You have a partner network, Channel Managers, a programme, perhaps even a PRM. And yet indirect revenue stays below what it should be, or becomes impossible to forecast. The problem is almost never a lack of energy. It is a lack of steering.
For more than 20 years we have helped software vendors, IT services firms, manufacturers and B2B companies structure their indirect business. More than 250 companies later, the finding is remarkably stable: seven symptoms come up in almost every network we audit.
They are never isolated. Blind allocation leads to recruiting the wrong partners. The wrong partners never close their first deal. Without a first deal there is no business plan and no commitment. Disengagement goes unnoticed because nothing is measured, and without measurement, executive management loses sight of the indirect channel, which stalls. Each symptom feeds the next.
Here is how to recognise them, what they cost you, and the levers of the PAD Method® to break the cycle.
01 The blind allocation trap
In most networks, 80% of partners account for only 20% of revenue… yet consume 80% of resources. Channel Managers’ time, marketing budgets and pre-sales support are allocated by feel, driven by relationships and emergencies.
The cause is almost always the same: nobody has an overview of how the network is structured. Who has potential? Who delivers it? Who costs more than they bring in?
The risk
Without mapping, your resources keep feeding the partners who do not pay back. Every quarter, that is margin invested in the wrong place, and revenue that better-organised competitors capture instead of you.
Questions to ask yourself
- Where should I recruit, and how many? Who should I invest in first?
- Where should my resources go, and what return should I expect from each partner?
- How do I steer each partner accurately, based on its real potential?
What the PAD Method® offers
Map the network along two axes, current revenue and potential, to reveal four quadrants and as many strategies. Then tailor programmes by partner category, measure the return on investment of each, and decide development plans accordingly.
02 The hidden cost of a bad signing
Only about 40% of partner recruitments succeed. The casting mistake happens at the very start, through an opportunistic approach with no formal criteria: a partner signs because they showed up, not because they match the profile you need. Onboarding is then endured rather than led.
The risk
Six recruitments out of ten fail, and each failure costs over €20k. Recruiting on instinct means repeating that loss with every signing, and committing months of resources for nothing.
Questions to ask yourself
- How do I recruit partners who will genuinely commit?
- How do I make sure they meet the right criteria before signing?
What the PAD Method® offers
A recruitment plan aligned with the mapping: how many partners, which profile, and where. Explicit recruitment criteria, a structured application file and a scoring that makes the decision objective. Recruitment becomes a process instead of a gamble.
03 The first-deal chasm
One new partner in two drops out before their first sale. Frustration is shared: the partner sees no return on their investment, and your teams spend time with nothing to show for it. The usual cause is onboarding with no structure, left to everyone’s own initiative.
The risk
A partner who has not closed their first deal within the first hundred days probably never will. The recruitment investment is lost, and the relationship fades without anyone having decided it.
Questions to ask yourself
- How long does it take between signing and the first deal?
- Who supports the partner, on what, and until when?
What the PAD Method® offers
Structured onboarding with one clear goal: win the first deal as fast as possible. And a path tailored to each partner category, because a strategic integrator and an occasional reseller have neither the same needs nor the same pace.
04 The opportunistic revenue illusion
Partners with little commitment, very personal relationships, no shared quantified objectives and no formal resources. Indirect revenue comes in, sometimes. But it becomes impossible to forecast.
The risk
Without shared objectives, each partner moves at its own pace, or does not move at all. You discover the missing revenue at year-end, too late to correct. A year without a plan is a year of growth you never get back.
Questions to ask yourself
- How do I raise my partners’ performance?
- How do I keep them committed over time?
- How do I retain my strategic partners?
What the PAD Method® offers
The partner business plan: a shared vision and a joint roadmap, with objectives and commitments signed off by both management teams. Then a steering rhythm that keeps it alive: an annual plan, a quarterly review and a monthly pipeline check.
05 The silence of disengagement
Partners feel less committed, relationships grow tense… and sometimes you are not even aware of it. Most of the time, your perceptions and the partner’s have drifted apart, on strategy, priorities or resources, without anyone measuring it.
The risk
A perception gap left untreated widens in silence: the partner disengages month after month. Re-engaging them later will cost far more, in time, sales effort and trust, than aligning them now.
Questions to ask yourself
- How do I align both parties’ strategies, organisations and resources?
- How do I quickly raise the partner’s involvement and performance?
What the PAD Method® offers
The convergence analysis: ask both parties about the same topics to identify the strategic perception gaps, then work together towards better alignment. What was a vague unease becomes a shared action plan.
06 The executive blind spot
Nobody can say, in two minutes, whether the indirect channel is ahead or behind. Data is scattered across the CRM, spreadsheets and Channel Managers’ memories, and decisions are made on instinct. In front of executive management, the indirect business lacks credibility.
The risk
Without solid consolidation, the indirect channel stays invisible to the executive committee, and what is not measured eventually stops being funded. Every budget cycle without data or demonstrated return on investment means less budget.
Questions to ask yourself
- What does a partner really cost, and what does it bring in?
- Do you know, and communicate, the return on investment of the indirect channel?
- Do you share recruitment and onboarding progress transparently?
What the PAD Method® offers
An executive cockpit: a shared dashboard built around the ten key indicators that matter to management, to analyse, decide and align teams on the same facts.
07 Strategic stagnation
You have never stepped back to review the past year. There is no objective measurement of your practices against the market’s, and justifying your budgets and decisions to the executive committee becomes difficult.
The risk
Without a review, every year replays the same trade-offs, without learning from past mistakes or repeating past successes. Progress goes unrecognised, and priorities stay driven by urgency rather than strategy.
Questions to ask yourself
- Is your go-to-market still up to date?
- Are your offers well positioned in a changing market?
- Is your model still attractive to your partners?
What the PAD Method® offers
The 360° Review: a freeze-frame with your team, a benchmark against best practice, and priority actions grounded in facts rather than feelings.
How many symptoms do you recognise?
One or two? Targeted levers will probably be enough. Three or more? The problem is no longer commercial, it is structural: your network is not being steered, and each symptom sustains the others. Fixing recruitment without mapping, or business plans without measurement, will only move the problem elsewhere.
That is precisely what Channel Performance Management (CPM) is for: steering the performance of a partner network with the same rigour applied to customers and the company’s other strategic assets. The PAD Method® breaks it down into 38 levers, and ChannelPerf puts them to work every day, for Channel Managers and executive management alike.
The right starting point is always the same: measure before you decide.
Source: PAD engagements with more than 250 companies. Observed orders of magnitude, not contractual.