Revolutionizing Additive Manufacturing Sales: Unlocking Growth with 3D Alliances’ IMPACT Program

In the dynamic and rapidly evolving landscape of additive manufacturing (AM), companies constantly seek innovative strategies to expand their reach and optimize sales performance. 3D Alliances, a leading consulting firm dedicated to the 3D printing industry, has long been a pivotal resource for businesses navigating these challenges. Now, they’ve launched a groundbreaking initiative called IMPACT, a revenue acceleration program specifically designed to empower companies across the entire 3D printing value chain to achieve significant growth. This program addresses a critical industry reality: most AM companies rely heavily on distributors and channel partners for sales, making a robust and optimized channel network absolutely essential for maximizing market penetration and revenue.

To delve deeper into the mechanics and benefits of the IMPACT program, we recently connected with Gil Lavi, Founder of 3D Alliances, and Harel Ben-David, Growth Advisor at 3D Alliances. Their extensive experience and insights shed light on how IMPACT is poised to transform the additive manufacturing industry.

Meet the Visionaries: Gil Lavi and Harel Ben-David’s Journey in Additive Manufacturing

Gil Lavi brings nearly two decades of deep expertise in the 3D printing sector. His journey began with a decade at Stratasys, where he honed his skills in various channel management and strategic accounts roles. Recognizing a crucial market gap during the “3D printing hype” eight years ago—a period that saw an influx of innovative AM companies struggling to establish global sales networks—Gil founded 3D Alliances. His vision was clear: to build a global AM sales partner network that would enable these companies to identify and recruit the most suitable sales partners for their expansion. Since its inception, Gil has collaborated with countless pioneering AM companies and entrepreneurs worldwide, guiding them through the complexities of global market entry.

Harel Ben-David, with over twenty years in the tech space, has dedicated the last decade to additive manufacturing, primarily at Stratasys. His tenure included key leadership and VP positions, such as VP & GM for Engineering BU Sales in EMEA and APJ, and Global VP, Head of Business Unit. Harel recently joined the 3D Alliances team as a Growth Advisor, a role that allows him to leverage the company’s unparalleled global network of AM partners. He sees this as a unique opportunity to significantly influence and shape the future of additive manufacturing, helping companies build and grow their brands, stimulate demand, and accelerate revenue.

The Genesis of 3D Alliances and Its Comprehensive Service Portfolio

3D Alliances has established itself as a central global hub, boasting a network of over 2,000 AM resellers across 74 countries and more than 380 AM companies from 35 countries. As the additive manufacturing industry continues its rapid evolution, 3D Alliances’ core mission remains to identify and address the diverse challenges faced by AM companies. Through continuous engagement and market analysis, they have pinpointed four primary areas where most AM companies require support:

1. Building a robust global sales partner network.
2. Recruiting the right talent to drive operations.
3. Effectively promoting their brand and generating qualified leads for their products.
4. Sustaining and accelerating overall business growth.

To specifically tackle the fourth challenge—driving growth—3D Alliances developed and launched its latest initiative: the IMPACT revenue accelerator program.

Unveiling the IMPACT Program: A Strategic Approach to Channel Optimization

It’s no secret that the additive manufacturing industry has faced significant hurdles in recent years, making the path to consistent growth and profitability increasingly complex. Given that a vast majority of AM companies distribute their products through sales partners, 3D Alliances embarked on extensive research to understand the common struggles companies encounter when trying to accelerate growth through their channel networks. The goal was to pinpoint the most effective strategies to enhance channel performance.

After conducting in-depth research and engaging with dozens of AM companies and channel partners globally, a clear methodology emerged: the most effective way to optimize a channel network’s performance is by analyzing the characteristics and strategies of its top-performing partners. By dissecting what makes these partners successful, 3D Alliances can then create a custom playbook tailored for the entire network. This data-driven approach allows for the development and implementation of a targeted plan to elevate the performance of other channel partners, ensuring consistent growth across the board.

The implementation of this strategic playbook can be executed either by the client company’s internal channel management team or by outsourcing it to 3D Alliances’ dedicated task force. This specialized team works directly with sales partners, providing the necessary guidance and support to significantly improve their performance metrics and operational efficiency.

