WHAT DOES A CHANNEL SALES MANAGER DO?
The Channel Sales Manager designs and implements regional business plans, executes key actions, and meets sales targets in designated territories. This role involves developing the sales channel network through the selection and onboarding of new partners and managing partnerships to foster a robust sales opportunity pipeline. In addition to initiating customer and partner training, the manager supports events and provides regular sales forecasts, while acting as a consultant on solutions like printers and materials for specific applications.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Channel Sales Manager
1. Channel Sales Manager Responsibilities
- Partnership Development: Establish and maintain a revenue-generating partnership channel as an extension of the sales function.
- Commercial Relationship Management: Develop new commercial relationships and contractual partner agreements.
- Partner Relationship Growth: Initiate, develop, and grow relationships with partners, and support the partner channel from a sales perspective.
- Channel Foundation Building: Build strong foundations within this channel that will help support the ongoing expansion.
- Strategic Planning: Develop specific strategic plans at the individual partner level.
- Partner Communication: Communicate to the business what is required to engage, enable, and equip key partners to be as successful as possible, as fast as possible.
- Cross-functional Coordination: Introduce relevant help from Marketing, Customer Success, Product, and Development.
- Event Management and Training: Manage and host joint prospecting events, and educate and coach partners on sales approach and USPs.
- Partner Support Provision: Ensure all partners have the necessary collateral and support documentation to be able to introduce Miappi successfully.
- Partner Engagement Best Practices: Establish a best practice approach for partner engagement and onboarding that is both scalable and repeatable.
- Partner Ecosystem Analysis: Conduct an ongoing analysis within the partner ecosystem.
- Market Strategy Communication: Communicate a deep understanding of key business issues that will impact the partner's Go-to-Market strategy.
2. Channel Sales Manager Job Summary
- Platform Development: Develop the platforms and infrastructure necessary to do real-time analysis of the online presence of Devices and Services on partners’ online stores.
- Insight Generation: Develop the necessary insights that inform sales and marketing managers in Devices and Services to grow their online business with partners.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to set business targets for online channels and support strategies on how to achieve them.
- Operational Process Development: Develop best practices and operational processes for channel management online sales.
- Business Development: Responsible for business development with target regional clients, including banking channels.
- Client Maintenance and Support: Responsible for client maintenance and support on product launches to achieve sales targets.
- Sales Support: Support on new product launches and sales, including regular client visits, relationship management, service and product customization.
- Business Opportunity Identification: Collect and understand client's needs, proactively seeking business development opportunities.
- Client Relationship Maintenance: Maintain long-term positive cooperation with the Client.
- Contract and Credit Liaison: Liaise with Credit Control to ensure relevant credit terms are in place along with contracts set up highlighting discount levels, payment terms, and warranty conditions
3. Channel Sales Manager Accountabilities
- Channel Mapping: Identify and map potential new sales channels in the assigned area.
- Channel Development: Develop, segment, support, and stimulate the different channels.
- Sales Training: Train internal and external sales organizations in selling/specifying the product.
- Performance Evaluation: Evaluate results, adjust priorities accordingly, and take action to drive change and deliver results.
- Product Training Management: Organize product training and manage product demonstrations to ensure efficient usage of existing sales tools and develop new tools.
- Marketing Support: Provide marketing and pre-sales support to channel partners to push sales.
- Market Reporting: Prepare reports on market/competition and trends in his/her field of responsibilities.
- Target Negotiation: Negotiate and agree on annual targets for the area with the Head of Channel Sales.
- Implementation of Instructions: Implement instruction from the Head of Channel Sales on time in respect of an action request.
- Objective Agreement: Agree with the Head of Channel Sales, on objectives and strategies for the area and implement.
- Continued Education: Attend product training seminars and regional and national exhibitions.
- CRM Management: Keep the CRM system up to date with all relevant information.
4. Channel Sales Manager Functions
- Channel Partner Strategy Development: Develop, implement, and execute a clear and concise strategy plan focused on key account partners, managed service providers, and VARs.
- Sales Activity Control: Control sales and regional activities, taking measures in case of target/actual deviations.
- Indirect Sales Channel Management: Analyze and manage the sales region's indirect sales channels.
- Sales Planning and Marketing Coordination: Plan sales including budget, resource, and success control; involve the marketing team in implementing sales strategies; manage channel marketing activities.
