Most Technology Advisors know who they ultimately want to reach: the CIO, CTO or another enterprise technology decision-maker.
But reaching that person directly isn’t the only path to an opportunity.
Fractional CIOs. Associations. Private equity firms.
Each may already have trusted relationships with the kinds of organizations you want to reach. And each can potentially create an introduction that would be difficult to generate through traditional prospecting alone.
Instead of asking only, “Who should I prospect?” there may be another question worth asking:
Who already knows the people I want to meet?
That’s the idea behind building your own channel.
Your Channel Can Extend Beyond Your Customer List
Technology Advisors spend years developing relationships with customers and prospects. Those relationships remain at the center of the business.
But growth doesn’t have to depend entirely on building that customer list one organization at a time.
There are people and organizations around your target market that already have established relationships with multiple businesses. They may advise them, represent them, invest in them or help guide important business decisions.
Those relationships can create another path into the enterprise.
The goal isn’t to turn these organizations into technology experts. It’s to identify where there is mutual value in making an introduction.
Look for Relationships With Reach
The most interesting connection may not be someone who can introduce you to one potential customer.
It may be someone whose role naturally connects them to many.
That’s where relationships with fractional CIOs, associations and private equity firms can become particularly interesting.
Fractional CIOs
A fractional CIO may work with several organizations at the same time and often has relationships extending well beyond current engagements.
They understand the business and technology challenges their clients face. They may also recognize when technology spending, contracts, infrastructure or operational complexity deserves a closer look.
The fractional CIO doesn’t need to source every service, manage every carrier or develop every solution.
The value may simply begin with recognizing an opportunity and opening the right conversation.
Associations
Associations create a different kind of reach.
Instead of a relationship with a single business, an association may represent dozens, hundreds or even thousands of member organizations that share similar interests, operating environments or business challenges.
That creates the potential to begin with one relationship and reach a much larger community.
For the association, the opportunity needs to provide meaningful value to its members. For the Technology Partner, the association relationship can create access to organizations that may otherwise be difficult to reach individually.
The connection becomes valuable because it works for both sides.
Private Equity Firms
Private equity firms provide another example because their relationships extend across portfolios of companies.
Their focus may be different from that of a CIO. They are looking at business performance, operating costs, efficiency and value creation across the organizations in which they invest.
Technology and telecommunications spending can be part of that conversation.
A relationship with a private equity firm therefore has the potential to create opportunities across more than one portfolio company—particularly when the initial conversation begins with improving the economics of the existing environment rather than introducing another technology purchase.
Give Them a Reason to Open the Door
Identifying the relationship is only part of the strategy.
The next question is:
Why would this person or organization make the introduction?
There needs to be value for everyone involved.
The customer needs a reason to have the conversation. The referral relationship needs confidence that the introduction will be handled appropriately. And the Technology Partner needs a way to turn that introduction into a meaningful opportunity.
That’s where the conversation you lead with matters.
Shared Savings Can Create an Easier Starting Point
Introducing a new product or proposing a technology migration isn’t always the easiest reason to ask for an introduction.
EnVision Shared Savings provides another starting point.
Rather than leading with a new product or a forced migration, the conversation begins by examining what the organization is already spending and identifying opportunities to reduce costs within the existing environment.
The initial analysis is free and there is no obligation to move forward.
EnTelegent analyzes the customer’s current services, contracts and spending to identify potential savings opportunities. Recommendations may involve optimizing existing services and agreements or considering alternatives where they make business sense. The customer decides what, if anything, to implement.
When identified savings are implemented through EnVision Shared Savings, EnTelegent and the customer share in the realized savings for a defined period.
No savings = no cost—with no forced migration or obligation to implement recommendations.
For a fractional CIO, association or private equity relationship, that can create a very different reason to open the door.
The introduction isn’t necessarily:
“I have a technology solution I want to sell you.”
It can begin with:
“Would it be worth taking a no-cost look at what you’re already spending to see whether there are savings opportunities?”
That conversation can uncover much more than cost reduction.
The Introduction Can Be the Beginning, Not the Entire Role
Someone who creates an introduction doesn’t have to become responsible for delivering or supporting the resulting technology engagement.
Their role may simply be recognizing the opportunity and connecting the right people.
EnTelegent can do the heavy lifting behind the opportunity—from analyzing the environment and identifying potential savings to supporting the resulting technology conversation.
For Technology Partners, that makes it possible to develop referral relationships with people and organizations that have valuable enterprise connections without expecting them to become technology sellers.
The relationship can also create value for the person or organization making the introduction. Depending on how the referral relationship is structured, the referring party may be able to earn ongoing revenue from business generated through those introductions.
That creates an opportunity for the Technology Partner to build mutually beneficial referral relationships: the referring party opens a door they are already positioned to open, the Partner creates a new path to potential business, and EnTelegent provides the capabilities and support to help develop the opportunity.
One Relationship Can Create More Than One Opportunity
This is where building your own channel becomes different from simply asking someone for a referral.
Consider the potential reach of the relationship itself.
A fractional CIO may work with multiple businesses.
An association may have access to an entire membership base.
A private equity firm may have multiple companies within its portfolio.
One trusted relationship can therefore create a path to multiple conversations over time.
Not every introduction will become an opportunity. And not every relationship will be the right fit.
The objective is to identify relationships where the interests align: the organization receives value, the person making the introduction strengthens their relationship, and the Technology Partner creates an opportunity to help.
Start With the Relationships You Already Have
Building your own channel doesn’t necessarily mean starting another prospecting campaign.
Start by looking at the relationships already around you.
Who do you know who works with multiple enterprise organizations?
Are there fractional CIOs in your network with relationships that match your target market?
Which associations represent organizations you want to reach?
Could a private equity relationship create introductions across multiple portfolio companies?
Where could Shared Savings give someone a compelling reason to make an introduction?
The opportunity may not begin with the CIO.
It may begin with the person who already has the CIO’s trust.
Build More Paths to the Right Conversations
Your existing customer relationships remain valuable. So does traditional prospecting.
Building your own channel adds another path.
By developing relationships with fractional CIOs, associations and private equity firms, Technology Partners can expand their circle of influence and create new ways to reach organizations they want to serve.
And with EnTelegent supporting the engagement, you don’t have to build every capability—or pursue every opportunity—on your own.
You own the customer relationship. EnTelegent optimizes, delivers and supports the technology.
EXPLORE REFERRAL OPPORTUNITIES
Your next opportunity may be one relationship away. Explore how the relationships already in your circle could create new paths to opportunity.
Explore Referral Opportunities →
PARTNER GROWTH SERIES
Continue the Partner Growth Series
01 — EXPAND YOUR CIRCLE
Your Next Opportunity May Be One Relationship Away
Trusted relationships may provide a more direct path to the customers you want to reach.
02 — GO DEEPER
One Customer Relationship. More Technology Conversations.
Look beyond the initial request to uncover more of your customer’s technology needs.
03 — YOU’RE READING THIS ARTICLE
Build Your Own Channel: Look Beyond the CIO
Fractional CIOs, associations and private equity relationships can create new paths to opportunity.
04 — CREATE OPPORTUNITY
From Introduction to Opportunity: Two Ways to Build Your Channel
See how trusted relationships can create introductions—and how those introductions can develop into new opportunities.
