Are Sales Partners Customers or Suppliers?

The relationship between a vendor and an indirect sales partner seems straightforward. That is until you actually attempt to describe it. At rudimentary level, there is disagreement about whether, for example, a sales partner is a customer of or supplier to its vendor.

I have heard channel sales executives use the term “customer” to describe an indirect sales partner. The argument for this approach is that a channel sales partner represents end-user interests generally, and hundreds, if not thousands, of end-user accounts specifically, and should therefore be entitled to certain levels of service delivery and support.

This positioning is great for getting the corporate machine to view the indirect sales channel in general as an important stakeholder and therefore worthy of investment and attention. Indirect sales partners also like this approach because it puts them in a demand-side position, where theoretically, they can make requests of the vendor and its infrastructure to meet their organization’s and their customers’ needs.

That said, in practice most channel executives view an indirect sales partner as a supplier. What’s the product? Sales and marketing services are the primary deliverable, but customer support and account management often are part of the mix. Depending on the vendor and the capabilities of the partner, the “product” also might include provisioning, installation, integration, and more.

This positioning clearly puts the onus for service delivery on the channel partner, rather than the vendor. So, the corporate machine always is looking for more product – in this case more sales – from the indirect sales partner. The vendor obligation to the partner in this scenario primarily is payment.

So, which is right? In my opinion, the answer is both. Or maybe neither, depending on how you look at it.

In order for a true partnership to form, you have to embrace both approaches. And, in so doing, perhaps you are truly abandoning them for something different.

It is imperative that the corporate machine recognize and deliver on an obligation to deliver to the indirect sales channel the necessary support for its sales efforts as well as competitive products to sell to the end user. Likewise, it is incumbent on the indirect sales channel to represent the vendor in the marketplace such that its solutions are positioned, sold and supported with professionalism and consistency.

Both parties, ultimately, are obligated to the end-user customer. And, both have responsibilities to the end-user customer that are equal to their responsibilities to each other.

That’s my take on it, what do you think?