BEST PRACTICES FOR MANAGING MULTIPLE DISTRIBUTORS: DEFINE TERRITORY, ROLES, OR DEAL ALLOCATION RULES

Dual Distribution Blog Series 11

To prevent chaos, establish a clear go-to-market structure for how deals and partners are divided or shared. There are a few models you can choose (and you should pick one and communicate it clearly):

  1. Segment by Market or Customer: For example, Distributor A handles all Federal government sales while Distributor B handles State/Local and Education sales. Or split by civilian vs. DoD agencies, or east coast vs. west coast accounts, etc. This territorial approach minimizes overlap completely, though it might limit the redundancy benefit in each segment. Some vendors use this to start (to ease the incumbent’s concerns), then later allow overlap once comfortable.
  2. Segment by Partner Type: You might give one distributor the large integrator partners and the other the smaller VARs and boutiques, for instance. If one distributor has better capacity to manage big complex accounts and the other specializes in recruiting new emerging partners, this could play to their strengths.
  3. Open Market with Deal Registration: This is a more fluid model where both distributors can recruit any partners and pursue any accounts, but you enforce strict deal registration and “first come, first served” rules. Whichever distributor (through one of its resellers) registers an opportunity or brings a lead gets to work it. The other distributor must refrain from poaching that deal. This model maximizes competition to find opportunities, but you must vigilantly manage it to avoid disputes.
  4. Hybrid: Sometimes vendors use a hybrid – e.g. certain large programs or contracts are assigned to one distributor (to avoid duplicate bids), while the rest of the market is open for both to pursue with deal registration.

Whichever model you choose, document it in your partner program guide and communicate it to all stakeholders (distributors, resellers, and your own sales team). This prevents confusion among government customers and partners about who is supposed to quote what. Also, be ready to adjust the rules if they aren’t working – flexibility is key in the early phase of dual distribution until you find the equilibrium. The goal is to achieve coverage without collision.