A Strategic Vendor Guide to MSP Channel Program Development
Are you looking to maximize your reach and drive revenue growth in today’s competitive market? Establishing a strong channel program is essential, especially when targeting the Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) markets. But where do you start?
Understanding the MSP and MSSP Market: By analyzing the MSP market size and Total Addressable Market (TAM) you can gauge revenue growth potential and develop effective partner strategies. This will ensure your partners receive the necessary support and guidance to maximize their sales potential.
According to Grand View Research, “The global managed services market size was valued at USD 267.3 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6% from 2023 to 2030”. These MSP growth forecasts, coupled with the strategic value that managed service providers deliver to their clients, make this route to market attractive to vendors building partner channels.
SMBs Are Searching for the Right Partner: For SMBs, finding the right partner is vital. Your channel program should focus on delivering a strong value proposition to distributors, partners, and their clients. This can be achieved by creating distinction and differentiation in the channel, ensuring the program is easy to administer and participate in, and prioritizing partner engagement and loyalty.
Recruiting and Enabling Ideal Partners: Recruiting the right partners is crucial to the success of your channel program. Identifying ideal partner profiles based on their business focus, maturity, execution capabilities, marketing and sales capabilities, and willingness to collaborate with you on the business journey will help you define partner participation levels, requirements, and benefits.
Solution Pricing, Quoting, and Sales Tools: Simplifying the quoting and pricing process for MSP and MSSP partners is crucial for accelerating sales. By providing purpose-built pricing calculators and solution configurators, you can support partners in tailoring solutions to meet client needs and increase the value of each sales opportunity.
Creating Impactful Marketing, Messaging, and Enablement: To increase partner engagement, you must develop impactful marketing, messaging, and enablement strategies. This includes guiding MSPs and MSSPs on how to effectively market products to end customers, identifying the most impactful messaging concepts, and optimizing the MSP’s marketing budget allocation for maximum return on investment.
Cybersecurity Sales Enablement: Given the increasing importance of cybersecurity, incorporating sales enablement specific to this domain is essential. Providing comprehensive training to MSP and MSSP partners on selling and deploying cybersecurity solutions bundled with your other services will equip partners with the knowledge and tools needed to effectively market and sell these offerings.
Sales Enabling Partners through Account Managers: Your Account Managers are critical in driving partner success. They should be equipped with the necessary sales strategies, forecasting techniques, and tools to effectively support MSP and MSSP partners. Account Managers can enhance collaboration, track performance, and drive growth by documenting partners’ sales teams, targeting partner accounts, and building comprehensive sales plans with partners.
Measuring and Managing Channel Program Performance: Continuous performance measurement and reporting are vital to ensure the success of your channel program. Tracking KPIs such as partner onboarding completion, certification completion, portal participation, incentive and market development fund performance, and program ROI allows you to assess program effectiveness, partner engagement, and overall performance against goals.
In the end, developing a successful channel program for MSPs and MSSPs requires a strategic and comprehensive approach. By understanding the market, aligning partner strategies, creating impactful marketing and enablement, and focusing on partner engagement and satisfaction, you can create a channel program that drives revenue growth, enhances partner relationships, and delivers value to end customers.
At Channel Mastered, we specialize in overcoming the unique challenges of building successful MSP channel programs and driving growth and revenue for our clients. Following these key considerations and strategies, you’ll be better prepared to develop or improve your MSP channel program.
