Are you fast? Ok, ok; what about furious? Are you furious too?

If you ask a dozen people what they think "Channel Management" is, you're going to potentially get a dozen different answers.  That is just reality and if you don't get that, then you probably have some significant, and worrisome issues in your life.  Likely not worrisome to yourself, but worrisome to someone. 

I'll tell you what my gut tells me channel management is; it's making sure you always have the remote.  You need that remote, and if there are two remotes, you need both of them, because otherwise, within minutes that channel is going to change.  And it's going to change fast and it may even change with fury.  Your channel could, just like Paul Walker, start becoming fast and being furious simultaneously!

My gut has never been too good at definitions though, because that answer is wrong.  Channel management is about managing the channels through which your product or service travels to your customer.  Let's say you're Apple.  You have a couple channels through which your product travels, the first is your stores and your website.  After that you have your authorized retailers not the least of which would be AT&T.  These few channels are the bulk of how your customers get your products.  If you neglect these, you will, whether slowly or quickly, lose your current customers and your future ones.