fonetics Research Source: Infonetics Research Source: CMO Council Calendar Year do you characterize your relationship with endor partners/carriers/manufacturers? How do you characterize your relationship with key vendor partners/carriers/manufacturers? weak Small Business (20 to 99) 50% Medium Business (100 to 499) 50% CMO Council 13% 2% 5% 30% Very Small Business (2 to 19) ewhat weak OK Very weak Good Somewhat weak 13% Exceptional 2% OK Good 5% 30% Exceptional Somewhat effective Source: CMO 50% Council Very effective Somewhat effective Source: CMO Council Very effective What is your most valued source of leads? What is your most valued source of leads? Customer referrals Very weak 54% OK Customer referrals Exceptional Somewhat weak Good E-mail or direct 14% Marketing E-mail or direct 14% Source: CMO Council Marketing Internet 8% Internet 8% How Events do you rate the overall product support 7% you receive from vendors? Events 7% Leads from vendors 7% Leads 1% from vendors 7% Third-party lead 17% generation 3% companies Third-party 14% lead generation 3% companies Other 8% Other 8% 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 032% 10 20 30 40 Source: CMO 36% Council Source: CMO Council do 20you rate 30 the overall 40product 50 support 60 That’s not to suggest that partner-provider relations What Somewhat lead-generating surprising tactics was the do role, you or plan lack to of undertake role, ceive Percent from of vendors? Respondents How do you rate the overall product support are without their dysfunctions, even among respondents the for Internet business played acquisition in generating What 2008? lead-generating leads. Despite tactics more do you plan to u you receive from vendors? who are satisfied, as the survey uncovers plenty of room than a decade of hype regarding for business the efficiency acquisition of selling in 2008? Searc for 1% improvements, including a few key areas directly Direct im-marketinpacting sales efficiency. And while it might be easy to through and the Web and the loud whip of the long tail, only 14% Us 17% 1% e-mail dismiss partners’ complaints during these tough economic ternet Pooras a lead source. campaigns Very Poor OK 8 percent of respondents Direct marketing placed highest and Very value Goodon the In- 14% 17% Sales brochures e-mail campaigns Good 13% Yello and collateral 14% Sales brochures times as the usual “moaning and groaning”– as often is Incidentally, a separate survey of value added resellers Source: commissioned CMO Council by Level Tradeshows and collateral 10% the case with most one-sided surveys such as this – the Tradeshows 3 Communications and conducted Seminars 8% 10% results do provide solid insight into what vendors can do by CMP found that 35 percent of value-added 8% Save Enterprises Money to grease the wheels and boost sales within the increasingly important indirect channels. Seminars Print advertising 7% 32% Public relations and Print advertising 7% 36% 32% How valued and actionable are Arguably most alarming of all the findings, the number and quality 36% from vendors? 7% 7% leads C $128,081 article placement Public relations and of solid business leads that channel partners are getting from vendors is anemic at best, suggest 7% Online advertising article placement 7% Telemarketing Online advertising 6% the findings. 2% Telemarketing 6% A mere 6.6 percent of $100,000 indirect distributors, Search for engine example, consider vendors to be their most valued source Search 17% engine marketing 13% marketing 6% f-Managed 6% User group gatherings 5% -Tasked Poor OK of leads. That Very situates Good vendors at the bottom of the list of User group gatherings 5% Very Poor OK r Good lead sources, just above third-party lead Very generation Yellow Good companies, Poor which 3 percent viewed Good as their key source. Blogs andYellow page advertising 4% page advertising 4% 4% social networking CMO Council And resellers not only claim to get very few leads Blogs and 4% social networking from Source: CMO vendors, Council but they don’t think very highly Online of directories 3% 27% 3% the ones that are coming in. Less than one in five Online directories Webcasts 41% 3% channel $28,650 partners consider the leads received from Webcasts 3% valued and actionable are leads Content syndication 1% suppliers to $25,000 be “highly actionable” or “somewhat vendors? How valued and actionable are leads Content syndication 1% actionable,” say CMO’s findings. More than four in 2% 3 $14,204 Other from vendors? $900 $1,350 10, meanwhile, view vendors’ leads as “not at all” or Other 2% 0 3 6 9 12 15 only 2% “a little bit actionable,” with 13 percent falling 0 3 6 9 12 under the former. 2% Not at all Source: CMO Council Somewhat Extremely irewall 17% VPN “This 13% Managed data indicates that IPvendors may need to better LAN Telephony A little bit Highly Source: CMO Council qualify leads Service before 17% passing them 13% through to a partner,” What are you doing to overcome channel conflict? Tel the CMO study concludes. Source: CMO Council What are you doing to overcome channel con Excepti D P 38 ChannelVision 27% | July - August 2008 41% 27% Confronting the vendor about it Confronting the vendor about it 18% 39%