You Can Lead A Horse ...

The channel management service company this week snagged a patent for what it describes as its “pull-based lead distribution methodology.”

The premise is simple: in BlueRoads’ system, individual solution provider sales reps can self-select opportunities they think will work for them rather than being bombarded with those that the vendor believes they should pick up and focus on. Now. As in. Drop what you’re doing and react to this potentially wishy-wishy prospect. Because I said so. In addition, the BlueRoads methodology lets solution provider owners track the progress of what happens next, again, down to the individual sales person.

As someone who has opined, mostly negatively, about why most lead programs simply don’t work, I can say this functionality is welcomed.

The approach recognizes the very simple fact that the solution provider is in charge of running his or her own business and doesn’t need a vendor trying to micromanage their time or priorities from afar. At the same time, the system provides both sides of the vendor-channel partner continuum with valuable information about which leads are appropriate and why (and where) certain ones bottleneck in the process.

You can expect to hear BlueRoads tout this approach, plus tighter integration with Salesforce.com that it will support in the second quarter, as advantages of its service over other offerings in the channel management space. BlueRoads’ new CEO Shinya Akamine names Hitachi Data Systems, Juniper Networks, Nortel, Avaya and smaller players like Caymas Systems and Proofpoint among his company’s publicly announced vendor partners. And he's counting on solution providers to tell his company where to invest in new relationships.