In the B2B space, sales ecosystems have undergone a significant transformation over the years. Traditionally, the sales process involved a linear, transactional approach, primarily characterized by one-to-many relationships between a vendor and their partners, which was transactional and product-centric. However, in today’s highly competitive business landscape, modern sales ecosystems have emerged, which are driven by many-to-many interactions happening between the various participants of the modern sales ecosystems. These are more customer-centric, data-driven, and focused on building long-term relationships with all the participants in the sales ecosystem, be it the vendor, partners or customers. In this blog, we will explore the key differences between traditional sales ecosystems and modern sales ecosystems and discuss how businesses can adapt to the changing landscape by creating meaningful sales ecosystem plays for the modern sales ecosystems to drive revenue, growth and success.
The concept of sales ecosystems is not new. Sales ecosystems have always existed. Some of the key characteristics of the traditional sales ecosystem model are:
One-to-many or many-to-one interactions
Traditional sales ecosystems relied on one-to-many or many-to-one interactions, meaning the players in the sales ecosystems interacted with only one other participant at a time.Usually, it was a “vendor-to-partners and partner-to- vendors or partner-to-customers”, kind of relationships. Traditional sales ecosystems didn’t have partners interacting with each other much.
Transactional
Relationships between the participants in the traditional sales ecosystems were very transactional. Most of the focus in a traditional sales ecosystem relationship was on selling through partners present in the ecosystem. It was all about sales, and partners were simply a medium for vendors to get through to the end-customer.
Product-oriented
Traditional sales ecosystems are product-oriented, meaning the whole sales model revolved around the product that the vendor had to offer to the customers. The entire sales set up, functioning of the channel and the roles of the participants in the sales ecosystem was centered around the product offered.
Siloed partner organizations operating independently of one another
Traditional channel partner models typically involved a hierarchical relationship between the vendor and their partners. There was negligible or limited collaboration and communication between the partners. Traditional sales ecosystems didn’t have powerful PRM software programs or partner marketing software platforms to facilitate data exchange and communication between the vendors and partners.
The manufacturer or vendor would provide the partners with the sales and marketing collateral and training and expect them to market and sell to the end consumers and in some cases even offer after-sales service and support.
Little or no automation
As discussed above, traditional sales ecosystems were’s powered by PRM Software programs. They primarily relied on spreadsheets for partner and lead data management. There was little or no automation when it came to its various processes such as creating and sharing co-branded marketing and sales collateral, managing leads, commissions, partner referral payments, MDF or co-op fund disbursals, etc.,
Lack of visibility into the partner network
In the traditional sales ecosystem, due to the absence of automation, there was always a lack of visibility into partner network and activities. This created a number of challenges for vendors. Without access to detailed information on partner performance and activities, vendors traditionally struggled to identify areas where their partners needed additional support, such as sales training, marketing materials, business planning, etc. They also missed opportunities to collaborate with partners on joint marketing campaigns or product development initiatives, which often lead to missed sales and lost revenue.
Furthermore, this lack of visibility also negatively impacted partner engagement. Partners would usually become frustrated with a vendor for not providing them with the necessary support and resources to be successful. They were also less likely to actively promote the vendor’s products or services as they didn’t have a clear understanding of the vendor’s goals and priorities.
So, what does the modern sales ecosystem look like?
The modern sales ecosystem is characterized by many-to-many interactions unlike the traditional sales ecosystem that followed a one-to-many or many-to-one model. Modern sales ecosystems also often involve a more collaborative approach, amongst all the participants of the sales ecosystem, including-
- Channel Partners
- Alliances
- Influencers
- Referral Partners
- OEMs
- Infrastructure Providers
- Application Partners
- Solution Partners
- Sales Partners
- Delivery Partners
- Information & Content Partners
- Customers
- Internal stakeholders, such as-
- Direct sales teams
- Channel account managers
- Direct sales account managers
- Corporate & Partner Marketing teams
Creating a winning modern sales ecosystem play
Traditional PRM software programs can’t enable the modern sales ecosystem effectively. Even the traditional partner roles, persona and types have transformed to bring more value to the table so as to fit into this new, modern sales ecosystem-based business model. For ecosystems to be successful, the participants must be able to deliver value to co-partners and end-clients.
Vendors need to understand where they fit into this modern sales ecosystem. They also need to identify their ideal partners based on partner expertise, client base and interest. Before selecting a channel partner, it’s important to understand your client base and then look for partners who have experience and expertise in your industry or who serve a similar customer base. Vendors need to assess their potential channel partners’ capabilities, such as their sales and marketing expertise, technical capabilities, and operational processes.
The next step for vendors would be to create a go-to-market strategy based on the ideal partner profiles and partner position or role in the sales ecosystem.
Companies must transform the way they do business and shift from a product-centric approach to a customer-centric approach and create or be part of, an ecosystem that offers unique value propositions to the customer, at every stage– end-to-end. Some of the key differences between traditional and modern sales ecosystems are the many-to-many relationships that exist among the different players in the sales ecosystem, customer-centricity instead of product-centricity and the use of modern technology, Ai, machine-learning, data, and the focus on building long-term relationships, with not just the customer, but with everyone in the sales ecosystem, rather than simply closing a sale.
A next-gen PRM and Partner Marketing software provider, Mindmatrix has been focused on helping companies sell more, faster, since its inception in 1998. A pioneer of sales (direct & indirect) and marketing enablement technology, today Mindmatrix is the only company offering a fully unified platform (Bridge ™) that connects and enables sales (direct & indirect), marketing, alliances and partner ecosystems. Through Bridge, Mindmatrix expands sales ecosystem enablement beyond its traditional boundaries to cover not just Sales Ecosystem Enablement, but also Partner Marketing and Multi-vendor Solutions Management.
