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Laura Dashney - Insights from the First Head of Channel · Partnerships Unraveled

• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to Partnerships Unraveled, the podcast where we unravel the mysteries about partnerships, and channel on a weekly basis.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: My name is Alex Whitford, I'm the VP of Revenue here at Chanext and this week I'm very excited to welcome our special guest, laura.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: How are you doing?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I'm doing wonderful.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Alex.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Good, I'm very excited to have you on.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Maybe, for the uninitiated, you can give us a little bit of a rundown of who you are and where you come from.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Sure, absolutely so.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: My name is Laura Dashney and I'm currently the head of channel success over at Nextiva.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I'm formerly a TA for 15 years with a company called Lanyard Networks that I co-founded.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: From there we were actually purchased from Upstack in 2021.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: So been around a little bit doing some different things with the trends and stuff that are going on right now out there in the industry.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I've been in the industry, however, since 1998, kind of run the full gamut, everything from starting off selling cell phones and pagers to working with the C-Lex, the Lex Fix Wireless and then the partner community, so kind of had a full circle event there throughout my lifetime in this technology field.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: I think for the Eagle-eared among us you will have heard Head of Channel Success, which I think is an interesting job title, and I know something that you sort of helped design and is the sort of first hire of that role in certainly your business and maybe the industry.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Maybe you can talk us through what that means, what you're responsible for, how you came about that role.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Absolutely so.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: It was really interesting.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I was trying to last year when our earn out was done with Upstack in 2024, I was trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I'd been doing so many things on my own independently as an entrepreneur for so many years and I really had a decision to make.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: You know, in my mind I looked at three things Do I want to start a new agency, do I want to go into consulting or do I want to go back to corporate America?
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And I spent an arduous amount of time actually kind of journaling on those three opportunities and really what was the best fit for me for this time in my life.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: And I landed on going back to corporate America.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: But one of the things that was really important for me was to have a position where I could bring incredible value and impact, and so I started writing my own job vision and taking all of my experience that I've had from being in the industry and mapping it out to where I could really bring value to an organization, and it was pretty amazing to go through the process.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: It was about a three-month process.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I interviewed channel chiefs, I interviewed marketing people marketing leaders in our space and I interviewed partners and the goal of those interviews was to find a gap that was existing out there in the industry, and how could I fill it right with was?
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I had three different channel chiefs that I was talking to and it was kind of like what's going to be the right fit for me and we actually and I know we're going to chat about this probably a little bit later as well, but I wound up choosing a company that was headquartered in my own backyard and there was a lot of value to that that I know we can dive into as well.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I think we've done a little bit of prep, so I know quite a lot about your role.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: I think your position emphasizes being sort of 70% tactical, 30% strategic.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: How does that sort of as a puzzle piece does fit in, with you working closely with the channel chief?
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and so.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: So in my interviews that was one of the things we found You're absolutely spot on about that, alex is typically what you see is the channel chief is 70% strategy and they're 30% tactical, if that Sometimes it's even 80-20, depending upon who they are and the organization they're in.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: But where the gap is is they don't have time to do the tactical piece of it.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: So when they're out on the road which they should be most of the time visiting partners going to different events that they're a part of, which they should be most of the time visiting partners going to different events that they're a part of, they're really the voice of.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Whoever the company is they're working for is typically what you find, and to be able to deliver on the promises and stuff that they're given is very difficult.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: There's only so much time in a day, right.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: So the position was designed specifically around that, about me being the tactical component of that really being kind of the yin and yang, right.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: So we understand, I understand the strategy, I understand the channel, but I also understand how to go execute on it and be cross-functional throughout the organization, because channel as a whole does fit into every piece of an organization, typically in some way, um and be the you know, feet on the ground, making sure that all the things are happening and the partners are being supported the way they need to be supported and deliverables are happening yeah, you touch on um channel chief being on the road a lot right speaking to partners, and I think one of the things that is so important about partner feedback is is that's your connection to the customer, um, and so ultimately, that's how you're going to iterate your product, your strategy, your vision.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: However, uh, poorly executing channel chiefs fail to deliver on some of that communication, some of those promises.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: How do you sort of support and ensure that there isn't a failure to deliver?
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: And we are following up on those promises.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's entirely what my job is.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: It's talking with the channel chief on a regular basis, I mean constantly.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: We're on the phone all day long, throughout.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I mean really it's.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I've always said garbage in, garbage out, right, the information that's coming to you has to be good and not bad, all of the above.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: So fortunately, the relationship I have with our channel chief is really informative in that manner of where I know what it is he's doing, I know what his meetings are about, I know the promises that have been made and then I can take the tactical approach from there to go execute on the deliverables.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I don't I don't want to knock any channel chiefs, but typically that's not their forte, that's not their strength.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: So having someone like me come to the table, who that is their strength, to be detailed oriented and tactical has been an extreme value for him and for our organization as a whole to be able to ensure that deliverables are being met and things are happening and communication flow is happening, not only back to the channel chief but to the partners and other pieces of the organization as well.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: You sort of touched on the fact that you interviewed a few different people and roles to sort of bring out the insights and craft your role.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: I imagine you learned a lot through that process.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: I'd love to hear some of the information that you got that potentially have even informed some of the strategies you've deployed at Nextiva.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: So I think one of the things you know, identifying the gap right and what does that look like?
