MDF for vendors
Your MDF budget. Working as hard as you do.
You set the budget and you carry the results. This is how vendor and channel teams get partners spending MDF on activity that builds pipeline, and how to prove it did.
Allocating is easy. Getting return is harder.
Most vendors don’t have a funding problem. They have a follow-through problem. Funds get approved, partners get busy, and a lot of it is spent in the last few weeks of the period on whatever can run in time.
Or it isn’t spent at all. Either way, you lose a quarter of pipeline you already paid for.
What works for vendors. And what doesn’t.
✓Do
- Tie every allocation to a specific pipeline goal
- Agree success measures before approving the activity
- Publish clear brand, content and claim guidelines
- Fund fewer, better activities rather than spreading thin
- Ask for outcomes: meetings, opportunities and revenue
- Review mid-period and move funds that aren’t being used
✕Don’t
- Approve activity with no defined audience
- Measure success on attendance or impressions alone
- Leave allocation to the last few weeks of the period
- Assume partners have the capacity to execute
- Reward the loudest partner instead of the best plan
- Let unspent funds disappear without a conversation
Make it easy to spend well. Most partners want to.
Give them a menu
A short list of pre-approved activity types speeds up approvals and raises quality.
Share the audience
Tell partners which industries, roles and accounts you want to reach.
Set the proof up front
A standard proof-of-execution template avoids rejected claims and frustrated partners.
Pay on time
Slow reimbursement is one of the fastest ways to make partners stop using MDF.
A partner that delivers. Not just a supplier.
We run MDF-funded events and campaigns on behalf of vendors and their partners. That covers roundtables, breakfasts, webinars, content and account-based programmes, aimed at C-suite and senior buyers in banking, insurance, retail, telecoms and enterprise.
Every activity comes with reporting built for your channel team: who attended, what they cared about and which opportunities came out of it.
MDF questions. Answered.
How much MDF should go to each partner?
Base it on the quality of the plan and the partner’s ability to execute, not only on past revenue. A small allocation to a partner with a strong plan often outperforms a large one spread thin.
How do we stop MDF going unspent?
Approve activity early in the period, review usage at the halfway mark, and reallocate funds that aren’t committed.
What should a proof-of-execution pack include?
Invoices, evidence the activity ran, attendee or lead data, and a short results summary against the goals agreed at approval.