mkt315 week 4 discussion 1 and response 1

“Channel Member Selection” Please respond to the following:

• Select a business of your choice that would utilize a channel partnership. Then, compare and contrast three of the sources that a channel manager for that company would use to find prospective channel members.
• For this same business, create selection criteria that you believe provides the most insight when selecting channel members and discuss the factors used in creating a channel.

Microsoft is my business that I have found that will need to utilize a channel partnership for their company to grow. Microsoft develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and many other related services. Microsoft software products are used daily in almost all businesses. Microsoft will utilize three sources to find prospective channel members to join in a partnership. Field sales organization, trade sources, and reselling inquires. Field sales organization are a team of people that will sell Microsoft products in the field versus selling over the phone. Trade sources such as journals, magazines, and periodicals will identify and share knowledge of Microsoft. Reselling inquires will be a field sales organization that purchases IT products and markets Microsoft to future customers. These three sources will provide a face to face meeting to sell Microsoft products, educate businesses on Microsoft products, and reseller inquires that will market Microsoft to customers.

The selection criteria for channeling Microsoft, I believe, would be the most beneficial is having members who are proficient in all software provided by Microsoft. Furthermore, these functions can be better performed through specialization in the function or through expertise of the function (Bhasin, 2018).

Bhasin, H. (2018). Functions of Channel Members. Retrieved from

http://www.marketing91.com