O p t i m i z i n g C h a n n e l P a r t n e r s h i p s

Channel Elite Express Webinar SeriesAugust, 2008

“Recruiting, Hiring and Retaining Top Sales and

Technical Talent”

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Channel Consulting, Education and Market Intelligence• Over 50 years of

collective experience in the channel

• Thousands of partner profiles in every geography

• More than 90,000 interviews with Channel Partners and their customers annually

From CMP to… Everything Channel

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Challenges to Growth

Recruiting is a Process

Staffing Insights

Hiring and Retention Best Practices

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Agenda

Access to Qualified Human Resources• How do you find, hire, and retain sales and technical staff?

Lack of Systems / Processes to Scale Capacity

• How do you manage more clients, more projects, more details?

Need for Marketing to Drive Higher Demand

• How do you create and connect with a higher volume of opportunities?

Financial Resources Required to Fund Growth

• How do you pay for more people, more resources, more deals, etc.?

Challenges to Solution Provider Growth

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Staffing Strategy Health Checkup• What is your Growth Plan?

– Revenue– Number of customers– Number of employees

• Do you have a formal strategy in place for finding, recruiting, hiring, and retaining high quality people?– Recruiting plan– Director of human resources / hiring professional

• What is the quality/impact of your hiring decisions?– Few hires who have stayed for a long time– Many hires that have stayed and grown the company– Many hires that have stayed briefly and must be replaced

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Recruiting Demands Attention

HARD SCIENCE(What Solution Providers are

“Usually” Good At)

Engineering

Systems Design

Technology Integration

Process Execution

Troubleshooting

Performance Monitoring

SOFT SCIENCE(What It Takes to be Good At

Recruiting Humans)

Culture Management

Interpersonal Skills

Vision

Motivation

Conflict Resolution

Human Performance

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The Reality About Growth• Typical Solution Provider Profile

– Revenue: Less than $2 Million Annually– Employees: Less than 20– Growth Rate: Less than 5% Annually

• Understanding Capacity Dynamics– People + Process + Tools = Production Capacity– While automation can improve productivity, it can’t acquire

customers, manage relationships, communicate with decision makers, manage a business, etc.

• The Role of Humans in Managed Services– MYTH: Unlimited scalability based on tools and automation– REALITY: You can scale the business faster than you can scale your

headcount, but staffing is a critical success factor.

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Capacity Growth Options

8%8%

9%11%

9%12%

16%7%

25%

26%

33%36%

Hire Additional Employees

Headcount Same, Increase

Productivity

Outsource

Not Planning to Grow Capacity

Get Acquired/Merge

Acquire a Company

Sales

Technical

Remains biggest Obstacle to Growth, but

Highest Strategic

Priority

Challenge:

Challenges to Growth

Recruiting is a Process

Staffing Insights

Hiring and Retention Best Practices

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Agenda

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Who’s Doing the Recruiting?

CEO/President

33%

Sr Management has primary

responsibility for recruitment

Bright Spot: SPs understand

importance of hiring the right

people

Sr. Management

29%

HR Director24%

Office Manager

7%Other

6%Best Practice:

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Staffing Needs to Be a Strategic Priority1. Business Strategy

2. Growth Objectives

3. Employee Retention

4. Roles & Responsibilities

5. Profile Characteristics

6. Networking & Awareness

7. Advertising & Active Recruiting

• Senior Management Responsibility

• Consistent Implementation & Continuous Improvement

• Core Competency and Element of Competitive Advantage

• Repeatable, Scalable and Teachable

Integrated Recruiting Methodology

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1. Business Strategy

2. Growth Objectives

3. Employee Retention

4. Roles & Responsibilities

5. Profile Characteristics

6. Networking & Awareness

7. Advertising & Active Recruiting

Effective Recruiting is a Business Process

Challenges to Growth

Recruiting is a Process

Staffing Insights

Hiring and Retention Best Practices

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Agenda

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Recruitment Strategies

25%

3%

5%

3%

6%

22%

63%

72%

Only Per Open

Position

Continual Basis

Quarterly

Annual

Sales

Technical

75% of the time SPs are Hiring

Only in Sales is Continuous Recruiting Occurring (and only at

10% of the time)

Trend: Reactive Behavior

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Sales/Technical Employee Turnover Drivers