Targeting Growth: IMPACT’s Solutions for Every AM Business Stage

3D Alliances recognizes that the additive manufacturing industry comprises a diverse range of companies, each with unique operational scales and challenges. Gil Lavi identifies three distinct categories of AM companies within the current market landscape:

• Start-ups: Typically small companies with 5–50 employees, these ventures have generally sold a few dozen solutions to end-users. Their primary challenges revolve around limited sales and marketing resources, coupled with significant market penetration pains. They often struggle to establish a robust market presence due to insufficient networks and a lack of channel management expertise.
• Scale-ups: Medium-sized companies, usually with 50–150 employees, having sold a few hundred solutions. These businesses face “growing pains” and the complexities of global expansion. They require more efficient and effective global channel strategies to sustain and accelerate their growth trajectory.
• Market Leaders: Large corporations with 150–2,000+ employees, having sold thousands of solutions. Their challenges often involve managing complex channel networks and navigating crucial transition periods brought about by shifting market conditions and technological advancements.

Harel Ben-David elaborates on how the IMPACT program delivers tailored solutions for each of these profiles, addressing their specific needs. For small startups, IMPACT provides access to a new partner ecosystem and helps establish a solid foundation for proper channel management. This accelerated growth can be critical for securing new rounds of funding and improving runway, allowing founding teams to focus on product development and innovation. Critically, this support is delivered by experienced AM channel professionals at a cost-effective rate and with significant flexibility, negating the early-stage need for a full-time commercial hire.

Scale-up companies benefit from IMPACT’s ability to assess current channel performance, refine, and execute successful Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies. By leveraging the collective knowledge and best practices of 3D Alliances’ partners, the program identifies successful approaches, facilitates their replication, and aligns capabilities across the entire network to drive cohesive and impactful outcomes. Furthermore, the IMPACT program serves as a vital stopgap and bridge service for all company types during critical junctures. This includes periods of limited sales bandwidth, leaders on leave, or budget and headcount reductions, ensuring continuity and strategic momentum to accelerate revenue and prevent channel performance setbacks until a permanent leader is in place.

3D Alliances’ GTM experts integrate seamlessly as an extension of client teams, bringing profound commitment and a proactive attitude. They work collaboratively with all relevant stakeholders, fostering strong relationships and consistently delivering exceptional results.

Shaping the Future: IMPACT’s Value to the 3D Printing Industry and Beyond

Gil Lavi underscores that recent market conditions necessitate a clear and meticulously planned strategy for AM companies aiming for long-term growth, particularly concerning their channel networks. The primary value proposition of the IMPACT program lies in its robust working methodology, which guarantees channel network optimization. It brings unparalleled expertise and additional bandwidth to companies that might otherwise struggle with these complex tasks. This methodology is built upon a proprietary channel partner maturity model developed by 3D Alliances, enabling them to effectively map and categorize different types of sales partners, thereby identifying both the strengths and weaknesses within the overall network performance.

Harel Ben-David paints an ambitious vision for the future: establishing a global team of AM channel managers equipped with diverse expertise and deep market knowledge. He emphasizes a holistic approach to the entire partner lifecycle, encompassing recruitment, onboarding, education, comprehensive marketing and sales support, customer success, and sophisticated data analytics—a true full-circle engagement. As the additive manufacturing industry continues to evolve and become increasingly application-driven, companies will require a multitude of methods and platforms to connect and collaborate with various partners and customers. This necessitates an omnichannel strategy, and 3D Alliances aims to become the premier AM omnichannel provider and the central platform for fostering strategic alliances. Their objective is to connect OEMs, distributors, resellers, software companies, chemistry firms, and entrepreneurs to a diverse array of market channels. This comprehensive approach ensures an optimal product-channel fit, empowering all AM participants to effectively reach global target markets through multiple avenues and truly unlock their full potential.

For more detailed information about the IMPACT program and how it can benefit your additive manufacturing business, you can contact the expert team at 3D Alliances HERE.

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*All Photo Credits: 3D Alliances