Proofpoint’s Joe Sykora on Building Channel Sales Cultures

Joe Sykora joins Channelnomics’ Changing Channels host Larry Walsh to talk about strategies and tactics for instilling in partners the imperative of selling persistently and consistently.

The IT channel is, by definition, a route to market for selling and delivering technology goods and services to end customers. Partners are the conduit through which products flow. They influence and direct customer brand consideration and product purchasing decisions. And partners play a major role in the customer experience through their deployment, professional services, and managed services. Selling is an essential part of the channel, but partners aren’t consistent in their sales capacity or competency. According to Channelnomics’ research, vendor channel leaders report as much as half of partners don’t originate most of their sales. Channelnomics reports that as many as six out of 10 channel partners don’t have sales plans or goals. And when it comes to services that drive recurring revenue, partners are losing one account for every two they gain – a retention rate of less than 70%, when the market says 90% should be the minimum. Vendors need high-performing and consistently selling partners to drive their growth, contribute revenue and profitability, and maintain a reliable forecast. Getting partners to focus on sales as much as they do technology is the challenge nearly all channel executives face. Joe Sykora, senior vice president of worldwide channel and partner sales at security vendor Proofpoint, has made channel sales excellence a hallmark of his storied career. He joins Changing Channels to discuss his approach to building and maintaining a sales culture that permeates the channel ecosystem, from internal teams to partners.

 

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Episode Resources:

Host Larry Walsh: https://bit.ly/3beZfOa

Larry’s Blog: http://bit.ly/3rZ1WtT

Guest Joe Sykora: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joesykora/

2021 Channel Forecast and 2021 Channel Chief Outlook: Discover what your channel peers and partners are doing in 2021 and beyond. Get your copy of both reports for insights that inform your strategy development, guide your decision-making, and help you benchmark performance: https://channelnomics.com/library/.

 

Credits:

Production: Changing Channels is produced by Modern Podcasting. For virtual content capture and video-first podcasts, check out http://www.modpodstudio.com.

Host: Larry Walsh https://bit.ly/3beZfOa

Voice-Over: Denise Quan