Don't Go The Way Of The Dodo

Geoff Moore "Dealing With Darwin."

I chatted with him last week and asked him to translate some of his big-company theory into channel-related wisdom, which he actually can do because of his ties into the high-tech industry. (I found it pretty cool that he knew Cisco's former worldwide channel chief Paul Mountford, who architected the company's sweeping program overhaul in the past couple of years.)

A few pearls from Moore for VARs and resellers:

- Don't expect a privileged relationship with your vendors, except on an opportunistic basis when your unique interests collide (and, BTW, that's the way it's supposed to work);

- It's the job of vendors to design out your unique product integration services, so you need to evolve those services on an annual basis;

- It's your job to evaluate your vendor relationships about one a year and dump those that aren't working for you;

- Don't expect niche strategies to scale infinitely;

- Every year, consider dumping about 20 percent of your existing business and replacing it with something that needs just enough market evangelization effort that it will keep others from wanting to displace you.