Long tail partners are the partners that sit in the 80% of a vendors partner group, but only generate 20% of their revenue. For many vendors, time, money and resources have been put to work trying to build and cultivate partners in that 80% to become bigger revenue generating partners, but is this the right thing to do? Will these partners continue to transact the revenue they already do without additional programs, funding and support?
Jay McBain has written quite an interesting article for ARN arguing that vendors need to stop looking at their partners purely based on the amount of revenue they do. He suggests that perhaps partner programs need to be less focused on revenue generated and look more at the markets and sub-markets that these partners take vendor solutions into. It is an interesting perspective and Jay makes some very good points. Read the article to learn more.