By Scott Dahlgren

Looking at most partner programs, you often see a matrix listing all of the “benefits” of partnering — neatly segmented into Gold, Silver & Bronze levels. While this looks nice on the website, the basic elements that ensure a valuable, productive, and mutually beneficial partnership are often overlooked. Here’s how channel chiefs and technology companies can correct that problem.

Like a marriage, a strong partnership requires hard work, commitment, and lots of communication. I have been brought in many times to fix a “broken” partnership. I would almost always encounter lots of finger pointing, defending of positions, and blaming the other side for an unsuccessful relationship. What was really happening was a classic case of “Communication Breakdown.” Here’s a crazy idea that almost always works – ask yourself (both sides now):

If you’re honest you will probably come up with most of the following basic elements for any strong relationship.

If you focus on the basics, the result will likely be fewer, high quality partners rather than a long list of unproductive ones. While the basics are quite simple, most companies don’t do it because frankly they really aren’t that simple — they require lots of hard work — but if you make the basics a priority you will differentiate yourself from others.

Contributing blogger Scott Dahlgren is an independent consultant helping small and mid-size technology companies extract greater value from their partner and channel relationships. And he also runs marathons through the woods of Connecticut. The VAR Guy is updated multiple times daily. Don’t miss a single post. Subscribe to his newsletter, RSS feed, Twitter feed and Resource Center.