Agent Channel Impact (cont.): The End of Swag?
By James Anderson
The job cuts have also opened up fresh (yet timeless) conversations about what channel investment should look like. Seeing a peer post on LinkedIn about the whiskey they received from a layoff-happy vendor can no doubt spark such thoughts.
Partners and suppliers alike have publicly voiced long-veiled frustrations about the way vendors are spending in the TSD channel. Namely, many feel that vendors are spending money exorbitantly on activities that don’t generate ROI. Gadda said in 2021 she witnessed a crescendo of marketing-related expenses from suppliers as they vied for the attention of partners at TSD events and through gifts. And often, the collective spending escalated as suppliers suffered from FOMO.
Now the voices calling for the end of those excesses is rising louder. Partners and consultants have called for fewer holiday parties. Others, like Rob Devita, have called for a partner boycott of swag.
“I would much rather have a channel manager who’s very very good than have an OK channel manager and a Patagonia vest,” he said.
And it appears that the tide was already turning on many fronts when it comes to vendor spending in the TSD channel.
“Almost every vendor I talked to is reducing spend this year from a marketing perspective, whether that’s events, swag or MDF funds,” Devita said. I haven’t talked to one who says, ‘Hey, we’re dumping more money into marketing this year.’ They’re dealing with less money. They’re going to be more pointed and direct with it.”
Although layoffs have brought some of the advisory channel’s long-held frustrations to the fore, it has also brought up the best side of the industry: its deep sense of interconnected community. Members of suppliers, TSD and technology advisor firms alike have offered their help to affected people.
“I think we’ve seen a surge of humanity,” Gadda said. “The amount of people who are trying to support the folks that are being laid off by opening their networks or trying to leverage interviews for people, is heartwarming.”
