In a recent webinar about The Channel Partner Journey with B2B SaaS and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) from all over the word, we’ve asked participants to tell whether and how their channel partners (distributors, resellers, MSPs…) report to them on their sales activities and pipeline related to their products.
While we were not stunned that 37% still do this with excel, we were surprised that only 15% indicated that their channel partners do not report to them at all:
However, a closer look reveled the following:
Our webinar included two sets of questions the first one asking how many channel partners does each vendor has and about the challenges they face with them – questions that are quite easy to answer.
When we moved to the question about channel reporting, a delicate area of channel management, many of the participants refrained from addressing this challenging subject.
When we try to normalize the data, assuming that those that did not address the issue of reporting did so since their channel partners do not report to hem, we’ve came up with the following suggested REAL results:
56% of participants seem to be working without sales reports from their channel partners.
We believe that channel reporting is part of a healthy communication between B2B SaaS vendors and ISVs and their partners. It’s a part of a relationship in which both parties need to understand the needs of the other one. A software vendor that does not know what is going on in his global markets and how its partners are doing with their products, will not be able to support them, provide them insights and tips on how to deal with various sales challenges and leave his global success to mere luck.
