How To Develop And Execute A Winning SaaS Channel Strategy

“The key measure at the end of the day is our ability to provide that experience and that satisfaction that creates customer and partner advocates.” — Angus Robertson

Last year I heard a partner with a Silicon Valley VC firm give a presentation on the best practices of billion $ SaaS companies. Their success wasn’t just a result of great leadership, focus, and integrity. They had one more thing in common. Every one of these companies had a significant channel program that added millions to the bottom line.    

What does it take to develop and execute such a channel program? I discussed this topic with Angus Robertson on my Channel Journeys podcast. Angus told me how Axcient redeveloped their 100 percent channel strategy to create a frictionless experience for partners and customers. And he shared the metrics he uses to measure their SaaS channel success.

Key Take-Aways

• Four Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of a successful SaaS channel strategy are the LTV to CAC ratio, the demand waterfall, sales velocity, and net promoter score.
• LTV to CAC compares the Lifetime Value of your customers to your Customer Acquisition Cost.
• The Demand Waterfall is your sales funnel that traces a buyer from inquiry to close. It looks at both the quantity of leads that you can bring in and the quality of those leads.
• Sales velocity looks at how quickly leads are moving through your pipeline and how much value new customers are providing. It’s a key sales measurement as it tells you how quickly you are making money.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) is used to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also measures your ability to create advocates or champions in your customer base or in your channel.

Take Action — One Thing You Can Do Today

Have you created a frictionless buying experience for your partners and customers? Gather a cross-functional team to whiteboard all of the steps your partners and customers take, from trial through purchase and provisioning. Identify the friction points and make a plan to remove the friction. And listen to the complete Channel Journeys podcast with Angus Robertson for all of his valuable tips.

About The Author

Rob Spee is founder and CEO of Channel Journeys Consulting and host of the Channel Journeys podcast. Rob applies his channel expertise to help clients create and execute channel strategies to accelerate revenue growth. His global channel experience spans from building channels at startups to vendors and distributors like Arrow, BMC, Carbonite, and SAS. Follow Rob on Twitter and LinkedIn.