The Need: Partner vs Distributor
Learning about the need of new-age businesses / edtech companies, we can see that it is now no more limited to gaining monetary profits. Nowadays, businesses & edtech companies also seek out to establish healthy long – term relationships among various stakeholders & edtech startups. To amplify the profit and to get a stronghold in the market to rule out other competitors, it becomes inevitable to develop relationships with a deeper understanding of each other’s business strategies, core competencies, organizational structure, company culture and various other aspects including its vision and mission to carry out the business.
also seek out to establish healthy long – term relationships among various stakeholders & edtech startups. To amplify the profit and to get a stronghold in the market to rule out other competitors, it becomes inevitable to develop relationships with a deeper understanding of each other’s business strategies, core competencies, organizational structure, company culture and various other aspects including its vision and mission to carry out the business.
The only way this can be done is by partnering with the business company. Channel partnering is a gateway to a WIN-WIN situation for both parties. Simply selling the product of the company by a seller or distributor will lead to loss of both the parties in today’s competitive market and neither will be able to deliver value-added services to the right customer.
Considering the cut-throat competitive edtech companies in India and the shift in business has generated a great opportunity for the Channel partner firms. However, there are some tactics to be considered by channel partners before entering into a partnership with edtech companies.
8 things the channel partner should consider before partnering with the EdTech companies
1. Inclination towards Education and Technology
The passion to work in the Education field and the know-how of 21st-century technology is a must if you are planning to work for an edtech startup such as Tinkerly or a giant. Lacking the interest or knowledge of the edtech startups in India will lead to unsuccessful business and a loss for both the partners. So, before partnering with an EdTech companies evaluate your willingness and readiness to work in the technology-enriched education industry.
2. Scope of the business
A business succeeds if it caters to either of the two – peoples’ problems or peoples’ needs. Identify what the parent company is targeting. Whether it is successful in addressing the peoples’ needs or solving their problems. If none of the targets is being achieved, it is better to give another thought to your partnering decision. Though this doesn’t mean that it will be a total failure until you try hard extraordinarily as a channel partner and through your mastermind strategies emerge as a leader in the EdTech company in India, benefiting the parent company too.
3. Value of the parent company
It is wise to work with a firm which is stable in all sense. Before partnering, evaluate the value of the parent firm in terms of monetary capital as well as its reputation in the market. It also includes understanding the company by exploring its fundamentals, ethics and morals that they value. Also, discover their objective behind the business they are doing. This will ensure you a safe and healthy future business on good terms and a hassle-free smooth process.
4. The product innovation and its need
The next important thing is to meticulously focus on the product or service offered by the parent company. In today’s hyper-competitive industry of Education and Technology, it is inevitable for businesses to come up with an innovative and extraordinary product or service to survive. Look out for what your prospective partner is offering to the world. Whether it is something worth to spend money or not. For this, you also need to study the market and discover the void or need for that particular product or service.
5. The sellability of the product
Sometimes the ideas are great, but when put to practical use, it turns out to be a total failure. This might happen if you skip checking for the sellability of the product. It may seem that the product by the company is highly innovative and also solves the user’s problems. But how sellable is the product is completely a different parameter which will judge the success of the firms. This includes deciding upon the selling price versus the benefits it provides, the reliability of the product, the result orientation, the touch and feel and other validating factors.
6. Understanding the segment to serve
As it is said, “Customer is the King”, we need to accurately understand the targeted segment of the market for whom the product is meant. The company’s decision to target the niche or a mass market, targeting the emotional, social or intellectual facet of the customer segment, etc. is to study. Analysing the potential customers will give a great insight into the product’s success rate. It also lets you understand how much efforts you need to put in the partnership and the returns you will be able to generate. Thus, a snapshot on future success to decide upon the partnering decision.
7. A pre-deal meeting
Before entering into any kind of deal or signing the agreement that is constantly shouting “profit” in your ears, it is essential to have a long satisfying conversation with the founder members of the company. This will help you to understand their motive behind the product and to get a deeper dive into their thinking, personality types and business culture as a whole. This will not only clear your doubts but will also ease up your task to market it correctly. It will also save much of your time and energy, delivering services at a low cost. Understanding the partner will help to build trust and comfort zone to work seamlessly.
8. Your role and value-adding
Last and most important factor to be considered is introspecting you as a “Channel partner”. Identify what would be your role as a partner firm. Whether you would be dealing with marketing strategies or sales and distribution will also be looked upon by you. Also, evaluate what extra value will you add to the manufacturing firm and its product and thereby increasing the sales. It is notable here that if you can add value to the existing product, it will add value to your business in return directly or indirectly along with benefitting the EdTech firm.
Now, the decision is Yours!
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