Many B2B suppliers find themselves with an unproductive partner community or ecosystem, as a limited number of productive partners typically do most of the work. A prevalent cause of this syndrome is organizations’ failure to apply the level of rigor required to identify and activate the right partners. Channel sales success depends on finding, selecting, and signing the most qualified channel partners — and then ensuring these partners become productive members of the partner ecosystem. In this report, we outline a three-phase, nine-step process that helps channel sales identify, recruit, and activate the best possible partners to meet the needs of the supplier and its target buyers.