Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Issue: The Importance of the Design Win
When a channel provider builds a product, opens a new department, or acquires a new class of customer, it is the most important time to have excellent pre-sales support and inteaction. Because it is new, this is the time when the customer is most open to change. It also is the time when you can have an impact not only on the specific transaction, but on the business model. During the launch of a new product, it is easy to demonstrate business value add by eliminating one or more of the uncertainties that plague new ventures.
To a vendor, these opportunities often look like more trouble than they are worth. You have an unproven provider offering untested solutions to customers in new and often unsettling ways. "Why can't they just do it like the rest of the providers?" or "Why do they have to be different?" are the sentiments I hear from vendors and their reps.
Let me give a real world example. In a fit of what my wife calls unfounded optimism, I started a new company, North Sound Cruising Center to import Yachts from Poland. This has been a great case study in launching a product and building a channel company. In addition to finalizing the business model in real time, we also have to establish vendor relationships for power, insurance, electronics, support, , financing, etc. I wasted 2 and 1/2 months of time trying to get Johnson/Bombardier to work with me on the design win for engines. After multiple delays and causing me to miss my grand opening event on the 4th of July, they say they would love for me to buy retail from an existing dealer (like the one who tried to sell me Yamaha engines.) Looks like Honda will get the deal instead, not because Honda did anything to get it, but because one of their channel partners is flexible enough to work with me.
My newness was precisely what was hard for Bombardier. I did not fit well in their programs. "What do you mean you plan to outsource service and support?" they cried? "None of our other dealers operates that way." Similarly, your prospective channel customer my not fit in with your existing program. Yet is is this very newness that is their strength and their value to you.
New means Incremental.
The new provider, product or service is an attempt to serve an unmet market need. Below are the five key benefits of a design win to your channel organization.
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When a channel provider builds a product, opens a new department, or acquires a new class of customer, it is the most important time to have excellent pre-sales support and inteaction. Because it is new, this is the time when the customer is most open to change. It also is the time when you can have an impact not only on the specific transaction, but on the business model. During the launch of a new product, it is easy to demonstrate business value add by eliminating one or more of the uncertainties that plague new ventures.
To a vendor, these opportunities often look like more trouble than they are worth. You have an unproven provider offering untested solutions to customers in new and often unsettling ways. "Why can't they just do it like the rest of the providers?" or "Why do they have to be different?" are the sentiments I hear from vendors and their reps.
Let me give a real world example. In a fit of what my wife calls unfounded optimism, I started a new company, North Sound Cruising Center to import Yachts from Poland. This has been a great case study in launching a product and building a channel company. In addition to finalizing the business model in real time, we also have to establish vendor relationships for power, insurance, electronics, support, , financing, etc. I wasted 2 and 1/2 months of time trying to get Johnson/Bombardier to work with me on the design win for engines. After multiple delays and causing me to miss my grand opening event on the 4th of July, they say they would love for me to buy retail from an existing dealer (like the one who tried to sell me Yamaha engines.) Looks like Honda will get the deal instead, not because Honda did anything to get it, but because one of their channel partners is flexible enough to work with me.
My newness was precisely what was hard for Bombardier. I did not fit well in their programs. "What do you mean you plan to outsource service and support?" they cried? "None of our other dealers operates that way." Similarly, your prospective channel customer my not fit in with your existing program. Yet is is this very newness that is their strength and their value to you.
New means Incremental.
The new provider, product or service is an attempt to serve an unmet market need. Below are the five key benefits of a design win to your channel organization.
- Branding: The design win product or prototype will be the one shown to prospective customers
- Promotion: Marketing and sales activities will focus on the new product and its components
- Process: Support procedures and habits are created during the first product sale
- Momentum: Competitors have to prove they are BETTER, not just as good as
- Impact: Value-add is easily linked to specific business issues
The business owner will remember who helped him get to market. How your program supports the provider during this critical time will set the tone of the entire relationship.
Scott Karren, The Channel Pro
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