Cool Hand Channel

That immortal line uttered by Paul Newman in the movie "Cool Hand Luke" pretty much sums up the state of affairs that exists today when it comes to channel marketing.

When you stop to ponder that thought, it quickly becomes apparent that this is nothing less than tragic. After all, some channel marketing executives somewhere spent the better part of six months coming up with a program that they were sure would be a compelling offer to VARs.

But for any number of reasons, none of the company's partners actually took advantage of the program. And the channel marketing executives are left wondering whether it was the channel program that nobody was interested in or whether anybody actually knew about the program in the first place.

The great shame of the channel is that there is more money associated with various programs left on the table than anybody wants to admit. For solution providers, tracking all the programs that they are eligible to participate in is often more trouble than it's worth. In many instances, it's little better than people trying to keep track of their frequent flier miles across multiple airlines and credit cards"despite everyone's best intentions, very few take full advantage of the rewards for which they are eligible.

Arguably, the financial executives at the vendors like it that way because it allows them to appear generous and supportive of their reseller partners without having to actually back it up. But channel executives are frequently left looking inept because very few people take advantage of the program that they launched like a flare in the middle of the Atlantic shortly after midnight.

Of course, when that boatload of VARs fails to materialize on the horizon the next morning, most vendors just decide to shoot off more flares, thereby creating a pyrotechnic wonder that lights up the sky, but illuminates nothing.

And so it will go, round and round, until people realize that few well-communicated programs are worth their weight in gold while a thousand programs only serve to weigh everybody down.

Are you listening? Do you agree? I can be reached at (516) 562-7477 or via e-mail at [email protected].