This ITAC Marketing Roundtable was held on April 5, 2012 and hosted at the MaRS Centre, Toronto, Ontario.  The discussion was moderated by Bob Becker, Principal, SMA.    What’s a partner marketing relationship all about?

What We Learned

• For distributors, partners and vendors, it’s all about lead generation: all parties are focused on accelerating the sales process
• Social media tools are critical in leveraging lead generation efforts and for enabling business alignment
• Bringing marketing dollars and a time commitment to the table make for a harmonious relationship

What motivates partners/value added resellers to stay involved in distributor/vendor relationships?

• Vendor regular communication help us better understand how and where to get information
• Gain a strong understanding of vendors’ strategic direction and align with it
• Keep messaging simple

• Vendors look to partners as an entry point to a customer opportunity
• Vendors want to work more closely with partners whose goals are aligned with theirs
• Assess the value that social media promotion will bring to the vendor/partner relationship; enable more social media to align our businesses
• Vendors want to help! Simply asking a vendor to be introduced to the prospect can do wonders in developing a partnership
• As a distributor, it’s important to be sensitive to your partners’ marketing dollar

What are you looking for in a partner/distributor/vendor relationship?

• We’ll partner with those vendors invested in marketing to fill our sales funnel
• Vendors should have realistic expectations when it comes to marketing
• Quality versus quantity: credible leads are the key

• Partners needs to take their share of responsibility for the business plan
• Number of leads is irrelevant; quality is the true metric
• Embrace a combination of traditional marketing tactics (e.g., face-to-face events) with social media tactics
• Engage the sales force to support the business plan

How do you get leads to be followed up at the partner, vendor and distributor levels?

• There needs to be “skin in the game” to achieve success – not just marketing dollars but time commitment, too
• It takes as many as 5-7 touches to convert a qualified lead to revenue
• Highly defined marketing messages are vital
• With clear, aligned goals, nurturing becomes become easier and revenue will follow
• When a pipeline contains a high number of leads resulting in a low number of closes, something isn’t working 

 What is your opinion on how ROI tracking is viewed?

• The disconnect between marketing and sales make tracking ROI a challenge
• Better tracking to connect vendor/partner activities may ameliorate the relationship
• Quarter-end is not necessarily an effective time measurement – leads can come alive at any time

• Avoid weighing the “pig” – how many times/angles can you weigh a pig?
• Tying leads to a campaign is golden
• Performance measurement drives behavior

Panelists:

• Michael Gavarkovs, Managing Director, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS) Canada
• John J. Blair, President, Blair Technology Solutions Inc. and BTS Technology Resources
• Ray Phillips, VP, Latin America,  OpenText
• Michael Shulman, Manager, Canada Hardware and Technology Channel Sales – VAD, Oracle Canada
• Nick Foster, SVP Business Development, Softchoice

1. Lead generator, branding play – or both?
2. Sales lead tracking with online analytics

What We Learned

• Know where your customers and prospects are engaged in social media and connect with them there
• Practice not making cold calls – develop warm connections through social media
• Keep your message consistent and focused
• Start small – participate in or follow selective business-related associations/groups/blogs
• Content is critical: leverage customer success stories through social media tools

Social Media Tools – Poll of Attendees

• All think tank attendees maintain up-to-date online profiles
• 4 out of 10 use LinkedIn for prospecting
• 2 out of 10 are involved in online groups
• 5 out of 10 regularly read business blogs
• 2 out of 10 contribute to blogs
• 2 out of 10 follow Twitter for business purposes
• 1 out of 10 follows Facebook for business purposes

How do you set expectations with senior management about investing in social networking, its ROI and timeframe?

• Identify the right tool to measure ROI; traditional versus social media
• Social media is a ubiquitous tool that cannot be ignored; there’s a lot of “should be” and “must be”.  Define where you “need to be”.
• Consider social media tools as an overall communication process and channel
• Make sure online dialogue with your target market is a two-way communication
• Targeted key messages increase your organization’s thought leadership image
• Target your audience vertically
• Social media increases number of message/advertising views; makes tracking easier to convert into ROI
• Assess the impact of not using social media – what is the cost of doing nothing?
• Raise your presence with one single item/point.  Make messages relevant and demonstrate knowledge.
• Success stories generate traffic with potential of increased returns re: attendance or ROI?

What are the biggest downfalls of an investment in social networking?

• Differing employee and company perspectives could cause damage.  Make a distinction between the two
• Accurate messages are key; once it’s online, it’s there to stay
• Build it and they will come.  But then what?  Have a response plan
• Social media can expose weak areas in your organization – it’s a good way to identify and perfect best practices
• Be prepared for the good, the bad, and the ugly social media chatter.  Determine how it relates to your overall marketing plan and business objectives.

How do you get started with this initiative or what’s the next step?

• Start the conversation and keep it going – get rid of the “so-what”
• Investigate how to differentiate yourself from competitors; consider a case study or a white paper
• Online conversations should be about “them” and not about “you”
• Address/connect with issues or problems’ do not leave a crisis unsolved
• Identify online methods to shorten your sales cycle
• Build rapport and trust using LinkedIn to find commonality
• Use social media to announce successes with personalized messages

How do you obtain net new leads?  How do you target using social media?

• Participate in social media groups that fit your target market
• Consider social media a starter tool
• Be accurate and up to date – stick with it
• Establish your goal and your discussion points

What will you stop doing to increase your participation in social media?

