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Having had a successful time in a number of companies it has become clear to me that an alliance or partner strategy fails for a number of simple reasons:
Unrealistic expectations - Before investing in a strategy how does management calculate the return they expect? Quite often it is a guess based on hope and gut feel. Whilst asking the question during interview "So I understand this, how are you going to manage this..." has led to an awkward silence as they realise it won't work as they hoped.
Internal Conflict - As if competing with your competitors is not enough, a strategy that does not take into account how your market operates today will pitch your direct and indirect salesforce against each other. Getting the sales plans right are crucial. Getting it right doesn't mean pay more commission, it's creating a plan that ensures everyone can be successful.
Sharpening the sword - Some companies begin creating a plan but they are receiving conflicting advice on what they need to include. The fear of launching a plan which may fail leads to a constant refining of the plan by a larger and larger group until procrastination kills the plan.
As an independent with the experience of launching alliance strategies these issues can be addressed before launch. Understanding your offering, how you sell today and the market you operate in will provide you with an expected return on investment. Not working for the company the advice and calculations on the sales plans will provide you value for money without conflict. Where potential conflict can exist this can be addressed before launch to ensure a great execution of the strategy, and having done this a number of times before we can ensure the sword is sharp enough and fit for purpose.
To summarise, you need your Finance Director to believe his money is being spent wisely, your Service Director needs to understand the changes he needs to make and your Direct Sales Director needs to believe the strategy will not cannibalise his pipeline. The Managing Director needs to understand all that is going to happen so there are no surprises for the investors.
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