5%5%

9%6%

8%12%

18%17%

30%

26%

30%34%

Personal Reasons

Competitor: Title/Pay

Work/Life Balance

Layoff: Reorg

Competitor: Ownership

Stake

Layoff: M&A

Sales

Technical

Equity & M&A

surprisingly less of a factor in

movement

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Retention Challenges

8%6%

11%6%

13%10%

13%14%

26%18%

4%19%

26%26%

Compensation

Lack of Qualified Sales Applicants

Company Culture Fit

Competition from Other SPs and/or Vendors

Lack of Time: Hiring/Retaining

Organizational Structure Bandwith

Lack of IT Skills SetSales

Technical

Match Making Becomes

Key to Hiring and Holding onto Right

People

Challenge:

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Incentives for the “New Breed”

19%9%

26%10%

18%16%

15%18%

16%

19%

7%28%

Professional Sales Training

Cross Skills Training:

Sales/Engineering

Non Financial Incentives

Tuition Reimbursement

Technical Cert Training

Comp Rewards: Certification

Sales

Technical

Cross Training to

Create“Hybrids”

Differentiator:

Challenges to Growth

A Systematic Approach to Recruiting

Staffing Insights

Hiring and Retention Best Practices

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Agenda

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Level of Difficulty: Hiring v Retaining

Technical/Engineers (22%)

Marketing Specialists (11%)

Management Employees (10%)

Sales (6%)

Technical/Engineers (48%)

Management Employees (36%)

Sales (34%)

Marketing Specialists (25%)

Hiring RetainingRANK

1234

• Technical Staff: 50% More Difficult to Hire vs Sales• Sales Reps: 5-6x More Difficult to Hire Than They are

to Retain

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Keys to Effective Candidate Engagement

– INTERVIEWING … A two-way conversation that helps you understand the nature of this particular human + helps them understand the job, culture, goals, expectations.

– PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES … Always ask for them; always check them (job performance and personal character)

– MAKE THE OFFER … Formal; written; include compensation plans and benefits and job description

– ONBOARDING METHODOLOGY … A consistent, systematic process that defines the first quarter with written responsibilities and performance objectives

– SCHEDULED PERFORMANCE REVIEWS…Inspect what you expect.

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Proven Best Practices: Sales Reps

• Always Be Recruiting … Whether you have an open position or not, always be searching for the highest caliber sales people to upgrade your business development capacity

• Catch the Proven Players … Don’t just recruit the competition, focus on the reps who win consistently and have proven they can execute in a managed services environment

• Be Specific About the Opportunity … Carefully define opportunities and expectations – and don’t be afraid to make a lucrative offer to a high-powered rep (design the comp plan right)

• Show Your Commitment to Resources … Don’t just send your reps to the wolves, support them with people, tools, etc.

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Proven Best Practices: Technicians

• Build a "Consulting" Culture … Not just a place where technical people work, but a business that’s designed to maximize the opportunity for true consultants

• Invest in Development / Career Path … No matter how good they are today, they’ll need to know you are committed to helping them get better – and then rewarding them for that growth

• Attitude Matters … No matter how talented a technician is, a bad attitude will corrupt your culture internally and externally – remember, you can teach skills, but not personality

• Selling and Provisioning is a “Team Sport”…create a collaborative and team-oriented culture that will foster quality work and delivery

• Clarify Expectations … Right up front, be clear about exactly what you’ll want your techs to do, whether it’s popular or not

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Proven Best Practices: Retention

• Blocking & Tackling: Do What You Said You Would Do• Expect – And Reward – Innovation … Raise your expectations and people will rise

to meet them (if they believe they’ll be rewarded or recognized).• Pay Attention to Work / Life Balance … Be respect the limits of reality and

actually encourage your people to have a life beyond the office • Plan for Advancement and Succession… Understand your people’s career

aspirations; reward performance; manage your staffing plan to include re-assignments and promotions

• Talk About the Elephant … Seek to understand the issues on your peoples’ minds and make time to address them (as groups or individuals)

• Be Deliberate & Realistic …Professionals want to be respected and trusted. Let them in on your business strategies, planning and making decisions

• Create and Maintain a Culture of Excellence…Lead by example; communicate your purpose, standards, goals; recognize achievements.

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In the End…

• Leadership in Theory– Set the Direction for the Business– Own and Actively Administer the Culture– Inspire and Motivate through Vision and Action– Have a Plan, Work the Plan, Demonstrate Accountability

• Leadership in Practice– Participate in the Interviewing Process– Schedule and Deliver Regular Progress Reviews / Reports– Track, Measure, and Publish Effectiveness– Do Something About Performance / Lack Thereof– Always Be Recruiting– Actively Seek Input … And then Be Open to It

“It’s management’s role and responsibility to lead and empower their people to achieve superior results.”