The Partner Channel Magazine Summer 2016

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ON THE HOMEFRONT THINK Stars... story by JENNY DAVIS Let’s start this article out with a general understanding: I like Starbucks. A lot. It’s some kind of blend of over-roasted coffee and the music and the shade of green and those little vanilla bean scones. When Starbucks launched its gold card star program (likely not the official name), I downloaded the app and delighted in watching those little stars bounce around the virtual cup each time I made a purchase. (If you’re not familiar with the program, there were particular milestones that rewarded you with free and discounted drinks. Once you reached 30 stars, you were a gold card member for the next year, which had its own set of benefits. It was a sensory person’s dream, watching those stars collect and then trading them in for a prize. Yes, I’m aware that I was paying for the prize. You pay for it at Chuck E. Cheese as well. Now…back to the point.) Some sort of hubbub started to brew. Apparently people with too much time on their hands figured out how to cheat the system a bit, racking up stars on cheap(er) beverages and then cashing in their stars for more expensive drinks. Starbucks responded by revamping the program. There were emails and a letter and in-app notifications and memos and store signage. The stars went away and were replaced by points which become stars at some point and then become free drinks at some other point…and I honestly have no idea when that point is. Does this type of program sound familiar to you? A program that starts out easy and then grows in complexity over the years and then moves to another website and then gets a new name and then…and then…and then… We don’t have a whole lot of control over these types of programs in life, and hopefully you don’t lose too many hours of your day (or night) in reading through the fine print to make sure you’re not missing anything. We do, however, have control over the types of programs we create within our own teams, departments, and organizations at large. For example: When you explain a program to a customer or co-worker, do their eyes gloss over or do they nod in agreement? In the Skype world, is there stone-cold silence or is the person on the other end making some sort of acknowledgement? If you are met with glossy eyes or silence, take that as a cue that change may be in order. Now, don’t throw up your hands in disgust, figuring that the whole thing is garbage and you have to start over. It may be that a tweak to the wording or delivery can reduce the friction. While you have the glossy, silent one present, use them as your test case. (Politely) note that you feel as if you lost them and ask if they can articulate which part was difficult to understand. (This is where you stay smiling and friendly, without acting defensive. Some people are better at this than others, so pull a colleague in if you tend to struggle in this type of situation.) Now it’s time to turn those vague points back into stars. It might take a day, it might take a year, but you, your team, and your customers will be better off from your effort. 12 SUMMER 2016 | THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM
GREENSHADES LET US HANDLE THAT ACA Workflow Cost-Effective1099 Simple 1095-C BenefitseVerify New-hireEnrollmentOff Time Medicare Payroll Employee SocialPortal TaxReturnsSecurity IRSHuman Resources Compliance Wage Detail Easy 941 SUTA W-2 E-File EEOC Expense Reporting Time Sheets Local Taxes Self-Service Payments 401(k) Incorporate our solutions into your business to streamline your HR and Payroll processes. sales@greenshades.com (888) 255-3815 www.greenshades.com
Page 1: SUMMER 2016 | WWW.THEPARTNERCHANNEL
Page 5: THE PARTNER CHANNEL ® MAGAZINE SUM
Page 8 and 9: contributors dana citron adrianne m
Page 10 and 11: I want to be a genius! Registration
Page 14 and 15: LEADERSHIP Comes WHEN IT ALL Togeth
Page 16 and 17: SALES IF CARS WORKED LIKE ERP Syste
Page 18 and 19: SCENARIO 1 After plunking down a su
Page 20 and 21: MARKETING Building Your Machine Mar
Page 22 and 23: If those are all different systems,
Page 24 and 25: TPC INTERVIEW Ehrenberg MIKE TECHNI
Page 26 and 27: FEATURE Celebrating our First Gradu
Page 28: I F C O M M U N I T Y A R B E L E N
Page 31 and 32: THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM | SUMMER 2016
Page 33 and 34: DETAILS, KEEP IT THE WORK DONE coul
Page 35 and 36: Visibility improves when you can re
Page 37 and 38: Win more CRM deals with The Portal
Page 39 and 40: Develop creative content (think eBo
Page 41 and 42: Why Change 18 WINTER 2016 | THEPART
Page 43 and 44: HEADQUARTERS Marietta, Georgia PHON
Page 45 and 46: THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM | SPRING 2016
Page 48 and 49: INTERVIEWEE Tim Harris WEBSITE www.
Page 50 and 51: PHOTO CAPTION contest The Partner C
Page 52 and 53: MEMBERS ONLY CORNER Member Profile
Page 54 and 55: ADVERTISER INDEX Altec. . . . . . .
Page 56 and 57: Industry INDUSTRY Apparel/Footwear
Page 58 and 59: Government Contracting Insurance IN
Page 60 and 61: INDUSTRY Publishing Eclipse Computi
Page 62 and 63:
HORIZONTAL Corporate Renaissance Gr
Page 64 and 65:
HORIZONTAL Blue Horseshoe http://ww
Page 66 and 67:
HORIZONTAL Shining Brow Software ht
Page 68 and 69:
HORIZONTAL Esker Inc http://www.esk
Page 70 and 71:
HORIZONTAL Reconciliation Adra http
Page 72 and 73:
HORIZONTAL JOVACO Solutions Inc. ht
Page 74 and 75:
HR & Payroll Implementation & Consu
Page 76:
When it comes to process manufactur
show all

The Partner Channel Magazine Summer 2016

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?