Weathering the Storm in the Sales Channel

The COVID 19 pandemic created one of the most challenging business environments in modern times. At the apex every business in every country was impacted; no region was spared. As market realities shifted virtually day-to-day, the only stable parameter was that everything was changing.

Companies downsized and an unprecedented number went fully remote. Seemingly overnight, the app names “Skype” and “Zoom” were turned into verbs. The disruption to what was once considered normal business activity was absolute and if any business function was put into disarray it was sales.

To help our channel partners weather the storm, ATTO made more marketing dollars available and shared how others were finding success with creative marketing. We also doubled down on product education so our partners remained sharp on technology solutions in preparation for the day when business began to rebound.

This initiative at ATTO was led by our executive director of Sales, Jeff Marks, who was named to CRN’s Channel Chiefs list for 2022 in recognition of his efforts. Marks’ steady leadership was among the many factors contributing to ATTO successfully navigating changes brought on by the pandemic.

“Our channel partners’ viability and success are very important,” Marks explains. “From the CEO down, our team at ATTO was committed to keeping our channel active and maintaining our market position.”

Staying in close contact with resellers via virtual engagements and product webinars, additional co-marketing funds and smarter lead generation programs proved key. Although our partner community worked a lot harder for less return in 2020 and 2021 due to the surging pandemic, they became more creative on how to engage in solution selling when face-to-face activity was severely restricted.

Today, we’re seeing a normalizing of business volumes. However, we expect our channel partners will have to weather another storm as the year unfolds. The chip shortage and supply chain challenges will likely result in price increases while solutions will be more difficult to assemble and deploy. Those that maintain more physical inventory stand to have the upper hand as supplies become harder to find.

Not only is ATTO is prepared to help our current channel partners press forward under demanding conditions, but our goal is also to add more partners over the next year. Aside from smart, creative sales tactics, the advantages we offer channel partners are derived from a premium product line that is on-point in an expanding digital world, a deep reservoir of experience that we draw on every day, and the ability to keep the product pipeline filled when others can not.

To read more about Jeff Marks and CRN’s 2022 Channel Chiefs, the list is featured in the February 2022 issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/ChannelChiefs.