August 27, 2005

Lessons Learned on VARs

This week was filled with ups and downs, while we’re waiting for our VAR relationship to become final. This is the first VAR that Tom has negotiated, but his negotiations skills are outstanding. I think the only lesson learned that he would cite is that he had too much faith in the master agreement getting signed, believing it would be sooner versus later. We also mistakenly allocated too much time on closing sales for the VAR, neglecting our own sales pipeline.

Now we’re in a situation where we have five potential clients who want to sign a contract, but we don’t have one for them to sign since the master agreement isn’t signed. We may not be able to book that revenue for August. The VAR’s sales team is unhappy. We’re really unhappy. Fortunately, we’ll be ready for the VAR sale training once the deal is signed; it will be on September 8 or 9, so I have time to complete the remaining twenty deliverables.

Marcom

I always think of what my former boss told Tom during the reference check, “If she doesn’t know the answer or have the template for it, she will research it, study it, and use the best choice.” Yep, this is my approach. I’m a firm believer in self-study. That’s how I became a Product Marketing Manager in my first job. I also researched how to become a Product Manager. Now as Director of Marketing, I have to get up to speed on every aspect of Marcom (marketing and communications). I have confidence since I have seen others in my position be successful.

For example, one of my partner’s former VPs came from a Proctor & Gamble product manager background. This VP wasn’t an expert on branding, but she built one of the most success Internet brands. This VP also had to learn search engine marketing (a function that my partner started) that was an emerging marketing function at the time. As a result, I have confidence that I can do this. I’ve rarely, failed at something I didn’t know. I know how to quickly course correct, if I am wrong, minimizing any complications. Besides, I’ve been in charge of this function before with headcount. I’ll have to do most of the work myself.

Top Marcom Priorities

The top priority is lead generation for direct and VAR sales teams. With my new hire, Jonathan, this shouldn’t be a problem since he’s done this before. I just need to make sure we have the pieces in place: eMarketing, speaking engagements, tradeshows/events, direct marketing, a little advertising, update the corporate Web site for search engine optimization and Webinars. We’ll have review the existing collateral, but definitely create new presentation brochures.

Leads by Source

In my previous company, the big lead generators were the Web site (we paid for Overture keywords and had one Google ad word campaign), cold calls by sales team, Client Service team referrals, phone calls coming in, and current clients. Fortunately, we have some pieces in place like LiveStats or Webtrends, so I can analyze the corporate Web site activity. The VAR is responsible for lead generation, but we’ll be tracking in our own Salesforce.com that Jonathan will be the administrator of. All fun stuff. It will be nice to move from product marketing activities to this function.

Proposed Budget

I’ve been asked by Controller to give his “an estimate” for the rest of 2005 and 2006 marketing budget. During our Management Team meeting, we went over the budget issues that the VAR situation has caused. Tom has asked the Controller to some modeling or updating of the budget, now the Controller is requiring figures from me. While he’s assured me that I “won’t be held to those figures,” I certainly don’t want to underestimate or overestimate. On Monday, I’ll think through the budget. At least I have a template for it so it’s a matter of identifying what I would like to see happen and then go from there.

My Duct Tape is MS Excel

You always hear stories that people use duct tape for everything. I don’t use duct tape, but I do use Microsoft Excel from project management to weekly status reports. One thing I’ve learned along the way is how to track my performance. I always have massive deliverables, so I’ve learned to use MS Excel to track and measure my performance. I now use my template for my 1-on-1 meetings with Tom, but now I also distribute my 3Ps report and 100-Day plan to the Management Team.

My 100-Day Plan turned into a good credibility tool for me, since my peers were able to see how many deliverables I have in my 100-Day Plan (117). It also reflects how many I’ve completed so far (31) for a 26% complete/74% work remaining. I’m on track with my 100-Day plan. I was able to show how quickly I was able to turn around my VAR sales training deliverables this week, thinking that I had the training on August 31. After the meeting, it nice to hear our COO tell me how refreshing it was to, “have your spreadsheets from Marketing.” I’m not sure of his their previous experiences, but I told him that with my product management background, I’m all about project management and scheduling, so my tools reflect that approach.

The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here.

Similar Posts:

• Smart Lemming Diary: Startups Require Employees to Do Everything to Survive
• How to Write a Needs Assessment and 100-Day Plan: Free Templates Available for Download
• Smart Lemming Diary: First Month as Director of Marketing
• Smart Lemming Diary: A Repeatable Process - Creating Department Functions 101
• Do I Need a Portfolio of My Work?