Newsletter - January Newsletter

Newsletter - January Newsletter http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/Newsletter en-us 29 Jan 2015 04:25:34 GMT 29 Jan 2015 04:25:34 GMT http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/Newsletter/rss.xml Newsweaver dkiernan@tenegopartnering.com (Tenego Partnering) support@newsweaver.ie (Newsweaver) 60 true Welcome http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/Newsletter/1rrz1i5z9tc?rss=true The New Year rhythm has begun. We have a clear run until the end of June to build a pace before the next major holiday in April. How are you going to use it? I hope you all have come into 2015 with a fresh vigour to lift your game a notch or two, as we must always seek to improve how we deliver for our clients internationally. In Tenego we are continuing to build momentum with new markets; as source of customers, as new destinations for project execution and as new Tenego Global Network Partners establishing Tenego offices with on the ground presence in Greece and China. See article below. Have a great 2015 and especially if Tenego can help you in your international growth. Regards, Donagh CEO & Founder Tenego Partnering 29 Jan 2015 12:00:00 GMT ecf8fce00e7854cb0227ecf480420953 Featured Offers The New Year rhythm has begun. We have a clear run until the end of June to build a pace before the next major holiday in April. How are you going to use it? I hope you all have come into 2015 with a fresh vigour to lift your game a notch or two, as we must always seek to improve how we deliver for our clients internationally. In Tenego we are continuing to build momentum with new markets;  as source of customers, as new destinations for project execution and as new Tenego Global Network Partners establishing Tenego offices with on the ground presence in Greece and China. See article below.  Have a great 2015 and especially if Tenego can help you in your international growth.  Regards, Donagh CEO & Founder Tenego Partnering Donagh Kiernan http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/files/1/21714/39814/5235914/19d03bb12ecdfaaf22c2cf9e/1533f0c.jpg Sales Channel Partner, I Need To Understand Your Business To Help You Sell My Product http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/Newsletter/5bc84m4rpna?rss=true On a LinkedIn Group discussion earlier today participants were comparing the relationship building of Sales Channel Partners to Life Partners, ie: wives/husbands/girlfriends/boyfriends etc. I regularly compare recruiting partners to recruiting a key role into your management team. 29 Jan 2015 12:00:00 GMT f428ab02c186abb0ec792625d00d24aa Articles Donagh Kiernan On a LinkedIn Group discussion earlier today participants were comparing the relationship building of Sales Channel Partners to Life Partners, ie: wives/husbands/girlfriends/boyfriends etc. I regularly compare recruiting partners to recruiting a key role into your management team.  Too often, partnership agreements are entered into that don’t progress and die and too often partnerships take too long with too great a cost to get started and progress. These are just two scenarios that would be solved with a proper understanding of each other businesses.  To me, Partnership means a meeting of peers to decide how to work together. It doesn’t matter if one company is $1M pa sales and the other is $6B, both parties have objectives to achieve. If working together helps both parties achieve their respective objectives, then things can happen.  Understanding your Potential Partner’s Business So, as a Software Product company talking to a potential Sales Channel Partner, Referral/Reseller/OEM/ …, the first step is to understand the partners business. The less you are asking your sales channel partner’s business to change the more likely the partnership will work. What to look for in understanding the potential partner’s business: <ul><li>Research - Before you talk to them</li></ul>Review their website, LinkedIn and Google their company name for other news sources:<ol><li>Who are their target customers and decision makers?</li><li>What percentage of their focus is your target customer?</li><li>What are they selling?<ol><li>Do they sell only their own software?</li><li>Do they resell other companies’ software?</li></ol></li><li>Do they predominantly want Service Revenue or Licence Revenue?</li><li>What Deal Size and mix do you believe they might have?</li><li>How do they market and sell?</li><li>How many sales people do they have in your sector and geography of interest?</li></ol> <ul><li>Do they have the customer relationships and sales capabilities to sell your product?</li></ul>With the information you have gathered, you must compare the capabilities you require to sell your product, according to your sales process, with the capabilities you are finding in the prospective partner. <ul><li>Who should you be talking to within the prospective partner company?</li></ul>What decision maker you should talk to, depends on the company type and size. With companies of 50 people or less it may well always be the CEO. It’s a good place to start anyway. It might be easier to think of the organisational structure of large companies with clearly defined responsibilities, then within a smaller company who is responsible for making the decision to work with you? Some examples are:<ul><li>Software Product Companies: Product Management or a Technology Partner Function. Product</li><li>System Integrations/IT Services: VP Sales for Region where you are interested</li></ul> <ul><li>What should you talk about? What is the agenda?