Insights for Channel Management Job Searching

Research: What do you need to
advance your career in Channel Management

The Channel Institute polled more than 400 Channel VP’s and Directors at large technology companies to learn what they look for when hiring professionals for new channel sales and channel management jobs. There were some surprising results! Although most responses fell into standard categories, there were two unusual standouts in the top 5.  

The two surprising entries were “Innovation & Creativity” and “Commitment to the Channel”. These were accompanied by the more commonly expected factors of “Business Acumen”, “Relationship Building” and “Flexible Delivery”.    

Innovation and Creativity

This is not something that was highlighted in previous research by third parties, but innovation and creativity is a skill that appears to have jumped up the rankings. Heads of Channel want to know that additional team members being hired for channel management jobs can think on their feet and bring new insights that can be shared across the entire channel team. This was mentioned as being particularly important for channel teams working with partners that are still trying to adapt their business to cloud-based models.

Commitment to the Channel

The second most frequently reported response was that candidates take the channel profession seriously, and do not merely consider it “another type of sales job”. This category covers topics such as a clear knowledge of how channels work, best practices in managing channel conflict, the channel landscape, and excellent skills in joint business planning. Channel leaders are clearly raising the bar on the profession, recognizing that the subtleties associated with channel management require skills that can only be acquired through a combination of formal channel training and experience, as opposed to the more ad-hoc learning approaches of the past.

Many responses highlighted the difficulty in differentiating between candidates, and that candidates with specific accreditation in channel business would be more likely to be selected for interview. Where two candidates had similar experience, the one with specific channel business certification would be more likely to get the job.

Business Acumen

Business Acumen. The runaway number one sought after skill falls into the general category of “business acumen”. This covered responses such as understanding of new business drivers (AI, Business Transformation, Digital Co-Marketing, Social Selling, etc.) and how these will impact on channel partner profitability. Applicants for new channel sales jobs need to quickly grasp the consequences for channel partners of increasingly shifting towards service delivery with recurring revenue models and the impact of this on a business and its profitability.

Relationship Skills

Communication skills, empathy and the ability to develop relationships and trust are obvious skills that any successful channel sales manager must possess. These skills were identified as being a basic requirement in channel sales training and not something that would make a candidate stand out from the crowd.

Flexible Delivery

Finally, many respondents highlighted that Channel Sales Managers operate in a world that is affected by many stakeholders, and many factors are entirely outside of their control. The ability to maintain focus in the face of turbulence, managing unpredictability and still deliver sales results was identified as a key requirement for new channel sales manager job applicants.  

The top 5 factors listed in order of priority are:

1. Business Acumen.

2. Channel knowledge and commitment.

3. Innovation and creativity.

4. Relationship building.

5. Flexible delivery.