There is no doubt that Gahn Lane is an experienced sales and channel management professional. He began his career in the Telco Space selling PBXs and Applications. When he transitioned into the Data and Channel Partner Sales and the Management Arena, his career grew, as did his wealth of knowledge. Throughout his decades of management and leadership roles, Lane has worked with multiple global clients. He has been an individual contributor, and led teams of over 1000 staffers, throughout his experiences in security, blockchain, pLTE and Cloud, SaaS, corporate acquisition, and integration. He has launched and/or restructured GTM teams and played a key role in the growth of numerous organizations. He has taught many the proverbial rules of the road in sales and channel management and today, we have the pleasure of learning from him ourselves.
Gahn’s leadership style is characterized by his passion for growth, focus on results, and commitment to building high-performance teams. He believes that the key to success in sales and channel leadership is a relentless focus on customer needs and a deep understanding of market dynamics. He is known for his ability to drive strategic alignment across the organization and create a culture of accountability and excellence.
“I find that the ultimate point of positive return begins when I have instituted an agreed adoption and execution of a joint Partner and Alliances strategy,” said Lane. “It works because you begin to not only see success and ROI for your firm, but also for your partners. The impact becomes a noticeable trend surprisingly quickly and creates a ripple effect across all organizations: sales, finance, marketing, operations, and product management. Literally, all parties are impacted and win (or lose) together.”
Throughout his career, that “return” has come in the form of everything from new accounts to positive, long-term relationships. He could be known as a Chief Alignment Officer, of sorts, with a leadership style that is characterized by his passion for growth, focus on results, and commitment to building high-performance teams. Lane firmly believes that the key to success in sales and channel leadership is a relentless focus on customer needs and a deep understanding of market dynamics. He is known for his ability to drive strategic alignment across the organization while creating a culture of accountability and excellence. In short, he always does his homework before every conversation he enters.
Lane’s approach to channel management is no different. It’s characterized by a deep understanding of partner needs and a focus on building strong relationships. He believes that the key to successful channel partnerships is to create a mutually beneficial relationship that is built on trust and transparency. He prioritizes diversity and inclusion in every company channel strategy, while working to build a partner ecosystem that reflects the diversity of an organization’s customers and its broader business community.
Today, as a thought leader in the sales and channel space, Gahn Lane is a sought-after consultant, speaker, and writer. He has been featured in various industry publications and has spoken at numerous conferences and events. He is known for his ability to distill complex concepts into clear, actionable insights, and for his passion for helping businesses achieve growth through sales and channel excellence and maybe most importantly, for the values he lives by.
“I am willing to share the tenants I live by,” notes Gahn. “They include the following: treat all with respect. Always engage with an open mind. Make sure your own house, comp rules and priorities are clean and established. Measure three times and cut once. Ask your team and co-workers at every level for input. Celebrate success like it has never happened before. And finally, overshare the credit with your team and your partners.”
Whether you’re just getting into the channel space, or you’ve been here for a decade, Lane’s lessons are ones that have proven to net large rewards across the board. His advice: “engage with everyone you can and learn from them, including their experiences – both good and bad. There is no reason to make the same mistakes they did. You will make plenty on your own. And remember, you can never have enough allies and/or partners, or positively influence enough people, by always being gracious. It pays dividends greater than you will ever imagine.”
