B2B companies tend to oscillate between supporting channel partners and neglecting them. This is unfortunate, since partners drive sales and generate new opportunities. But, all too often, organizations neglect their partners when shaping marketing, sales, and product strategies.
Unhappy partners will leave you for a better product or larger sales margins. Uninformed partners will struggle to sell your solution. In other words, partners need care and attention so they can sell your solutions well.
Cascade Insights’ B2B Channel Research can help you identify the weak spots in your partner program and roadmap how to keep your channels healthy.
What is B2B Channel Research?
Do you need to spend more on co-marketing events to generate interest? Do partners need more education to better sell your solutions? Are you competing with your own channel and poaching their deals? Are you sending partners the right products for emerging workloads? B2B Channel Research will help you figure out which levers to pull to get the most bang for your buck.
Expert Insight at the Speed of AI
Truly impactful research goes beyond the data you’ve had in front of you for a while. By combining the power of AI with our deep human expertise, we can move faster than other firms while still bringing insightful, comprehensive, and uniquely human perspectives to any research study.
How We Leverage AI: AI significantly enhances our ability to organize and analyze conversational data, quantitative data, and secondary sources of information rapidly. This allows us to identify patterns and trends with greater efficiency.
Fluid Intelligence™: However, AI alone cannot capture the full picture. That’s where our team’s expertise shines. We bring:
- Emotional intelligence – Human researchers interpret intent, emotion, nuance that AI might miss and business implications of those insights.
- Adaptive methodology – We adjust a line of questioning based on participant screener details, live responses, and always dig deeper where necessary.
- Tech sector expertise depth & context awareness – We challenge assumptions, validate insights, and connect them to real-world trends.
- Bias detection and correction – Our researchers detect uncertainty, subtext, and hidden biases all of which can lead a research project astray.
In short, great research isn’t just about collecting words or text. It’s about listening with empathy, paying close attention to your words and tone, nonverbal cues, and what is unsaid as much as clearly stated. These human capabilities drive great research that uncovers valuable insights, ultimately delivering a competitive advantage.
When Do You Need B2B Channel Research?
Whether you’re trying to figure out how best to grow a channel, implement a partner network, or understand why partners are leaving you, Cascade Insights’ B2B Channel Research can help.
15 Years In the Tech Sector, Thousands of Conversations With B2B Buyers
The B2B tech partner ecosystem is incredibly complex. Any B2C or generalist market research firm will have a hard time understanding complicated B2B channel sales. Fortunately, at Cascade Insights, we exclusively specialize in the B2B tech sector. We know what motivates channel partners, how they go-to-market, and best practices to keep your channel healthy.
The Right Questions for B2B Channel Research
- How many different buyers and influencers need to be addressed through marketing and sales outreach to generate a typical sale?
- Which persona(s) generate the long list of initial vendors?
- Which persona(s) decide on the shortlist and the eventual winner?
- Do we need to add a new buyer persona?
- What tasks does our solution need to accomplish for each buyer persona?
- How do different personas interact when completing jobs-to-be-done?
- What are each buyer persona’s top technical priorities for the year? Top business priorities?
- How do buyers and influencers describe their business or technical problems? What specific words and phrases do they search for when seeking solutions?
- How do buyers educate themselves on offerings that might meet business or technical needs?
- Which vendors are considered leaders by buyers and influencers? Which vendors are perceived as being behind?
- What virtual and in-person communities do buyers typically engage with?
- What relevant thought leaders, blogs, social media accounts, and publications does each buyer persona read?
- What sales approaches resonate best with each buyer persona?
- What emerging trends (business or technology) are influencing buyer’s decisions?
