Partner communications - While partners
need to hear from you
proactively on a regular basis, don't
put too much weight in the quarterly
newsletter. Shorter, more frequent
bursts of timely information are,
generally, more effective in keeping
partners abreast of what's
happening. In addition, keeping
your partner portal up to date, full of
relevant content, and ensuring that
it's easy to navigate is table stakes in
today's low-touch world. Can your partners
find and use new product and
marketing program information
readily? Can they identify quickly whom to
reach if they have a problem?
4) Partner
forums - Can your partners easily find,
communicate to, and
collaborate with each other? Some
companies are afraid of opening up
unmonitored partner communication
forums out of fear that partners might
reveal unfavorable information to
others. Unfavorable input is an opportunity
to understand your partners better
and to address the feedback in a
timely, direct manner. Because
you don't allow partners to vent, doesn't
mean they are happy. While denial
is a powerful coping mechanism, it rarely
solves a problem. On the upside,
enabling collaboration can be a real differentiator
from your competition, and an effective problem-solving
tool for partners looking for ways
to broaden their product offerings
without the commensurate cost of
building it themselves.
Depending
solely on low-touch approaches isn't the end-all in reaching
and servicing your partners. But, leveraging technology
wisely to enhance relationships efficiently
goes a long way - and just may ensure that you get your
wish this year to stay ahead of the curve.
Clients
Seeking Candidates
Several
of our clients are looking for candidates to fill
the following positions:
-
Director
N.A. Channel Marketing - Boston, MA
-
Director
Product Marketing - Boston, MA
-
Sr.
Marketing Manager, Database Marketing - Boston,
MA
If
you know of anyone who might be interested, please
have him or her contact us for more information.
|
|
Thoughtwav
helps companies build and execute profitable go-to-market strategies
through direct, partner and alliance channels.
|
 email:
jwilkinson@thoughtwav.com
phone: 781-652-8727
|
|
|
