In today’s marketplace, solutions are frequently sold by a partnership of two or more independent companies. Such partnerships allow each party to focus its resources and efforts on its core competencies and rely on the partner(s) to provide other needed components of a complete solution for the end user customer. These partnerships may be as simple as a “Go To Market” joint venture between two complementary firms or may consist of a hierarchical distribution channel. In either case, the function of the alternate channel is to augment the direct sales force and generate incremental revenue.

The Partner and Channel Planning processes bring together all the parties that have a role to play in going to market together and, through a highly structured planning methodology, produces a strategic sales plan. The plan may be one of several forms, including:

• Channel Partner Business Planning — This session develops a fundamental business plan for the channel partner.
   
• Channel Partner "Go To Market" Planning — This is a co-authored joint plan (channel partner, vendor, and distributor) that sets forth a joint "go to market" plan for the channel partner.
   
• Major Opportunity/Account Planning — This version of the planning process focuses on developing a strategic plan to win a major channel partner customer. It is typically developed jointly by the channel partner, the vendor and the distributor.
   

Partner planning provides a formal, structured process for these partners to align their resources most effectively and get to market most expeditiously.