- Sales Strategy Execution: Develop and execute a sales strategy to deliver quarterly and annual sales targets.
- Partner Business Plan Formulation: Formulate and execute strategic and tactical partner business plans, reviewed monthly/quarterly.
- Channel Partner Recruitment: Conduct business development and recruitment of new channel partners according to IGEL’s sales strategy.
- Sales Activity ROI Control: Take responsibility for controlling sales activities, and measuring ROI.
- Sales Forecast Analysis: Summarize and analyze required forecasts and reports.
- Regional Sales Monitoring: Monitor key sales numbers in the region
- Lead and Channel Sales Success Control: Control the success of lead management, channel sales, and marketing activities.
5. Channel Sales Manager Job Description
- Sales Target Management: Be responsible for owning and exceeding quarterly sales targets to drive revenue growth.
- Strategy Development: Build out OEM, reseller, channel, and partner strategies with the extended team.
- Forecasting Support: Engage in and embrace the processes to support accurate and timely sales forecasting.
- Go-to-Market Execution: Help execute a strong go-to-market strategy that spans sales, customer success, and marketing.
- Pipeline Development: Build a pipeline with key Channel Partners.
- Team Collaboration: Collaborate with and help inspire a world-class Sales team.
- Product Messaging Optimization: Work directly with the leadership team to optimize product messaging and Channel-driven sales cycles.
- Event Participation: Participate on behalf of the company in exhibitions or conferences.
- Opportunity Advancement: Work with the sales team to advance opportunities to closure, including Presales and support.
- CRM Management: Enter forecasting and account/opportunity details in SalesForce.
- Opportunity Reporting: Provides weekly updates including revenue, status and decision-makers, and next steps in closing opportunities.
6. Channel Sales Manager Overview
- Collaboration: Collaborate with the Services and Support organizations.
- Cross-functional Work: Work cross-functionally with the Commercial and Marketing teams and will leverage partnerships.
- Co-marketing Success: Ensure consistent co-marketing and operational success, including everything from engagement, enablement, account management, and customer service.
- Executive Communication: Communicate updates to the Senior Leadership Team, as well as other key and executive-level stakeholders within the organization.
- Channel Development: Develop and nurture channel partners across EMEA.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Engage executives and other key stakeholders to develop new account opportunities.
- Solution Creation: Create a business solution consisting of services and software that uniquely addresses the customer’s needs.
- Relationship Cultivation: Cultivate relationships with management of new and prospective accounts building credibility and trust.
- Strategy Development: Work closely with various KPCS internal departments to develop a marketplace strategy.
- Partner Training: Conduct training activities to channel partners to capitalize on business opportunities.
- Information Management: Self-disciplined in using and maintaining accurate information in SFDC and other business application tools available in KPCS.
- Forecast Maintenance: Maintain accurate monthly forecast.
7. Channel Sales Manager Details and Accountabilities
- Refines the Target List: Refines the target list of CPA construction firms to recruit.
- Manages Partner Relationships: Manages relationships programmatically with existing CPA partners.
- Establishes Key Relationships: Establishes productive, professional relationships with key personnel within the CPA’s.
- Collaborates with Teams: Collaborates between the partner community and Deltek teams.
- Ensures Partner Preparedness: Ensures partners have the necessary information, guidance, and skills.
- Provides Consulting Services: Provides consulting services and ensures customers have a successful experience with the partner and Deltek.
- Develops Business Plans with Partners: Works with top partners to develop business plans that drive new sales opportunities and new service delivery opportunities for the partners.
- Engages with Partners and Clients: Engages with partners in group sessions, one-on-one, via phone, and also with their customers and prospects.
- Aligns Partner Efforts with Company Goals: Works with Deltek’s leadership team to ensure partner efforts are in sync with company goals and sales plays.
- Trains Partners on Solutions: Ensures partners are trained on the solutions that they provide services to the community.
- Leverages Sales and Marketing Teams: Leverages marketing, SDRs, and direct sales teams.
8. Channel Sales Manager Tasks
- Strategy Formulation: Formulate and execute on, go-to-market indirect channel strategies.
- Revenue Achievement: Deliver booking and revenue targets via partners for ANZ territory.
- Partner Development: Identify, qualify, recruit, and develop new partners and channels.
- Market Analysis: Understand current market needs and future trends, to be able to design, plan and build indirect channels.
