3D Alliances Talks IMPACT, the Revenue Accelerator Program for AM Companies

You have probably already heard of 3D Alliances. The 3D printing consulting company is dedicated to offering additive manufacturing companies different services for their businesses. Now, they have announced the launch of IMPACT, a program that aims to help companies across the 3D printing value chain to grow. This idea arose from the fact that most of these companies sell their solutions through distributors, having a strong and optimized channel network is crucial to maximize sales performance. We spoke with Gil Lavi and Harel Ben-David, from 3D Alliances, to learn more about the IMPACT program and the benefits it brings to the additive manufacturing industry.

3DN: Could tell us a little about yourself and your connection to 3D printing?

Gil: I have spent 18 years in the 3D printing industry, out of those, I worked at Stratasys for 10 years at various channel management and strategic accounts roles. Then, 8 years ago, I founded 3D Alliances – a 3D printing consultancy company. 3D Alliances was established during the big 3D printing hype that brought into the industry a large number of new AM companies with innovative technologies, who were looking for the right path to expand their business globally. I recognized this challenge and decided to build a global AM sales partner network to enable companies to find and recruit the right sales partners for them. Since then, I met dozens of amazing AM companies, and worked with great with entrepreneurs from all over the world.

Harel: I’ve been in the tech space for over twenty years, with the last decade focused on additive manufacturing, mostly at Stratasys. I’ve held key leadership roles and VP positions, including VP & GM for Engineering BU Sales in EMEA and APJ, and Global VP, Head of Business Unit. Recently, I joined the 3D Alliances team as a Growth Advisor. Joining 3D Alliances, with their unparalleled global network of AM partners, presents a great opportunity to influence and shape the future of additive manufacturing and assist AM companies in building and growing their brands, driving demand, and accelerating revenue.

3DN: How did 3D Alliances start? What services do you offer to AM companies?

Gil: 3D Alliances first and foremost is a global hub of over 2,000 AM resellers from 74 countries, and over 380 AM companies from 35 countries. As the industry evolves, our primary goal is recognizing the different challenges AM companies face and find ways to support them. So far, we recognized four different challenges that are common for the vast majority of AM companies – building a global sales partner network, recruiting the right talent, promoting their brand and generating leads for their products, and the last one is driving growth. To help them with this task, we launched our newest initiative called IMPACT – a revenue accelerator program.

3DN: Could you tell us more about the IMPACT program? What is the goal?

Gil: It’s no secret that the AM industry has encountered significant challenges in recent years, when the path to growth and profitability has become much more challenging. Since the vast majority of the AM companies are selling their products via sales partners, we decided to examine the common challenges AM companies are struggling with when driving growth via their sales partners and find the best way to help them ramp up the channel performance.

After conducting our own research and speaking with dozens of AM companies and channel partners from all over the world, we found out that the best way to optimize the performance of a channel network, is analyzing and understanding what makes the top performing channel partners so successful, and out of this to create a custom playbook for the entire network. This way, the right plan can be set and implemented to ramp up other channel partners.

The implementation itself can be done by the company’s channel management team or outsourcing it to 3D Alliances task force that will work directly with the sales partners, taking them a step up in their performance.

The channel network performance pyramid by 3D Alliances

3DN: Who is this initiative aimed at? What are the target industries?

Gil: we recognize three different types of AM companies in the current landscape of the industry:

• Start-ups – small companies with typically 5–50 people that have sold a few dozen of their solutions to end users. The main challenges they are facing are limited sales and marketing resources, and market penetration pains – struggling to establish a presence in the market due to an insufficient network and lack of channel management expertise.
• Scaleups – medium-sized companies with typically 50–150 people that have sold a few hundred of their solutions to end users. The main challenges they are facing are growing pains, and global expansion – need for a more efficient and effective global channel strategy to support growth.
• Market leaders – large corporations with typically 150–2,000+ people that have sold a few thousand of their solutions to end users. The main challenges they are facing are a complex channel networks and facing crucial transition periods due to the changing market conditions.

Harel: The IMPACT program from 3D Alliances is designed to provide tailored solutions for each of these profiles according to their specific needs. A small startup can gain access to a new partner ecosystem and set the right foundation for proper management, accelerating growth to support a new round of funding and improve runway. This provides the founding team with the freedom to focus on product development and innovation, supported by experienced AM channel professionals, all at a cost-effective rate and with the benefit of flexibility. There’s no need for a full-time commercial person in the early stage of the venture.

A scale-up company can use the IMPACT program to assess their channel performance and refine and execute a successful GTM strategy. By leveraging the partner’s collective know how and best practices, the program helps identify what works well, replicate successes, and align capabilities across the network to drive cohesive, impactful outcomes. In addition, and applicable to all type of companies the IMPACT program also serves as a stopgap and bridge service during crucial times like limited sales bandwidth, leaders on leave, or budget and headcounts reduction, ensuring continuity and strategic momentum to accelerate revenue and avoid channel performance setback until a full leader joins.

The channel network dashboard analysis by 3D Alliances

Our GTM experts join your team as an extension, bringing deep commitment and a proactive attitude. They work alongside you, engaging with all relevant stakeholders, ensuring strong relationships, and delivering great results.

3DN: What value does this project bring to the 3D printing industry? Where do you see the program in 10 years?

Gil: The market conditions have changed in the past several years. These days, AM companies that are aiming for a long-term growth, must have a clear and well-planned working a plan, especially when it comes to its channel network. The main value the IMPACT program brings is a working methodology that will ensure channel network optimization, bringing expertise and additional bandwidth to companies. The methodology is based on a channel partner maturity model that we developed that will help us map and categorize different types of sales partners, to recognize weak and strong points in the entire network performance.

Harel: Our vision is to establish a global team of AM channel managers with diverse expertise and market knowledge. We really think about the entire partner lifecycle, from recruitment to onboarding, education, marketing & sales, customer success, data and analytics, kind of a full circle if you will. As the AM industry evolves and becomes more application-driven, companies will need various methods and platforms to connect and work with different partners and customers, requiring an omnichannel strategy. We aim to be an AM omnichannel provider and the central platform fostering strategic alliances. We will connect OEMs, distributors, resellers, software companies, chemistry firms and entrepreneurs to various market channels. This approach ensures optimal product-channel fit, enabling AM participants to effectively reach global target markets through multiple avenues.

The Channel partner maturity model by 3D Alliances

You can find more information about the IMPACT program by contacting 3D Alliances’ team, HERE.

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*All Photo Credits: 3D Alliances