Channel Orientation

Basic channel overview for anyone new, or wants a channel refresher course

Course Overview

Course Overview

This is a basic orientation course for anyone who is new to the channel, has experience in some areas, but little in others or wants a refresher course. Click “Enroll Now” to get started. This course is FREE!

Overview

This course uses existing content found throughout the Chanimal website and will usually open the content in a separate window. It also contains links to material usually only available to registered users (some of it is also available within the Chanimal Store–but you will have access to it for free within the course). It covers the following topics:

Channel marketing (including MDF, VARs, phases of a reseller program, elements of a VAR kit, how to recruit resellers, ways to keep them motivated and channel software)
Channel sales (distributors, resellers, rep firms, agreements and international)
Reseller channel portal (levels, deal registration, current promotions, marketing tools, etc.)
Review of existing reseller program (if created)
Promotions to recruit resellers
Channel tools (program spreadsheet, follow-up worksheet)
Channel collateral (Persuasive Format, Powerpoints, Price List, Competitive Matrix, Demo Script)
Channel Plan of Action (detailed execution steps to define, recruit and enable a reseller channel)To complete the orientation and move to the next section–you will have to pass the built-in tests (don’t even try to by-pass the material–it is too detailed and you won’t pass :-).

To complete the orientation course you must pass the final exam (so take notes and learn your material). This should take about 4-6 hours to complete. You will get a certificate that you can print when you have completed the material and passed the quizzes.

Who Should Attend

Who Should Take This Course?

Anyone that is new to channel management (channel sales, marketing or operations), has specialized in only one aspect of the channel (like reseller enablement but not recruiting, etc.), may want to see what they haven’t learned yet (including senior channel managers) or starts working for a distributor or company that sells to channel managers.

It also great for management (executive, general, or mid-level management who has anyone reporting into their organization that works with the channel) that has not worked in a company that has used a reseller channel–it will spin them up to speed and level-set them with the rest of the organization so “they have a clue.” However, the tests are very detailed.

Executives who will not be creating or managing the channel may prefer to just watch the video, “How to Build a Reseller Channel” which is a great channel overview (with enough detail to see what is involved).

I’ve seen several new CEOs completely undo and destroy their companies by killing the channel (and I have also re-directed (“saved”) several other CEOs that were about to kill their reseller channel) because they thought they shouldn’t have resellers (when the real issue was that they needed to understand how it worked)). In fact, one new president of a division of a $100+ billion company that was a friend called me and asked what I thought of “this channel thing.” Considering that over 80% of his revenue came from the channel–I recommended he not mess with it.

There is no cost for this course–except, I want your feedback so I can refine the process and material.

You are encouraged to enroll in the Certified Channel Manager course later (which has a LOT more material (about 30 hours of training) which is “integrated” (not scattered all over)) when you specialize and are ready to go pro–but this orientation will get most folks on the path to Channel Management. Click HERE (opens in own window) if you want to see what is covered in the Certified Channel Manager program.

Click the Enroll Now button on the top to enroll and get started.

Cost

There is no cost for this course–except, I want your feedback so I can refine the process and material. You are encouraged to enroll in the Certified Channel Manager course later (which has a LOT more material which is “integrated” (not linked all over)) when you specialize and are ready to go pro–but this basic orientation will get most folks on the path to Channel Management.

Click the Enroll Now button on the top to enroll and get started.

Instructor

About Your Instructor

Ted Finch, CEO, Chanimal, Inc.

Within his career Ted has helped hundreds of vendors (including Microsoft, HP, Corel, IBM, WordPerfect, Adobe, Aldus, Intel, Disney, Sony, Canon, Digital Research, Creative Labs, Ingram Micro, WordPerfect, Epson, Apple, Novell, AOL, Franklin/Covey, Lotus, Peachtree, DCA, Ashton-Tate, Autodesk, and more), built a channel team that executed more than 1 million promotions, gone through five successful acquisitions, helped raise more than $27 million in financing from VC’s, angels, and corporations, and lead the marketing team that published Netscape Navigator, the #1 best-selling software product that inaugurated the dot com era.

Ted has been quoted in over 100 books and publications, including Marketing Computers, Entrepreneur Magazine, CNN, Internet World, Computer Reseller News, VAR Business, ABC, CBS, Business Week, Software Success, Channel Advocate, Tom Siebel’s “CyberRules,” “In Search of Stupidity,” and wrote the forward and contributed content for, “The Product Marketing Manager’s Handbook for Software.” He has been on the board of advisers for CompTIA’s SofwareCEO, and numerous software companies.

Ted Finch is considered one of the top channel professionals in the entire high-tech industry–having defined, recruited and enabled some of the world’s most success channel programs.

During the last 40 years (since 1978), Ted Finch has held the following positions:

CEO. Chanimal, Inc. Has consulted with and helped hundreds of companies (including GE, 3M, Dell, Citrix, Autodesk, PTC, Insperity, Big Commerce, AMF, Western Digital, and hundreds mid-to-small retail, enterprise, hardware, software, and SaaS companies from around the world).
Vice President of Marketing. $130 billion GE (within fastest growing Security division)
Sr. VP Marketing, Director. $38 billion Motorola (sat on marketing board and over strategy with semi-conductor sector)
Sr. VP Marketing. Metrowerks (over 92% market share with 58 different dev tools (CodeWarrior)). Was acquired by Motorola.
VP Marketing. Holt, Rhinehart & Winston – education division of $4 billion Harcourt (Neiman Marcus, Seaworld, General Theaters, Education)
VP Marketing. Goldmine (doubled in size 10 consecutive years with #1 most-award winning CRM–over 1 million customers)
VP Marketing & Channel Sales. Virtus (which co-founded Red Storm Entertainment with noted author, Tom Clancy)
Director of Marketing. Ventana (part of $7 billion International Thomson, and publishers of three #1 best-selling products in the world (including Netscape and AOL)
Channel Marketing Manager. DCA (co-headed the channels for the 5th largest software company in the world at the time). Garnered the name, “Chanimal” (short for Channel Animal) after a 290% channel increase.
VP of Sales and Marketing and Co-Founder. Technology Advancement Group (now MarketStar)—a start-up that grew from 13 to more than 4,000 people in four years while building the channels (recruiting resellers, training, merchandising) and launching high tech products for over 150 companies (Microsoft, HP, Intel, Sony, Adobe, Autodesk, Ashton Tate, Word Perfect, Creative Labs, Compaq, Disney, Sony, Apple, Lotus, IBM, etc.).
Director of Sales and Marketing. Family Entertainment Network (winning almost every company award (Top Sales, Top Team, Top Region, Top Recruiter, Eye of the Tiger, Dare to Win, etc.) as the only Director to rise through all five levels of management reporting to the President while heading up a 300+ sales and marketing team in the entertainment industry animations competing with Hanna Barbara and Disney)
Missionary. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – successfully completing a two year volunteer proselyting mission in New Zealand.