- Relationship Management: Establish executive-level relationships with business partners and ensure their commitment to executing a joint business plan.
- Negotiation Leadership: Lead commercial negotiations with the business partners to maximize NICE’s revenue and market share.
- Campaign Coordination: Coordinate activities around sales territory campaigns with other members of the organization and extended business partner team.
- Strategic Reporting: Present forecasts, territory plans, opportunity plans, and overall partner strategies upward to NICE management and executive management.
- Quota Management: Carry a multi-million dollar quota comprised of all the CX solutions that NICE offers.
9. Channel Sales Manager Roles
- Develop Sales Strategy: Develop a sales channel strategy capable of meeting commercial targets
- Monitor Channel Performance: Monitor channel performance and plan vital actions to ensure performance expectations are met
- Provide Product Updates: Ensure that partners are regularly provided with well-informed product updates and adhere to best practices and agreed SOPs
- Manage Distributor Supply: Work with commercial operations and supply chain to ensure distributor supply/inventory is effectively managed
- Arrange Training: Arrange product and sales training for channel partners in the territory
- Collaborate with Teams: Work together with the Technical Support, Product Management, and Global Marketing teams
- Report Sales Performance: Provide sales performance information to the Director of Distribution Sales for the Territory and provide timely reports
- Manage Partner Concerns: Work with the Customer Support team to prioritize and manage concerns reported by Channel Partners on time
- Ensure Best Practices: Ensure adherence to best practices for tracking, recording, and documenting relevant commercial intelligence from all channel partner interactions
10. Channel Sales Manager Additional Details
- Channel Sales Management: Manage and develop Channel Sales and Distribution team, including recruiting, motivating, training, and coaching established team and new resellers.
- Process Facilitation: Facilitate new processes, tools, communications, training, and methodologies.
- Sales Program Oversight: Ensure the sales program’s success across teams and departments throughout the company.
- Partner Ecosystem Development: Develop the partner and alliance ecosystem to accelerate revenue and close sales with their end-user customers, through individual and team targets.
- Interdepartmental Coordination: Work with other department peers to facilitate relationships among various departments and locations to achieve the sales goals and objectives.
- Resource Planning and Management: Oversee resource planning, reporting, territories, incentives, and communications for the assigned team.
- Sales Channel Leadership: Responsible for the sales quota, growth, and direction of the sales channel partners.
- Financial Management: Own both top-line sales as well as all controllable expenses within the channels.
- Distribution Expansion: Expand distribution partners, recruit new channel partners, as well as drive further growth from existing channel partners.
- Marketing Program Development: Develop and execute marketing programs with channel partners.
- Channel Partner Alignment: Manage channel partner alignment including term sheet and business plans.
- Corporate Account Growth: Grow new corporate account business through larger companies and enterprise-focused partners.
- Budget Management: Responsible for budget performance, both top-line and bottom-line.
11. Channel Sales Manager Essential Functions
- Customer Acquisition Collaboration: Work with CPM, telesales, and partners to drive new customer acquisition, incremental customer revenue, and consumption.
- Territory Planning Strategy Development: Develop a territory planning strategy to ensure that all customers are engaged at the appropriate level with specialized resources and partners.
- Funding Program Utilization: Effectively leverage funding programs to accelerate and close deals that result in new customer adds and/or renewals.
- Upsell and Cross-sell Maximization: Maximize up-sell and cross-sell deals by leveraging specialized resources and engaging partners.
- Customer-Aligned Solutions Provision: Provide the right solution that aligns with the customer’s business objectives and IT initiatives.
- Partner Impact Ownership: Own the partner impact in an assigned territory.
- Partner Collaboration Scaling: Scale through Partners by sharing opportunities to deliver innovative solutions driving new business in the market.
- Solution and Partner Knowledge Enhancement: Invest time in learning about key solutions and partners that can solve the key business needs of customers.
- Industry Expertise Development: Understand industry knowledge and be an industry expert.
- Digital Transformation Solutions Creation: Combine with Microsoft’s digital transformation offerings and partner solutions, create scalable industry solutions to drive customers' digital transformation successfully.
12. Channel Sales Manager Role Purpose
- Partner Landscape Analysis: Assess and analyze the current partner/channel landscape considering strategic growth plans.
- Partnership Strategy Development: Build the strategy for how partners can contribute to the growth of solutions and services globally.
