Now what is Channel Conflict ? Channel conflict in general means the conflict which arises among the channel partners and the company due to cross selling across territories, price disparity among channel partners, disparity in stock distribution to the channel partners, psychological assumption that there is favoritism to certain zone or channel partner or any other kind of conflict which may arise during the day to day operations in the channel business. Let’s discuss some of the techniques of handling the channel conflicts once they arise in the distribution network:
- "Main Hun Na" : No I am not talking about the movie by Sharukh Khan, I am talking about reassuring your channel partners that you are with them in this tough time and would be acting as a voice for them. Always remember that as a sales executive or territory manager you are that link which connects the company and the channel partners. Reassurance will not solve your problem completely however, you will at least get time to plan and take corrective actions.
- Analyzing the facts: Before jumping on to any kind of conclusion it is always better to analyze the facts first and then judge on the basis of the analysis results. There may be a possibility that the channel conflict allegation is just a hype that has been created by the channel partners for pressurizing the company and its executives for extra incentives. So always act on facts rather than rumours.
- Escalations: Once you have got adequate proof that the channel conflict has actually occurred, the next step is to take some action on the basis of the analyzed data. Now it’s high time take a call, whether you can sort it on your own or you need some help. If you think you need some help then escalate the issue. The best solution is to inform your immediate superior about the issue and keep them in loop. However, always remember to use humble and concerned words to communicate this rather than using bold or harsh tones. This will help you get attention of the team/management on the conflict and thus will help in some rationalizing effects.
- Educating Channel Partners & Taking Corrective Actions: All said and done you need to reach out to the root cause of the conflict and tackle it accordingly. If the channel conflict has risen due to price differences then this needs to be rationalized. The concerned channel partners need to be educated about the ways to tackle the conflicts. This may include asking them to upgrade to a higher tier, increasing their lifting etc. One other thing is getting the channel partners sign a non-territory violation treaty or contract so that the conflict due to territory violation can be mitigated. Many companies follow a channel specific/ customer specific packaging to control the channel conflict.
- Maintaining status-quo: Sometimes it is also important to maintain a status-quo. A lot of times channel conflict arises due to our own ambition to outdo sales. It may happen that the company has implemented a new strategy to boost sales. However, the strategy has backfired in its initial phase. We need to be patient so as to give time to analyze what is the result of the strategy in the pilot phase. Gradually the strategy may be a hit after the 'pilot run' or it was a big mistake. We need to check the impact and take corrective measures if the conflict is actually killing the channel partners, before any irreversible change takes place.
These are some of the points which we may use for
tackling channel conflicts. The points enumerated above may be used as a step
by step process or may be used as standalone tricks to deal with a channel conflict.
There are definitely various other ways too to tackle channel conflict.
PS: These points have been put as my personal
opinion which I have used or learned through my experience and studies.
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