</li></ul>This is a 10 to 20 minute phone call with the objectives of verifying interest, validating assumptions on partner fit and getting commitment to share information go through an partner fit evaluation.<ol><li>This is what we do and this is what we’re looking for. You’re selling into our target customers. The purpose of the call is to investigate the opportunity of working together, ie: you reselling our product into your customers.</li><li>Whoever called the meeting discusses what they see as the joint market opportunity.</li><li>Outline of what does the Sales Channel Partner sells, who they sell to and how do they sell – with examples of customers and deal sizes and shapes</li><li>Outline of what the Vendor sells, to who and how - with examples of customers and deal sizes and shapes</li><li>If there’s interest and seems to be an outline fit, then we need to share more information between the parties to further investigate</li></ol> <ul><li>Partner Fit Evaluation</li></ul>In Tenego, this is a defined structured document, sharing relevant details on the Vendor company, the product, how it’s sold, typical deal sizes and mix etc AND then asking a series of questions to understand the Sales Partner Channel Business <ul><li>Agree on Initial Prospect Customers to test the Joint-Proposition</li></ul><ul><li>Joint-Proposition Development – Slideware initially</li></ul><ul><li>Initial Market Engagement</li></ul> And so it goes….somewhere in there we will sign NDAs, We may sign an Investigative Partner Agreements, Memorandum of Understanding or a Heads of Terms.  This is a mutually beneficial exercise that optimises both party’s time. This is baby steps in quick succession with continuous clear progress.  So as with life partners or recruiting that senior member of your team, there is a process and it may all happen very fast but better longevity and success can be gained through a clear step-by-step process to ensure its working for both parties along the way. <a href="http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/Newsletter/1em1u60rym6" target="_blank"> Receive Tenego’s Preventing the Mistakes in Sales Channel Development Video</a> Tenego Athens, growing Tenego’s Global Network For Internationalising Software Companies http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/Newsletter/muw66apot5g?rss=true Tenego Partnering are delighted to announce the establishment of Tenego Athens as part of Tenego’s growing Global Network. Angelo Dimarakis and Dimitris Georgopoulos, Athens, Greece have extensive knowledge of the full spectrum of ICT services across sectors and experience in areas across Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa. 29 Jan 2015 12:00:00 GMT a9bb310a66083ce1439df47f20996a1a News & Events Tenego Partnering are delighted to announce the establishment of Tenego Athens as part of Tenego’s growing Global Network. Angelo Dimarakis and Dimitris Georgopoulos, Athens, Greece have extensive knowledge of the full spectrum of ICT services across sectors and experience in areas across Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa. Tenego Partnering are delighted to announce the establishment of Tenego Athens as part of Tenego’s growing Global Network. Angelo Dimarakis and Dimitris Georgopoulos, Athens, Greece have extensive knowledge of the full spectrum of ICT services across sectors and experience in areas across Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="wp-more-tag mce-wp-more" title="Read more..." alt="" data-wp-more="more" data-wp-more-text="" data-mce-resize="false" data-mce-placeholder="1" />With Tenego Athens, Greece; Tenego now has the ability to expand its international sales channel development services to software companies based in Greece and the surrounding regions while also providing opportunities for software companies into the region. In the current economic climate many strong software companies are focussing more internationally, Tenego provides an effective growth path for these companies. The Greek ICT market is very much service oriented and is strongly focused around the pillars sectors’ of Greece (ie finance & banking, telecoms, retail, tourism, e-business, omni-channels). Having said this, the market and surrounding regions offer considerable potential for Tenego Partnering in software sales channel development as the export market is very large in this sector.   “It is of the highest importance for us to continue to add world class expertise to Tenego’s Global Network. Tenego Athens presents a very interesting opportunity for Tenego Partnering as it will allow us to develop our Global Network delivering success for software companies into and out of the region. Both Angelo and Dimitris bring international expertise in software sales channel development and also have an in-depth knowledge of the industry and territory” - Dermot Carberry, Global Network Director, Tenego Partnering  “We are delighted to have become part of the Tenego Partnering Global Network. We believe that Tenego Partnering has a very systematic and well organized methodology, with very strong internationalisation capabilities in adding value its customers, expanding their sales capacity in new markets and establishing new partnerships. We are very excited to be able to offer the Tenego Services to our clients in key sectors, in our territory, and at the same time, allow our clients to multiply their capabilities, from Tenego’s Global Network and the global reach it will provide.” - Angelo Dimarakis & Dimitris Georgopoulos, Co-founders of “Rethink Business Lab”, Greece. Tenego’s Global Network aims to provide a Tenego presence in every key technology market around the world providing