10 Steps Dell Needs To Take To Avoid Channel Disaster

Dell has promised to present its formal channel program by year's end, but solution providers say they are unsettled. Here's what Dell needs to do:

1. Top management needs to take the lead role in building and enforcing channel strategy. Dell has a big enough challenge already in getting its sales force to rethink direct-only to make room for the channel. Without someone at the top laying down the law, few within the company have any incentive to play fair with the channel. The word has to come from the top down, not the bottom up.

2. Hire a top-level channel executive from outside the company to run the show. We're sorry, but grabbing former IBM execs that held a channel post some 10 years ago just don't cut it. The channel is a different beast now and bears little resemblance to what it looked like a decade ago. Dell needs an outsider who knows and works with today's channel. That person doesn't exist inside the company.

3. Listen to solution providers. Incorporate their insights into the channel plan and be willing to change. A channel program is dynamic. There's no way Dell's going to get it right out of the gate. Be willing to constantly revise the program based on feedback from your partners.

4. Compensate your sales people more for channel sales than for direct business. That's the only way Dell sales people will get the message. If Dell truly wants incremental business, it must encourage Dell's channel partners to go out and find it without fear that it will be taken direct after the solution provider's done the heavy lifting.

5. Put feet on the street. Dell has an uphill climb when it comes to convincing the channel that it's sincere in working with solution providers. Channel field sales reps trump fancy partner portals any day when it comes to building lasting business relationships. Some of your competitors have scaled back on their channel field sales people. Beat them at their own game and flood the market with Dell channel sales reps.

Next: Partner Summits, Deal Registration, and Profit-Making Are All Very Much In The Mix