You Gotta Serve Somebody

You may be a business-man or some high-degree thief,

They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief.

But you’re going to have to serve somebody!

Bob Dylan

Dylan’s highly insightful words came to mind recently when I was discussing channel strategy with a client (give him a listen). They asked about who would be the best channel partner to recruit for their product. This is the wrong way to design a channel.

Always start with the end user – the final consumer; the place where the buck well and truly stops. Once you have clarity on that, you can work backwards to figure out the best way to connect to the end user.

For example, if you manufacture solar panels, you serve the distributer, who serves the contractor, who serves the property owner, who serves the tenants, who serve their families, who in fact also serve the environment. So, in this case, when you design your channel start with the environment and work backwards through the value chain ensuring that you have the appropriate intermediaries in place. You’ll be glad you did.

We serve business leaders who want to grow their businesses who serve their employees, who serve their customers, who serve…

See you next time,

Andrew