services for software companies into and out of every market around the world. About Tenego Partnering & Tenego’s Global NetworkHeadquartered in Cork, Ireland, Tenego Partnering provide International Partner Sales Channel Development services to software companies. Tenego build and manage sales partner networks to sell, deliver and support clients’ products in multiple markets around the world. About Rethink Business LabsBased in Athens Greece provide support and mentoring to companies at various sectors, in the following major topics: Strategy, planning, new business development, channel development, operational improvements, e-business, innovation, outsourcing, key partnerships and synergies. tenego-logo-transparent small http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/files/1/21714/39814/5235914/a19fd122c35c2dbaede42910/tenego-logo-transparent%20small_2.jpg In Evaluating Sales Channel Partners - Time Based And Cost Based Evaluation http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/Newsletter/12r5l9rho6a?rss=true Most partnership relationships need nurturing. In building successful partnership relationships you will regularly need patience and consistent persistence while both parties should be seeing progress on a step-by-step basis. 29 Jan 2015 12:00:00 GMT fa769b753c988ce6387412d3e8d6a5df News & Events Most partnership relationships need nurturing. In building successful partnership relationships you will regularly need patience and consistent persistence while both parties should be seeing progress on a step-by-step basis. Most partnership relationships need nurturing.In building successful partnership relationships you will regularly need patience and consistent persistence while both parties should be seeing progress on a step-by-step basis. In many situations, one or both the vendor and the partner are treating the partnership as a medium to longer term investment, so you should invest your time and efforts and manage expectations accordingly. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="wp-more-tag mce-wp-more" title="Read more..." alt="" data-wp-more="more" data-wp-more-text="" data-mce-resize="false" data-mce-placeholder="1" />In selecting potential target partners we regularly advise clients on the balance between slower turning big-wheels with potential big wins and the faster turning small-wheels, more tactical where you expect to see progress more quickly. The large companies and strategic discussions are the big-wheels; for example Global Partnerships with Accenture, Cap Geminini, IBM, SAP etc and strategic discussions with other software companies where your product will be sold with or as an option. The small-wheels are, for example, the resellers where your product fits well with how they sell today, decisions are faster and initial market engagement can be almost immediate. In evaluating an individual partners or whether sales channels are for your business at all, you must look at the staged investment in the partnership to the progress being made. Business leaders often compare working with a partner to having dedicated sales person in the market, while the focus here is on meeting sales targets but doesn’t compare the investment on both. Direct sales teams carry great costs and you carry all the risks.  <ul><li>Elapsed Time based Evaluations: Specific short-term sales activity and revenue targets are key</li></ul> Is the partner meeting sales-pipeline activity targets and executing effectively in the market? At the start, you agree a market engagement plan with a partner, with the partner agreeing to execute in the market and you, as the vendor, agreeing to provide all the necessary support. If the targets being met are of the highest importance for your business, you must ensure that the same targets carry a very level of importance to the partner. When a partner fails to meet the agreed targets as other parts of the partners business may have caused them to slow or pause activity for a period. This doesn’t mean the partnership is wrong, but it does cause you challenges in managing expectations and forecasting revenues from partnerships. This is particularly a challenge when you have only one partner in a market. With more partners you have more contingency in meeting your objectives, but this carries greater management time, but should yield higher results. <ul><li> Cost Based Evaluation: Gross Margin, Market Entry and Customer Acquisition costs are key</li></ul> With the cost of securing and managing partners, is it reducing your company’s market entry and customer acquisition costs? “The only score that counts is on the scoreboard at the end of the game” Expecting results too soon leads to disappointment, frustration and soured relationships. Set activity based targets with realistic goals to steadily work together building a sales pipeline of opportunities that will deliver revenues. There will be bumps on the road. Ask your partner to raise any concerns or risks of delays on their side; seek to build an open upfront relationship and minimise surprises from both sides. When you balance the cost of entering new markets, building a strong sales pipeline and delivering sales revenues while minimising (sharing) risk you then evaluate the partnership on meeting results cost effectively. So, the next time you find yourself questioning your current partners or a route for your business, question your own expectations against Elapsed Time and Cost Based objectives. <a href="http://tenegopartnering.newsweaver.co.uk/Newsletter/1i536wx5ifl" target="_blank">Receive Tenego's Preventing the Mistakes in Sales Channel Development Video</a>