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: We've touched on it a little bit too.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: But you know, all challenges have a challenge with keeping things aligned with the different people reporting to them as well.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: It's not just reporting back to the partners, but it's also alignment with the people that are within their organization, and they have to keep all the people in sync with the strategies because, again, they're the one who's in charge of the strategies.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: So, with all the time on the road, it's hard to do that, it can be problematic.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: So that's also one of the pieces of my job too is to make sure that all of the internal resources and are aligned, the sales organization is aligned with.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Here's the strategy that we're executing on and here's why you know I mean the why is always really important and that cannot get lost in the conversation.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I think if an organization understands the why, you have success.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that alignment in terms of cultural importance, I think that's really sort of mandatory for success, right, Because I think otherwise we play this game where I tell you a message, you tell someone else a message and you get this sort of dissemination that isn't quite accurate.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: So how you align people culturally becomes the message in itself, right, and I think that can really help drive that accuracy of message 100%.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I think when you said that I was kind of chuckling because in my mind I was thinking about the game of telephone, you know, when we were younger.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: And by the time the message starts here and gets to the end, it's completely different.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: By the time the message starts here and gets to the end, it's completely different.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know exactly and I think the piece there it's telephone is one-to-one-to-one-to-one, right.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: The problem actually, when you're a channel chief is like one-to-five and then five-to-fifty and then fifty-to-a-hundred, and then you're like, oh, this is going to break down and there's so much misalignment which causes that sort of enterprise lag that's so painful.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: So how do we align people on message, on culture and sort of drive, vision and directions critical to long-term success?
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Um, you touched on in your introduction how, uh, you've joined a new company and you've built a new role.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Um, that I imagine is a challenging place to almost land, because that, one, there's an expectation of delivery, I imagine pretty quickly.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: But two, you've also got to baseline the existing people on what your new role is and where you're focused and where you specialize.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: What was some of the biggest challenges that you found in those first few months?
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: That's a really good question and, honestly, I know exactly what it was.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: One of the biggest challenge was actually defining swim lanes to ensure that everyone in the organization knew what they were supposed to be doing, because the swim lanes changed a bit because you have someone like me come in and we have, you know, three VPs of sales and a head of UCXM, and so there is definitely some crossover in some of the things that we do.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: But really defining the swim lanes has probably been the most challenging, because it is a new position within the organization and everyone has to, number one, understand what the position is, but also develop trust around it too, starting to flow in the right direction as it relates to leadership, channel leadership, understanding the swim lanes and being in a position where everyone's embracing each other and fully trusting what it is we're trying to accomplish, because we all have a big goal and it's the same goal, and how are we getting there and being complementary to each other.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: So I think that's probably the biggest challenge we had.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Also in your introduction you spoke through that you chose a company that was, you know, in your backyard right.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: You were being close and actually being physically in the office was important.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Talk me through why you see that as such an important thing to drive success.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, we live in a virtual world very much and have for many, many years and in a way I guess you could think it's kind of old school but being able to walk down the hall and be involved in the hallway conversations, understand the nuances that are going on within the office, having channel leadership call me to say, hey, I'm having a struggle with this.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, I can literally walk down the hall and go tap someone on the shoulder In our organization here.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: The executive leadership team is here most all the time.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Some of them live here, some don't, but they're here quite a bit.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot of different conversations being here at the office that I'm pulled into from a tactical perspective that the channel needs to be aware of and informed about.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: You know, we might not be leading all these initiatives by any means, but we definitely are a part of them and have to be informed.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Being here at headquarters, any of those ad hoc meetings, any of that stuff that's happening, I'm able to be pulled in on.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: And I didn't know how I was going to like coming to an office five days a week and it's not mandatory, I can be remote.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: It's been a choice and it's actually been a really good one, and I would highly recommend for anyone creating this position within their organization that it's someone that's there in the office, because it's been incredibly impactful for us.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I, I fully agree.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: I'm uh well I I used to work from zoom.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Uh, I think I worked for zoom for two and a bit years and I never once went to the office.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: So it was all digital, it was all COVID.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: But now I run a sales organization.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I'm in the office every single day and my advice always to young salespeople is be in the office.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: It's so much easier to drive development and gain progression and find mentors and build culture and build relationships and habits being in the office.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: I'm a real evangelist that for seniority and flexibility, remote work is a powerful tool and I don't think I'd ever worked for a company where I couldn't be remote when I wanted to.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: However, if you really want to drive speed and success in the office and that direct collaboration just removes that one layer of friction that you know meeting digitally doesn't yeah, you're spot on about that.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: I think more companies should move back to that, honestly.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: I think the real trouble with the return to the office motion is, I think the messaging is all over the place, which is people are like, no, no, I want to be able to walk my dog and do the things and they're like, yeah, great, but that's just because going back to the office is not enjoyable enough for people and, rather than pushing, get them to want to come.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: That's really how that big shift can happen.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: You spoke about the channel re-imagined initiative when we did some prep, including the development of sort of pods for partner management.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about how that vision came about and really how that's helping drive success at Nextiva.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: So you know, when I came on board literally day three, it was Laura we're going to reorg, what does that look like?
