June 11, 2009

Channel Speak: Initiating Conversation

Let’s start a dialog…be sure to add your feedback at the end of this blog!

I stood in the doorway of a Dallas salsa club feeling out-of-place and awkward.  I was a bow-legged boy from Fort Worth, Texas and the nightlife in Big D seemed surreal to me.  Through fake fog and flashing lights, a salsa firecracker caught my eye, her red curls jumping like a frog in a hot skillet.  I was determined to speak to her, in spite of the risk involved with initiating conversation.  So I hitched up my britches and put on a Friday night grin, sauntered on over and said “How do you do?”  I cannot say that I swept the girl off her feet, but I didn’t have to drag her to the dance floor.  We’re still together and ‘breaking the ice’ with her remains one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.

I share this with you to make a point about communicating.  I could have gazed at Little Red all night long, dreamed all the fanciful daydreams that every lovesick boy can dream, and it would amount to nothing without the effort to initiate communication.  The communicating isn’t hard, but breaking through the inclination to ‘play it safe’ and actually initiating a dialog can be very difficult indeed.  I’m blogging on this today because I think it’s time for dialog between the Channel and the vendors.  And I need you, dear reader, to kick start a conversation.

System Builders, meet the Vendors.  Vendors, meet the Channel.

For the first time in recent memory, elements of the Channel are organizing to improve their collective bargaining position.  There are about 60 system builders organized to negotiate for volume purchasing (maybe 25 of those companies are actively participating) and there are vendors preparing to respond.  The idea is to create an ecosystem of common SKUs; not from a single vendor, but from complementary vendors.  Obviously, this will improve profitability and support growth for participating system builders which benefits the Channel and the vendor community.  Moreover, there are secondary opportunities that could prove equally important; common SKUs might provide a foundation for [Channel] EPEAT certifications, and Channel-standard components make a Channel service network a possibility.  There is momentum building, but we need to initiate more meaningful conversation.

Recent activity around Channel collaboration is based on the assumption that vendors will support their efforts to evolve.  The Channel wants to know that the vendor community will extend more than a discount on a volume purchase of parts; they want to know that vendors will commit to a new and stronger relationship with them and help them navigate new territory.

For their part, the vendors want to know that the channel-at-large will participate in this strategy.  Granting a discount to a couple dozen participating companies is almost not worth the effort.  Hundreds of companies participating in the program create a more compelling value proposition.

I am asking you to use the Add Your Reply space at the bottom of this blog to speak to this subject – as a vendor or a Channel company.  Explore the idea of Channel collaboration.  Expose the weaknesses in the concept; recommend alternatives.  Help initiate a dialog that drives action.  And get more info on the network of collaborating companies; benefit from Volume Purchasing.  More than anything – say something.  Please ‘Add Your Reply’ to participate, to contribute, to tell everyone else you’re here.

It’s time to hitch up your britches and get out on the dance floor.  This party is about to start.

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