A lot of people are used to the "bell curve" as the standard for measuring sales performance. However, are you using this standard for measuring the success of your channels? If yes, you may not be setting yourself up for success.

It is vital to remember that there are some key differences between channel partners and sales staff.

They are:

• Channel partners can choose to focus their energy elsewhere, and you can't control it.
• Channel partners can compete with one another for the same business, hurting your margins.
• Channel partners' short term actions may run counter to your long term goals.

So what can you do to improve channel performance? The important thing is to give everyone of your channels the chance to be a winner. Provide the tools and programs to give everyone a path to the top.

Best Practices

Identify best practices for your channel. Base them on your experience of what an "ideal" channel partner looks like. If you have a multi-tier channel programs, develop a separate set of best practices for each tier.

Measures

Create a set of measures that reinforces the best practices you know will bring success to the channel. These measures should be "leading" measures that influence the ability to close future sales. For instance, adding additional demand generation capability, technical certifications, or adding complementary product lines. Give your channels some targets to aim for, so that over time they adopt your best practices.

It's easy to go overboard with best practice measures. The key is to keep it very simple. The critical attributes of best practices measures:
They are specific
They can be counted
They provide guidance on what “excellent” ought to be

Incentives

Base your incentive program on improving performance relative to the best practices. If you use co-op dollars, set aside a meaningful percentage to making measurable progress towards best practices. Over several quarters, these incentives can improve performance across several areas.

Space

Too many channel partners in one market can cause frustration. It can also suck up inventory or field support resources, as several partners pursue the same business. Minimize channel conflict so your channel is focused on the competition, not each other.

With good planning and execution, each of your channel partners can be a star, and you can blanket your markets with motivated, capable teams. Lead your channel partners to success and you'll move from bell curve to profit spike.