Partnerships Unraveled
The weekly podcast where we unravel the mysteries of partnerships and channel to help you become more successful.
Partnerships Unraveled
Bill Bellano - Rebuilding Trust and Scaling Smart
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In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Bill Bellano, U.S. Channel Leader at Proofpoint, whose 15+ years of experience across cybersecurity vendors like Fortinet, Bitdefender, and SonicWall have shaped a dynamic, on-the-ground view of channel evolution. Bill shares actionable insights on re-establishing partner trust, scaling smart in underserved commercial segments, and building high-performing channel teams in today’s outcomes-first market.
Channel professionals will learn how to navigate the shift from transactional selling to ecosystem-driven engagement, why listening without defensiveness rebuilds partner mindshare, and how to scale indirect revenue through simplicity and enablement. We also dive into the key attributes Bill looks for in channel account managers with emphasis on consistency, partner-centricity, and strategic execution.
If you're focused on improving partner performance, driving predictable pipelines through commercial channels, or building a more resilient partner motion, this episode offers clarity, strategy, and inspiration. Tune in and take away frameworks you can apply immediately.
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Welcome back to Partnerships Unraveled, the podcast where we unravel the mysteries about channels and partnerships on a weekly basis. My name is Effa and I'm excited to introduce today's special guest, Bill. Bill, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_01Eva, I'm doing great. Glad to be here.
Bill’s Background And Career Arc
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you for joining us. Uh Bill, for those who may not know who you are, could you tell us who you are, where you come from, give us uh an introduction.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, sure. Uh Bill Balano. I uh run US channels uh nationally for Proof Point uh for our regional partners. Um spent basically around the 15 years uh in channel leadership working across Fortnet, the Defender, and now Proof Point. Um started my channel career kind of at SonicWall, uh two years stint in Manhattan, which was a great learning experience for the basic fundamentals earlier on in my career. Uh I've spent most of my life in Philadelphia suburbs, including about eight years in Center City before uh moving back to uh the suburbs for uh, I guess a little better uh parking situation. And uh also a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan. Unfortunately, the Eagles uh lost this weekend, so uh I'm still recovering from that uh outside of work. Uh I enjoy playing golf, uh, have a passion for classic cars, and I also uh collect and enjoy uh Napa wines and spend as much time as possible during the weekends down at the uh New Jersey tour in Seattle City.
From Transactions To Ecosystems
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Thank you for the intro. Sounds like when Eagles is not disappointing you, you have other fun things to do as well. Yeah, yeah. Well, uh you mentioned that you've been in the channel uh over 15 years, you worked at companies such as Fortinet, Bit Defender, you're currently at Proof Point. I would like to start off by asking you what are some of the biggest shifts that you observed uh in how vendors go to market through partners over those 15 years?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um for anyone who's been in the channel for a while, you know, I think the biggest shift has been transactional execution to ecosystem, right? We're seeing a lot of um platform plays from vendors, and buyers aren't really buying SKUs anymore, they're they're more buying outcomes. Um that forces partners to evolve, right? Their service models and vendors to rethink how they're enabling and supporting and co-selling, you know, those partners. Um the partners mix has also changed, right? Traditional VARs, you know, though they're still critical, you know, uh MSPs and MSSPs are now influencing far more deals because of the operational embedment they have with customers. Um and from the vendor perspective, you know, success isn't about really deal registration anymore. It's about you know the influence, the attached, the repeatability, and the vendors that understand that tend to see better you know partner loyalty or more predictable growth.
Rebuilding Trust With Regional Partners
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I fully agree with you. I this is a topic that we touch upon often in the podcast. Um, how that that transactional reselling is you know surely stole about surely losing its popularity, I guess is also driven by the the end user demand. I guess now uh the the solutions are complicated. I think uh main services are growing significantly fast. Um I want to shift to uh your current focus at uh proof point, Bill. Uh one of your top priorities right now is rebuilding trust with some of the regional partners that may have felt neglected over the years. Could you tell me what does that process look like on the ground? Uh and and what have you learned about regaining partner mind share with those with those critical partners?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um I guess the big thing is trust erosion usually doesn't happen overnight. It's a result of you know inconsistent coverage or or changing priorities over time consistently, you know, and really uh rebuilding is very much a ground game. Um you know, one of my mentors, uh Joe Sakura, has always meant, you know, you need you need to be present to win and be in front of these partners. I've kind of relayed that to my team, you know, for the years I've been in leadership. And it and it really just starts with showing up, uh you know, listening without being defensive, acknowledging that where things have may have fallen short. And you know, what's been most effective for me is focusing on the quick, tangible wins, you know, helping unblock a renewal or bringing a partner into an active opportunity or you know, simplifying something that has been painful for them over that period of time. Um once a partner sees that you're consistently following through and and mind share tends to come back faster than people expect.
