Principles of Channel Recruitment

It is a well known fact that companies spend a lot of money and time just trying to get information from their competitors. However, few spend as much time and money in researching their channel partners' data. That is to say that most would rather screw over the competition rather than help strengthen bonds with allies that bring in the revenue. Knowing enough about one's partner network is crucial, especially during the process of channel recruitment where this knowledge will come into play. How can a company determine which partners would be most valuable? Here are the guiding principles in the recruitment process.

Capability

One must asses the partner's current situation. How big or small is this company's sales force and how good are they as seen from their track record? Also, what kind of marketing strategies does this company do in order to increase sales? Such questions will require a lot of research but will provide very important criteria.

Coverage

The company will of course need to know the geographic area where the potential reseller is located. Apart from this, the company must also know the vertical and horizontal market rank that the potential reseller works well in. What kind of market do these people target in their marketing campaigns and what effect will they have on the product or service of the parent company?

Potential

How much can the company handle and how much further can it grow? In order to answer this question, one may have to consider the physical infrastructure, the staff or human resources, the number of clients, or even the amount of supply the company can handle. It all depends on what kind of partner one is looking at. This is a very important question for channel recruitment since the growth capacity of the company will determine just how much resource they can spare for the parent company, which will translate to how much revenue they are likely to produce.

Credit Worthiness

The credit score of the potential candidate is another important element to look into when thinking about establishing a partnership that will involve a lot of transactions. Just as in any transaction, one's credit must be good so that trust between the two parties can exist. If the answer is that they are not credit-worthy, then a partnership between them might create a bad risk situation for the parent company.

Dedication

This factor is a much more unstable data since it is in flux. And the further good relationship will create more commitment. However, at the start, one can determine how committed a company will be to the selling of a vendor's products. Ask just how much can that company invest or is willing to invest for the relationship. One can see this clearly when the sales of the company are high or are low.

These are just some of the most overt major principles that must be considered as the criteria for selecting the best channel partner. Taking the time and resources to determine the answers to these questions is an important part of good channel recruitment.