• Enable adoption by educating the sales team with the mechanics on “how to reply”
• Stop conducting trade shows; ability to reach same audience using social media
• Stop print publications – convert content to online articling
• Print advertising and email blasts are not cost effective; consider stopping these activities for a three month period and assess the possible savings
• No cold calling; target your audience and find ways to reach them through social media

Attendees

• Robert Boulet, VP, Canadian Division, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions, Arrow Electronics Canada Ltd.
• Brian Church, Country Manager, Canada, LinkedIn
• Deborah Brown, Director, Communications, Lumen Dynamics Group Inc.
• Jim Theobalds, Senior Account Manager, Nova Marketing Group Inc.
• Mike Shulman, Manager, Canada Hardware and Technology Channel Sales – VAD, Oracle Corporation Canada
• Anne Marie Wright, Vice President, Marketing, PCAS Patient Care Automation Services Inc.
• Laura Lima Wilson, Field Marketing Manager – Communications, Retail & CI, SAS Canada
• Phillip Bidinoff, Partner, The PC Doc
• Milvi Ester, Independent

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gap_(clothing_retailer)

2 http://mashable.com/2010/10/11/gap-logo

3 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201671/Singer-Dave-Carroll-pens-YouTube-hit-United-Airlines-breaks-guitar–shares-plunge-10.html

4 http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/717968–united-loses-luggage-of-united-breaks-guitars-guy; http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/10/29/united-carroll-guitar-luggage-lost.html

This ITAC Marketing and Sales Executive Think Tank was held on December 8, 2011 and hosted at Oracle by Michael McCarthy, Account Manager, Oracle Advanced Customer Service.  

Bob Becker, Principal of SMA moderated the discussion.  

1. Using technology tools to evaluate ROI.
2. Aligning sales and marketing to get results.

What we learned

• Less is more. Use technology to capture quality information, not quantity
• Marketing and Sales continue to be silos; ROI will come with more collaboration from both
• Social media is still new and challenging.  More work needs to be done to explore its value and how to measure it 

What has your experience been with the requirement for ROI tracking in your career? 

• Front-end metrics need to be well-defined for proper ROI measurement
• Disconnect between Sales and Marketing creates problems; both have different perceptions about defining and measuring ROI
• Marketing needs to seek buy-in and best practices from Sales
• A close loop program is effective in ensuring all parties are accountable for ROI
• Various types of programs generate different ROI; certain elements are easier to measure, such as number of clicks, number of calls, number of appointments

What is the biggest challenge that Marketing people have with Sales people around using technology to track ROI?  

• Obtaining buy-in from Sales, then making it easy for Sales to use ROI technology
• Launching focused activites – 10 programs versus 100
• Getting Sales to assist in identifying market challenges
• Getting Marketing team actively involved in Sales field challenges
• Inviting Marketing to Sales for client perspective; find out what’s working
• Building Marketing/Sales one-to-one relationship.  Networking is crucial; it’s not just about a checkmark in a system

What is the biggest challenge Sales has with Marketing people around using technology to track ROI?  Does Sales really care or even believe the data from ROI tracking tools?

• Too many unqualified leads creates negativity in Sales and “get off my plate” attitude
• Technology now helps with end-to-end tracking
• Clients are more educated and the purchase process is more complex
• Multiple partners have their own CRM systems, which adds to the complexity of tracking
• Today’s ROI tools are sophisticated yet complex with many layers
• Leads need to provide over 14+ pieces of information for accurate tracking, but social media only requires an email address

ROI Tools – poll of attendees

• 1 out of 9 uses Salesforce.com
• 1 out of 9 uses Excel
• 1 out of 9 uses Salesforce.com with Eloqua
• 2 out of 9 use Salesforce.com with Excel
• 2 out of 9 use CRM
• 2 out of 9 use other tools like Siebel, Unica, Eloqua, SAS 

When it comes to ROI, what is your greatest challenge and how are you addressing it?

• Getting Sales to use ROI tool and helping them understand the value of ROI information
• Lead nurturing; use third party to nurture leads
• Ensuring data is valid – clean and current
• Determining what stage of Marketing/Sales process to start tracking ROI and how to progressively obtain more prospect information
• More activities = less substance.  It’s better to micro-manage just one or two business partner programs
• Manage ROI when dealing with multiple business partners

How do you track ROI related to social media?

• Add query string to track where the information was accessed
• Push information via the social media environment
• Link ROI directly to and from events
• Immediate response to information assists with obtaining immediate ROI results
• Social media tracking can be expensive; slowly building, currently at metric stage 

Attendees:

• Paul McDevitt, Director Marketing Operations, Cisco Systems Canada Co.
• Colleen Raymond, Manager, Web and Database Marketing, ESRI Canada
• Nancy Clark, Demand Programs, Canada IMT, IBM Canada Ltd.
• Robert Eckersley, Regional Manager, Information Builders Canada
• Chub Letenyei, Senior Field Marketing Specialist, Resources Americas, OpenText
• Deborah Brown, Director of Communications, Lumen Dynamics
• Michael McCarthy, Account Manager, Oracle Advanced Customer Service, Oracle
• Clare Atkinson, Sales, SAS Canada Inc.
• Anu Vijh, Channel Marketing Manager, Canada, Symantec
• Jennifer Salvador, Field Partner Marketing Manager, Canada, VMware