Our Services

Yeoman offer Channel Sales consultancy for companies setting up channel partners.

• We help companies set up and maintain a channel network
• We provide sales assistance for companies entering the UK and European markets.
• We provide sales training to enhance channel sales skills.

Understanding Channel Sales

Many companies choose to sell through business partner’s most commonly Distribution, System Integrators (SI), Value Added Resellers (VAR), which gives them a greater sales foot print and a faster route to market..

However a common failure is the assumption your product or service is so good they will just get on a sell it. Nothing could be further from the truth, for a start they offer many varied solutions and to a degree all the companies they represent are in a 'beauty contest'.

To be successful this must be understood and to achieve your goals you need mind share with both the partner company and their sales and marketing teams.

Keep your message simple, identify to them which type of customer they are most likely to win in, emphasise the benefits of your product or service not its features. Whilst bells and whistles look good by themselves they are not enough, for each feature you need to show benefits for the end customer e.g.

All products and services have benefits for the people that buy them, so do not focus on features, use the benefits to highlight how you will make the customers life better.

Engage with the sales and marketing teams an use their experience to enhance your message, by listening to them an refining you joint message you get mind share.

Always remember they represent your product or service so respond to their questions promptly, if they find you hard work they will spend more time on the other products or services in their portfolio. In addition to some extent they put their reputation on the line representing you; nothing kills this type of relationship quicker than poor support.

To sum up highlight the benefits of what you offer to both the channel and the end user, keep your message clear and simple and be attentive to your partners. Do not sign a contract and expect to generate sales automatically; it takes work to gain trust and genuine enthusiasm from the channel to be successful. Over many years I have seen companies sign a partner agreement and then walk away from the channel expecting them to get on with it with no further input, these companies always fail and end the contract or spend more in trying to fix it.

Call: +44 (0) 1962 886346+44 (0) 1962 886346

LinkedIn recommendations

Aleksandar Stančin, Member of the board, co-owner, Mack IT d.o.o. (channel business partner)

“We worked together on winning the first local telco reference for Procera in the region, something that would not be possible without his assistance towards & from the vendor side. Ian is a skilled ICT professional with broad general knowledge as well, clear and focused when it comes to understanding and fulfilling customer needs. He is creative in finding solutions to overcome obstacles that may occur in the process. I sincerely recommend Ian and would be more than happy to work with him again in the future!”

Shawn Sweeney, Consultant, Water's Edge (colleague at Procera Networks)

“Ian is a solid professional sales person who understands the channel and has an amazing grasp on the market space in which he operates. His technical acumen and ability to simplify the complex really stood out to me. Always responsive, positive and results-focussed, I enjoyed working with Ian and look forward to doing so again at some point in the future.

Pierre Ketteridge, Pre-Sales Consultant, IP Performance Ltd (channel business partner)

“I worked with Ian in my capacity as Technical Pre-sales Consultant, designing customer solutions based on the Allot Communications product portfolio of bandwidth management systems. I always found Ian to be the consummate sales professional, advising and consulting on product solutions, availability and resource management, and could always rely on Ian to go the extra mile in ensuring that our, and our customers' requirements and expectations were met - and in most cases, exceeded. I look forward to working with Ian again in the future.”