- Strategy Execution Leadership: Drive the execution of the strategy through the global sales team.
- Partner Capacity Building: Help partners build sales and delivery capacity.
- Strategic Partner Management: Manage relationships with strategic partners across the globe.
- Indirect Sales Model Building: Build the indirect sales model for the company, including recruiting, developing, and supporting partners/distributors in the market.
- Strategic Partnerships Identification: Identify new strategic partnership opportunities and scale-up opportunities.
- Partner Performance Tracking: Track, measure, and report partner effectiveness against targets.
- Partnership Profitability Strategy: Understand partners’ businesses and develop strategies to increase profitability through partnerships.
- Marketing Collaboration: Work closely with the marketing department to ensure the execution of programs and events to drive channel leads, pipeline, and deal progression.
13. Channel Sales Manager General Responsibilities
- Regional Business Planning: Define regional business plan, execute vital few actions, and achieve defined sales objectives for the defined territory.
- Enterprise Sales Planning: Develop and execute an enterprise sales plan as part of the regional business plan.
- Sales Channel Development: Develop the sales channel network by supporting new partner selection and onboarding.
- Partner Business Management: Manage and execute the partner business plans by driving the agreed-upon actions and developing the sales opportunity pipeline.
- Sales Partner Relationship Management: Develop close working relationships with the Tier 1 sales partners.
- Customer Engagement: Conduct customer meetings by customer visits to the Application Center or at the customer or partner location.
- Consultative Sales: Act as a consultant to potential customers and partners about solutions (printers, materials) and best fit for defined applications.
- Partner Training: Initiate and conduct training and education for the sales partners.
- Event Support: Support events (training, tradeshow, seminars) held by INTAMSYS or sales partners.
- Sales Pipeline Management: Manage and review the sales opportunity pipeline and provide monthly and quarterly forecasts.
14. Channel Sales Manager Key Accountabilities
- Distribution Management: Direct and expand local distribution channels through the establishment of a strong and committed dealer network.
- Strategic Planning: Jointly develop plans with channel partners to achieve KPCS's desired revenue growth in key markets.
- Partner Performance Improvement: Assess and improve the performance of these partners and develop their sales and technical capabilities enabling them to create successful sales pipelines.
- Product Communication: Ensuring that product enhancements are well-communicated.
- Resource Provision: Providing sales tools and other marketing resources to maximize channel revenue success.
- Forecasting Improvement: Improving the accuracy of their forecasting opportunities and assisting them in implementing a systematic lead generation process.
- Market Feedback: Provide feedback to KPCS Management on market developments and opportunities.
- Partner Collaboration: Assure mutual cooperation between channel partners and the KPCS direct sales team to maximize revenue potential for the region.
- Channel Compliance: Refine and enforce the channel agreements as directed by the KPCS NA Sales Director and KPCS management.
- Marketing Support: Work with KPCS Marketing and ensure channel partners have updated materials to support their efforts in finding KPCS opportunities.
- Sales Reporting: Ensure channel partners are providing monthly sales funnel updates which are properly managed in the Salesforce.com database (SFDC).
- Progress Reporting: Attend monthly meetings and present progress on channel efforts.
15. Channel Sales Manager Roles and Details
- Sales Strategy Development: Define sales and coordinated marketing plan to deploy resources to exceed teams’ goals and targets.
- Channel Team Empowerment: Implement strategies to empower the Channel Team to develop effective solutions to customer challenges.
- Performance Management: Drive performance of Channel Team against target through a culture of empowerment, coaching, cadence, and continuous improvement. Be responsible for building sales and order forecasts by channel and APRC and plan activities to achieve the forecast.
- Relationship Management: Manage complex customer relationships through others.
- Regional Sales Influence: Develop Pan EMEA approaches and influence sales culture in the region through progressive ideas and leveraging continuous improvement.
- Partner Strategy and Development: Define the strategy, recruitment, retention, and development of Tier 1 and Tier 2 partners.
- Partner Relationship Management: Drive deep and complex relationships within the partner base.
- Market Strategy Execution: Possess a sound understanding of target vertical markets and deploy effective strategies to optimize success in growing market share.
- Leadership and Collaboration: Lead by example to foster a can-do/will-do mindset in collaborating with teams to help others achieve success and inspire others to focus on customer satisfaction.