Case Study

Major Accomplishment

Challenge

Development of a New Channel Strategy from Scratch

When I was hired by ChyronHego there was no formal Channel program in place. More than 90% of the business was coming through direct sales.

There were informal relationships with some VAR’s and some System Integrators. To further complicate the issue, the company product line and price list was very complicated, which made it very difficult for anyone outside the organization to quote. At ChyronHego, we had to be closely involved with every sale that was identified by a channel partner. This led me to design a channel program and organization from the ground up. It went from restructuring the sales organization, building a channel, rebuilding the pricelist, and educating the channel on our products, and how to quote and market them.

Strategy

Launched Channel Strategy
to Showcase Products and Solutions
in Professional Video Markets

Step 1

The key objectives of the program are:

  • Create a robust Authorized Channel Program which provides ChyronHego’s many product and solutions to professional video markets.
  • Establish long-term business relationships with professional reseller organizations within each region.
    Provide high quality support, training and sales tools to enhance each partners probability of success.
  • Work in concert with partners to provide the best customer experience.
  • Develop a multi-structured program to address different types of resellers, and different sizes of resellers.
  • Develop a new pricing system that would make it much easier to allow dealer to configure systems without getting ChyronHego Salespeople involved in every transaction

Step 2

 

Developed a reseller training program. Below are the highlights of the program:

  • Initial Partner Training (web-based)
    • Overview presentation of ChyronHego history, products, key markets & direction
      Partner Portal Training
    • Business Training of pertinent policies & procedures
      Training of MDF & Deal Registration Programs
  • Product Training
    • Product training typically via web to include presentation & live demo
    • Onsite in-depth training in conjunction with customer facing event
  • Formal Partner Training Program
    • Creation of certified training program Partners must complete for status and/or additional margin
    • Annual recertification necessary to maintain certification status

 

Step 3

 Developed ChyronHego Authorized Partner Portal:

 

  • Permission driven multi-level information receptacle
  • Available 24/7
  • Resource for Pricing, Product, Marketing and Technical information
  • Access to Market Development Funds (MDF) & Deal Registration Programs

Step 4

The program could not be limited to one type of reseller partner. This required multiple partners (details of each partnership is included in table following the partnership description):

 

  • System Integrators: these were to most highly technical of the partners. They work on the largest, most complex projects. The have the inhouse talent to design, build and implement large scale projects at TV stations or sports venues. There were 3 levels of System Integrators, Platinum, Gold, and Silver.
  • Premier Dealer: These are dealers that ChyronHego worked with directly. Their discount rate was determined by their sales quota. Higher quotas would receive larger discounts. There were 3 levels of Premier dealers, Platinum, Gold, and Silver.
  • Distribution: These are companies that sell to other dealers, rather than direct to end users. We only worked with one distributor, and they had an authorized list of resellers that they sold to.
    Authorized Dealers: These were resellers that were sold to by the Distributor. The distributor would determine their discount rate.
  • e-retailers: There are companies that sold mostly via the internet.

Results

Roadmap to Success

In the first year of the program, the goal was to increase and educate the reseller base. ChyronHego was able to grow the number of resellers from 13 to 59, a growth rate of 354% in numbers, while increasing the revenue from resellers from $3.0M to $6.5M an increase in revenue of 117%. As the program started to mature, the sales rose to $9.1%, an increase of 40% year on year. Having a solid channel program helped ChyronHego, recapture market share, and build a solid foundation for future growth.

Get In Touch

Chatsworth, CA
(818) 519-1751
mrpaulweiser@gmail.com