In the channel, the focus is mostly on the relationship between vendors and partners. Occasionally, distribution is inserted as part of the triad that makes up the indirect route to market. The customer is often just assumed, but it shouldn’t be.
The channel is a conveyor belt of money, and the source of those funds is the customer. They’re the consumers of products and services. They’re the decision-makers, the ones who determine which brands and technologies are hits, and which are duds. Despite all the focus in the channel on partners, the real objective is satisfying customers so they buy and remain engaged.
In the entire value chain, the customer is the termination point, and the profiles and motivations of the end customer are changing. Across the board, buyers are increasingly focused on experience, outcomes, and value propositions. Customers want to know that they’re spending their money wisely and that their investments will deliver a positive experience as much as an outcome.
A significant part of the customer profile is the age range of the buyer. The majority of the workforce today consists of millennials and Gen Zers.
Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, are now in their late 20s to early 40s. They form the core of middle management and are increasingly holding top positions in the companies where they work. They’re digital natives with strong expectations that everything should be digital.
Gen Zers, born between 1997 and 2012, share many demographic characteristics with millennials, but they’ve only known a world of the Internet, digital devices, and click-through purchasing.
The defining characteristic of both generations is an inherent mistrust of institutions and traditional sales models. They don’t like engaging with salespeople. Many came of age during or after the 2008 recession, which shaped their view of large corporations as entities that don’t always act in their best interests. As a result, they prefer to research, evaluate, and make purchasing decisions independently of the traditional sales process.
This phenomenon has led to the concept of the “dark funnel,” in which buyers move through the traditional sales funnel independently, emerging at the bottom to the surprise of the seller. By the time customers are ready to buy, much of the evaluation and consideration that would normally be facilitated by a vendor or partner sales representative is already complete. Buyers are ready to purchase and prefer to do so through a sales platform or marketplace — just as they do in their consumer lives.
While this shift may seem disruptive and potentially undermining the role of sales organizations, there is good news. These buyers aren’t so naïve to believe they can do everything on their own. They still want the support of trusted advisors and service providers, but largely on their own terms. Their situation is more akin to “phoning a friend” when needed rather than engaging proactively with a sales representative or reseller.
What this shift in buyer behavior ultimately demands is not a refinement of existing channel models but a rethinking of how vendors and partners engage the market. The traditional assumption — that suppliers and their partners guide the customer through a structured sales process — is no longer valid. Today’s buyers are guiding themselves.