That’s the message from the Cisco Partner Summit earlier this month. Cisco has a behemoth product line and a jumble of programs that resemble my niece’s pick up sticks game. But at least Cisco knows it – which is more that I can say for the other IT industry leaders.

Cisco’s message to partners was don’t try to sell everything we offer and don’t try to participate in all our programs. Choose wisely. Differentiate yourself by making smart investments in technologies and markets. Choose unified communication, core products or the new SMB products. Invest in the training and certification that meets your business model and capitalize on the differentiation this focus and specialty creates for you. Utilize the programs that help you leverage your strengths and reach your markets. Do not try to swallow the whole ocean of opportunity – cast your net wisely.

This is certainly sage advice when presented with a myriad of options, but not easily completed. Most of the solution provider partners I talked to at the Cisco Partner Summit were swimming in information. The Cisco regional teams were introducing new programs designed to help the partners attract, develop and retain qualified talent; become skilled or “ready” to sell, install and manage a variety of advanced technology products; AND programs to increase profitability (enhancements to Cisco’s OIP). These were just the initiatives being launched in some of the regional break outs. The corporate teams were also pushing new technology solutions such as TelePresence and Smart Business Communications System (SBCS for those in the know) and new programs such as the Select level and the Cisco Smart Care Service for Small and Medium Businesses. That was just three days and one vendor in the life of a solution provider. Next stop: IBM PartnerWorld for another deluge.

It’s very difficult for solution providers to sort through the options and choose the programs and technologies that best suit them. For one, they often don’t know what their corporate strategy is – unless they’re Dimension Data or IPcelerate – they might be just hanging on to the products and solution they’ve been selling for years and making minor tweaks to the strategy that has kept the lights on and the kids in private school.

Also, there is such a waterfall of communications on program initiatives and options, many solution providers just tune out. They opt for the status quo and self-reliance verses try to keep up with the notices and communications from all their vendors on all the programs, activities, tools, initiatives and resources available to them.

One reseller I had lunch with hadn’t until recently realized Cisco offered a deal registration program (OIP). He kept losing deals in the purchase phase and couldn’t figure out why – as he had completed the needs analysis, design, and solution recommendation. Of course those 10 additional margin points for registering the opportunity with Cisco might have something to do with it. It was then and there that this small, Minnesota-based solution provider realized he needed to invest time in understanding the benefits he qualified for in his top vendors (Cisco, Microsoft and IBM). He could only choose three vendors to dive deep on because of the total dedication and time it took to learn the ins-and-outs of the products, programs and relationships for these three massive organizations. Vendor management is now consuming his entire work week. He hadn’t decided on where to focus with these three vendors – he was STILL in the data gathering stage and promised an update to me at IBM PartnerWorld in early May.

It’s nice to recommend to solution providers to “focus and specialize” but how many small- and mid-sized solution providers can afford these resources to investigate the options so they can make intelligent decisions? And, across how many vendors can they conduct this analysis? If the vendors want to be “easy to do business with”, what is their responsibility to help the partners quickly and easily navigation the offerings? Isn’t that the Channel Account Manager’s job? What if the partner isn’t producing enough revenue for the vendor to qualify as a “managed” partner?

We’re thinking about going into the business of helping solution providers evaluate, select and focus on particular program offerings that align with their business and market opportunity. Rather than consuming their own VP of Product’s time with this analysis and vendor management – just hire an outsourced agency that already knows the programs. What do you think? Crazy?