Channel Conflict

Channel conflict arises in sales environments where both direct sales teams and channel partners are active, and they end up competing for the same customers or deals. This friction can lead to lost revenue, reduced partner trust, and internal misalignment.

Types of Channel Conflict:

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• Vertical conflict: Between different levels — e.g., a direct sales team competing with a partner for the same deal.
• Horizontal conflict: Between partners at the same level — like two VARs targeting the same account or region.

To mitigate channel conflict, companies need clear rules of engagement, well-defined account ownership, and compensation structures that support collaboration.

Introw PRM includes built-in conflict detection — ensuring partner and sales teams are always aware of overlapping deals and can address issues early through CRM visibility.

Example:
A direct AE and a partner both pursue the same customer. With Introw, the partnership team is alerted automatically, reviews deal overlap in Salesforce, and works with both parties to resolve it before tension builds.

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