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: And so there was a good team, you know, collaborating and really talking about how do we best support the partner, how do we put our best foot forward in the industry and in the channel, and what does that look like.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: So, traditionally, most companies and most suppliers nowadays have that one-to-one type of relationship.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: They'll have a partner manager, slash, you know, AKA channel manager that's assigned to a partner, right?
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Well, the reason we created the pods is we wanted to be able to have more resources available to the partners.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: So everything from a partner manager to sellers that are specific to different segments of the business meaning, if it's a commercial type customer, if it's a mid market customer, an enterprise customer, we have sellers from each of those divisions that are assigned to the pods, and then we also have solutions consultants from an engineering standpoint, as well as field marketing managers.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: So what we found that that's doing is it's really creating a lot of value because it's hugely resource rich for our partners and they also know who to go to, and it's not one person, it's multiple.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: So if you have any attrition.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Your whole relationship isn't gone right.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: It's still intact and people are really loving people meaning the partners and the TAs are really loving the ability to be able to have dedicated resources that they know they can pick up the phone.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: They trust them.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: They're developing trust, and it was something we just did last quarter.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Them they're developing trust, and it was something we just did last quarter.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: So we've seen a lot of positive feedback and heard a lot of positive feedback on creating this, just because of the alignments, the relationship, the trust and the level of resources that they have available to them at their disposal.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I think one of the things that's really interesting about the position that you're in today is Nextiva has obviously gone through some product growth and market change in terms of heading from SMB all the way up to now enterprise, which presents an opportunity and a challenge when it comes to building a channel.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: What role does partner enablement play in helping drive that sort of transformation?
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's huge.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: I mean partners have to be enabled no-transcript from different training programs that we're putting up, even pod team calls.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: you know where we have the pods that meet together on a regular basis and we're doing better together pod webinars that are actually taking off quite nicely, where the partners that are in those pods are coming together with the individuals that are in the next diva pods to be able to be talking and collaborating, asking questions and understanding that more and so that drives the enablement as well, because we're doing some training sessions in there and things like that as well I had, uh uh, antoine, who's uh one of the founders of a company called jump cloud, on and he was really big on msp to msp collaboration, which is really funny because you think, well, this is my competitor, but he's fostering these communities all over the world and what's happening is msps are sharing best practices, um and so, for very light, lift life cost for the vendor, the MSPs are teaching each other how to be successful for that brand, forming relationships, forming partnerships, and I think, one, there's a lovely sort of warm feeling that that brings.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: But two, there's a real commercial bite to really driving that collaboration.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: It sounds like you're building something quite interesting.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we are too, and I'm a big fan of collaborating, even like to like, like you said, msp to MSP.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: You know a little bit historical here for a moment, but when I was a partner, I helped to develop a peer group and it was 10 of us that we were essentially competitors, but we were spread across the country there's plenty of business to go around and we collaborated on everything best practices, all of the above and we became like a family.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Honestly, we had a little reunion last October at a national event and it was wonderful to see each other.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: But I think the same can be done with suppliers as well.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Awesome, maybe just flipping into a bit of future vision stuff.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: What trends or changes do you predict for the channel ecosystem over the next few years?
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know well.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, of course, nobody can predict the future.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: I'll just start with that.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's a good place to start, but I think, within the channel ecosystem, with products and services that we can offer, it's ever expanding, right, so it's only getting more complex and we should expect nothing less than that going forward.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: With that in mind, I do believe that partner enablement which is what I just mentioned and preparedness is going to be of the utmost importance.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: If we're not preparing our partners and even our internal employees honestly for that trend and how fast technology and products and services are moving you know, ai, automation, all the things that are going into all of our platforms now then we're not putting our best foot forward.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: We're not going to be able to give the best service for the customers in a very growing, complex world.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Enablement is key.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: I love that answer, laura.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: I think anyone who's not building for that future today is going to find themselves very far behind in a very short amount of time.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: We also like to think about the future, and the way we do that on this podcast is to always ask our current guest who they think we should have on next.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Who do you have in mind?
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Well, I would like to nominate Scott Forbush.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Scott Forbush is the channel chief here at Nextiva, who not only believed in me but believed in the role in this position that I had a job vision for, and he fully embraced it, and I think he would be a wonderful person for you to interview next.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Awesome, scott, we're coming for you, laura.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and vision.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you, alex.