War-game a channel conflict rule before deal registration, partner talk tracks, and sales incentives harden into how every opportunity gets owned.
Conflict rules fail when registration invents protection partners never felt, when direct sales can still side-path the same account, when exceptions never log, and when finance cannot reconcile who earned the commission. A neat territory map is not evidence.
Freeze the package
State the proposed rule by segment, which deals partners can register, who owns exceptions and clawbacks, what success looks like after two quarters of partner retention, and the kill criteria if deal leakage or partner churn past a named threshold. Attach the registration workflow, partner cohort samples, commission math, and the measured lag from conflict to resolution. If channel, sales, and finance disagree on who owns the account of record, reconcile before seating.
Name the decision you will make if the war game finds nothing new, and the hold criteria if any segment still lacks a named exception owner or a measured conflict path.
Seats
- Partner. Fear that registration still loses to a direct rep with a stronger internal sponsor.
- Direct AE. Rule math that looks clean while pipeline pressure still rewards side paths.
- Channel ops. Conflict tickets that sit without a timed owner.
- Finance. Dual-counted commission and partner rebate that invents cost the ledger will not show.
- Skeptic. The claim that looks strongest and is least sourced.
Optional counsel seat if reseller or competition rules bind the form. Same pack for every seat.
Run the loop
Feed Pingpong the conflict memo and exhibits. First pass steelmans the rule. Later passes attack from the seats above. Final pass turns surviving objections into clearer registration SLAs, a published exception floor, or a hold. Delete invented "partners already accept this" claims and dual-counted pipeline.
Force a day-after narrative: what happens if a top partner screenshots a lost deal that was registered on time, if exceptions never log, or if finance cannot reconcile commission to cash. If those stories are stronger than your mitigation plan, fix the package before you publish. Separate a conflict rule from a partner rebate or a partner certification so each decision stays testable.
Ask every seat to mark which steps are optional in practice. Optional conflict reviews become skipped within a month if nobody names the owner and the time box. Related: war-game a channel partner deal, war-game a partner rebate, war-game a partnership, pretend you are the channel partner, and the war-game decisions hub. Process: how to run a Pingpong.