Hiring And What Great CAMs Do
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And you are not alone on this journey, right? You have a team of uh eight channel account managers, and if I remember correctly, you were also the last time we spoke, you were hiring for a new role as well. Yep. Um you know, too, you talked about Joe Syker, we we had him on the podcast. You talked about some of the those leadership principles you learned uh, you know, when when interacting with partners. Now, when building your own team, what qualities do you look for when evaluating a candidate for, let's say, a channel like cam manager role? Uh, and what what what separates a strong cam from an average one, in your opinion?
SPEAKER_01Right. I I I tend to specifically look for really four things. Um business acumen, partner knowledge, execution, and consistency are like my four things with interviewing people. I think uh a strong cam, you know, I've I guess a strong cam I've worked, you know, with basically treats a territory as uh a franchise or a small business. Uh they understand the pipeline matrix, the partner profitability, and how to build motions that basically scale. Um they also generally understand the partner's business, uh not just how to sell through them, but also what makes them money and where they're specifically investing their business in. Um and then execution, you know, forecasting, following through, you know, activity consistently separates the top performer. You know, I you know, if you're not consistent, um, you know, basically things fall flat, right? You can have a meeting, there's great action plans, and you you know, there's no follow-up past that. Um, so you know in that is also consistency. You know, being big is I see a lot of CAMs interviewing who have been at four companies within the last four to six years. You know, and I I feel that it's very hard to build deep partner trust or or long-term initiatives paying off in that time frame, right? You're just getting going after two years, in my opinion, and seeing the fruits of the labor that you put in in uh those two years come to fruition in year three, basically.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I hear you. It's definitely you need the you need to build that trust over a long period of time. What advice would you give to someone who wants to break in channel management, maybe, or or level up their game in this space?
Breaking Into Channel Leadership
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um so I think for people looking to step into a broader leadership role, you know, a few things that have helped me over my career is, you know, uh first, a deep understanding of a partner business model, uh, not just how it is at a high level, but how it actually works from day to day. Second, I think you need to leverage a leader that you know uh you might already be working with or uh take on stretch assignments or responsibilities, help onboard a new hire, uh, you know, own the initiative. Uh you don't need a title to start doing leadership motion. And third, I think you know you find a mentor. I've had a lot of mentors in my career, and you know, it might be your manager, it could be someone inside the company, not in channel specifically. It could be someone outside of the company. Uh, but having an objective perspective, you know, I think accelerates growth and helps you avoid learning everything the hard way. Um and lastly, I would say simplify whatever you can. Uh, the people who consistently make a channel easier for partners and internal teams tend to navigate better and also earn trust for those people and and partners for uh more opportunities over time.
Scaling Commercial With Simplicity
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that simplification piece is so important, especially when it comes to uh working on the on the commercial space, on the SMB space, uh, if you're when you're trying to drive scale. And and and you mentioned that this was also one of the uh the focus points that ProofPoint has, the doubling down on the commercial segment, uh South Star's quoting, working with Ingram's platform to help drive scale. Um could you tell us a little bit more about that? And do you think that that part of the channel has been under leverage and what's going to be changing now?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh you know, I think for a long time commercial has um been under-leverage across the industry, you know, and a lot of focus has always been on enterprise. There's large opportunities that really move the needle. But you know, commercial is where you know volume and repeat repeatability really live. Um what changes now is the ability to remove friction, right? Like you said, self-service quoting, better distribution tooling, and a and clear packaging. Um, you know, when you make things easier for the channel, things tend to fall into place, you know, uh, you know, with quoting, with programs, deal registration, um, and you know, when when partners can quickly transact uh it and add services without complexity, or you know, commercial just becomes a meaningful tool and engine that you know is the gift that keeps on giving, right? It's repeatable business, yeah. It's a run rate business, so um, you know, it scales quickly.
Closing And Next Guest Nomination
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I fully agree with you. I feel like sometimes when there's when they head down market, try to you know penetrate into that commercial space, they might make the mistake of just basically doing a light version of their enterprise go to market. But I I always seen as it's a completely different game, so completely different process. And as you mentioned, I think that uh automation, ease of doing business, simplicity is the most important thing there to help drive uh drive scale and build that run rate business. Yeah. Uh perfect. Well, uh, thanks so much for joining us, Bill. I have one last question before I let you go. That is, we always ask our guests to invite the next guest on a podcast. Who do you think we should have next?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, uh, I know that you've had uh Joe Sakura on uh the podcast before, but now that he's in uh a CEO role and uh probably doing a completely different motion from last time, I think he'd be a great guest to uh to have back on and see how things have transpired for him over the years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, thanks so much for your time, Bill. Thanks for the great conversation. And Joe, if you're listening to us, uh I'll be reaching out to you, to your team, and hope we can get you on the podcast soon. Uh, thank you for listening and see you in the next episode.