PRM's Next Act

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Partner relationship management, or PRM, has seen its ups and downs over the first part of this century.



Running an indirect channel is vitally important to any vendor trying to extend its reach without incurring the high costs of building up a sales team and all that supports it. Many vendors figure it's more economical to pay partners for performance than to endure the corporate buildout, and they have a good point.

That said, it's important to understand that the indirect channel isn't for every business. Some need to field large sales teams to ensure that their messages are delivered accurately. This is especially true where a vendor continuously has to bring to market new products that need to be sold rather than purchased.

One great example is pharmaceuticals, where patents give the inventor a set number of years to exploit a new drug. After the patent expires, the secondary market can make and distribute very similar products. Doctors and allied healthcare professionals really need the continuous education that pharmaceutical reps provide.

That's not the case with a wide variety of products and services that may not be on any particular patent and that approach commodity status except that they have specific attributes that might be key to assemblies of larger offerings -- for instance, electric motors.

No, they're not all the same and specific applications call for very specific types. If you're in such a market, selling through an indirect channel makes a great deal of sense.