What kinds of administrative tasks consume a channel account manager’s time?
Most of the channel account managers I talk to mention 'quote chasing' as their number one time-consuming activity.
This is often the result of a complex quoting mechanism where partners tend to go back to their channel account manager in order to speed up the time to get an approved special pricing quote.
This process can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on the level of the requested discount.
This directly impacts the channel account manager’s commission, so you can understand why it needs to be attended to promptly.
First, an official escalation is initiated and most of the time workarounds are applied, like calling the special quoting time to ‘prioritize’ their quote. This places a lot of pressure on processes and time constraint on account managers.
Could you see this issue worsening? How?
It’s possible. When a new vendor acquisition occurs, the majority of partners’ efforts are spent in the front office [partner portal/program]. The back office [systems/processes] takes the backseat and often does not get the appropriate attention, at times none at all.
It’s like adding a Ferrari engine to your Fiat Cinquecento. There’s nothing wrong with increasing your power, but it can get very ugly when you forget to adjust the gear ratio and power-assisted steering.
You have to sync all the components in order to win the race. If not, you lose traction and while driving through a curve, you’re out.
What actions are currently being taken to improve the amount of attention partners are getting?
A lot of vendors are improving their processes and systems, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. One of the problems is the lack of empathy vendors sometimes have.
They tend to think that channel partners are only having to manage a single vendor – themselves. Due to the increasingly complex business landscape, efficient systems and processes are key in enabling the channel.
How do you envision things being five years from now?
Every business I know is margin driven. As margins are under constant pressure, it should be in every vendor’s best interest to adopt and implement an 'ease of doing business’ mentality.
I consider ease of doing business to be more of a mentality than just a set of rules. I’m a big fan of the Kaizen method of continuous incremental improvements.
When applied correctly, it eliminates overly inefficient work, thus making it easier to do business. Overall, I’m convinced that vendors will have tough times ahead if they do no focus on their ease of doing business.
