Tiffany Dunn played a big role in fostering the LogMeIn/Jive Communications relationship.

LogMeIn completed its $350 million acquisition of Jive a year-and-a-half ago. The move accelerated LogMeIn’s overall unified communications and collaboration (UCC) strategy, and bolstered its collaboration portfolio.

As LogMeIn’s senior director of strategic partnerships, Dunn listened to complaints, made changes and stood behind the channel 100%. Operationally, she understands the need for training, fast response by localized support teams and reaffirming LogMeIn’s commitment to the channel sales model for longtime Jive partners.

LogMeIn’s Tiffany Dunn

Dunn is part of Channel Partners’ Top Gun 51, which recognizes a new generation of channel executives, those who build and execute programs in a way that drives partner, customer and supplier success.

Dunn previously was Jive’s vice president of strategic partnerships, and before joining Jive spent 12 years in various partner leadership roles at Cisco.

In a Q&A with Channel Partners, Dunn talks about her experience in the channel and gives advice for future channel leaders.

Channel Partners: How did you first become involved in the channel? Was it part of your overall career plan? 

Tiffany Dunn: I started my career as a sales rep for a technology company that was channel-friendly. I quickly realized I couldn’t cover my territory and exceed my quota without leveraging key channel partnerships. That’s how I got a taste of the channel, and it opened my eyes to the power of a fully enabled, loyal channel ecosystem. From there, I was asked to help build new channels for a mostly direct-selling company. Those two experiences sparked my interest to keep building my career in the channel.

CP: Have you been responsible for building channel programs from the ground up? If so, how did your experience come into play in these processes?

TD: I’ve worked on building channel programs in multiple roles, improving them and building them from scratch. I learned early that building the right program is the result of getting feedback from your current and prospective partner base. It’s important to pull from your experience and understand what competition is doing, but that doesn’t mean what’s already been done is necessarily the right answer.

CP: What have you learned most from your experience with the channel and partners?

TD: I’ve learned that it’s always important to understand what value you can bring to your partners and customers, not what they can give you. If you go into a partnership with a giving attitude, you’ll enjoy a long-lasting relationship.

CP: What are the components of a successful channel program? Are there things that used to work, but now don’t?

TD: A successful channel program has a few basic fundamentals that help partners with the sales cycle, from prospecting through closed sales, and then successfully maintaining a customer base. Profitability is obviously very important, but it’s not necessarily the most important element. If your product is the most profitable in a category, but is not a solid product or is incredibly complicated, it won’t work long term. Instead, keeping it simple and being easy to work with will keep partners coming back.

CP: What do you consider your biggest accomplishments in working with the channel?

TD: I started a project to open up a new channel partner in China. It gave me a different perspective of how …

… to conduct business outside my comfort zone. I also revamped an antiquated incentive program, which focused on driving new SaaS partner behaviors. More recently, I built the VAR strategy inside of Jive Communications. The VARs are in transition from on-premises hardware sales with heavy professional services to cloud-based services with different types of service opportunities. LogMeIn’s broader value proposition fit very well into its trusted adviser approach.

CP: What are your career goals going forward?

TD: Becoming a part of the LogMeIn family affords us an ability to take a suite of solutions to our partner base. I’m excited about expanding our channel strategy across the entire organization.

CP: What sort of advice would give someone who is just starting out in channel leadership?

TD: Be creative and think about new ways to innovate, and of course always listen to your partners. Although best practices can be helpful, it’s not always right to do what has proved successful in the past. Never say, “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”