Channel Integration

Channel mix assumes that each channel will perform all the tasks in a sales cycle. Why have one channel perform all the tasks in a sales cycle? Why do you want your sales reps to run around prospecting, when telesales channels, direct mail or even the Internet could do a better job, inexpensively? A more profitable approach would be to create a division of labor within a sales process: to have different channels take on different functions within the overall sale. This is called Channel Integration.

Channel integration involves "pushing down" of tasks within a sales cycle to channels that are better able to perform them at lower cost, and perhaps in higher volume too. Channel integration is not easy. Everyone would have a fully integrated model if it were a matter of taking out a sheet of paper and drawing a few charts. So let me share with you some wisdom from the field. Below is a three-step tool to integrate channels:

1. Align Sales Force Tasks With Appropriate Channels

For a product-market, begin by breaking down your sales cycle into simpler yet concrete steps. Write down selected channels in the left column. Now, rank each channel’s ability to perform the sales tasks. The figure below uses a simple three-star ranking and shows how channels could be aligned with sales process tasks in a typical large business-to-business sale.

The chart uses a simple three-star ranking, three being the perfect channel-task fit.

Please note: The chart above is just a representative channel capability matrix. It will change based on your product-market. For example, in the large order sale, telesales channels are shown as unsuitable for sales closure. For small orders, however, or consumer sales, telesales channels may be perfectly sufficient for sales closure. Thus, channel-task assignments need to be designed with a specific type of sale, your product and the customer in mind.

After ranking channel capabilities, select channels for each task in the sales process. The goal is to select the lowest-cost channel that can adequately accomplish a task.

2. Manage Channel Task Hand-Offs

When multiple channels participate in a single sales transaction, there is a high probability of things falling through the cracks. Communication and coordination are critical. In order to define clear policies for task hand-offs, it is important to:

Precisely define task-completion criteria
Task-completion events are the points at which sales opportunities are handed over from one channel to the next. Each task in the sales process must be defined clearly so each channel understands what it is supposed to complete before it moves a sales down the pipeline. For example, when do you consider the lead qualification task to be completed? When it comes in the door, when it feels like an opportunity, or when the customers’ budget and purchase date have been formally confirmed?
Document the process of how the hand-off should be made
The more rigorous and formalized hand-off procedures are, more likely individual channels are to execute them properly. For example: Are the sales reps supposed to call a business partner within two days of sales closure, or log the closure in a database for a follow-up call?

3. Assign an overall owner to an account

The complexity of an integrated multichannel selling environment warrants a drum-master for each account to make sure that everything that is supposed to be done gets done correctly, throughout the entire sale. There can be two approaches:

Assign a person or channel responsible for sales closure as the account owner. This approach is extremely effective for a long and complex sales cycle.
Assign a person or channel responsible for lead generation and qualification as the account owner. This approach is good for a simple and/or short sales cycle.

A mix of the above two approaches can be used when a variety of sale types are involved at varying levels of complexity.

The potential of channel integration is huge, but to achieve the promised pay-off, multiple channels must be managed and controlled as a single, frictionless, system. The two-step approach presented here takes the complexity out of creating an integrated multichannel go-to-market model and provides you with tools to successfully execute and manage this selling environment.

Now that you have a integrating multichannel sales models, its time to validate it against financial projection / models. Next section "Economic Modeling" will walk you through the process of economic modeling and developing a business case for new sales models.

[This section should be re-formatted and re-worded. Add more explanations and examples]

Reference:

The Channel Advantage by Lawrence Friedman and Tim Furey

1. Align Sales Force Tasks With Appropriate Channels

2. Manage Channel Task Hand-Offs

3. Assign an overall owner to an account

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