This document provides a blueprint for improving channel partner engagement through 7 key elements: 1) Measuring partner performance to identify areas for improvement, 2) Helping partners see the path to success by guiding them, 3) Making it easy for partners to sell, 4) Providing tools and resources to partners, 5) Staying in regular contact with partners, 6) Offering incentive programs, and 7) Tailoring the partner relationship program to different partner needs. Successful engagement requires understanding partners, communicating effectively, providing the right tools and content, measuring performance, and protecting partner interests.
1. The Ultimate Blueprint to
Channel Partner Engagement
Discover 7 Ways to boost partner
engagement
Measuring channel performance
Helping channel partners see the path to success
Making it easy for channel partners to sell
Bringing the tools and assets to channel partners
Being easily available to your channel partners
Impressive partner reward programs
Tweaking your PRM program to suit your varied partner base
2. You know that partner relationships are
the bedrock of a successful channel sales
model and that for your channel sales
model to function as you want it to, you
need to have a solid relationship with
your channel partners. At the start of this
relationship is partner engagement,
keeping your partners engaged with your
brand, getting them to share your
enthusiasm and vision, and having them
committed to selling your product or
service. However, sometimes partner
relationship management can seem like
an icy road where you skid at every step.
Often, the causes for poor channel
partner engagement can be chalked up
to your channel partners being too busy.
When channel partners deal in multiple
products, they may not have the time to
focus on your brand in particular. Also,
when they have multiple vendors, channel
partners naturally tend to gravitate
towards the brand that offers the most
revenue or sells most easily. A third
reason could be that your channel
partners don’t share the same brand,
marketing and sales vision as you. This is
typically the case when the channel
partner is not educated about your brand,
and company values or goals in general.
Whatever the reason, this whitepaper
offers you a blueprint for successful
channel partner engagement.
Is PRM
Your
ICY ROAD?
Multiple vendors
Brand favoritism
Lack of brand understanding
3. Let’s start by identifying the 7 key elements for improved
partner relationships
Measuring channel
performance
Helping channel
partners see the path to
success
Making it easy for
channel partners to
sell
Bringing the tools and
assets to channel
partners
Being easily available to
your channel partners
Impressive partner
reward programs
Understanding your channel partner’s psyche and tailoring
your PRM program for them
Now that the basics have been sketched out, let’s talk about the various
elements of a partner engagement blueprint.
4. If you want to fix poor partner engagement and performance levels,
you need to be able to identify them first. And, that requires measuring
channel performance. You can’t fix what you can’t measure. However,
vendors often don’t know what their channel partners are up to. Did
they take the latest certification program? How did they utilize the
MDF? How many deals did they really close? Sometimes vendors are
clueless about their channel partner’s activities and just assume they
are doing fine. Whereas in reality, the channel partners couldn’t be
more lost! This is a big piece in partner relationship management that is
surprisingly ignored by many. You cannot fix what you can’t measure. If
you want to determine the performance of your channel partners, you
need to have metrics to rate their performance. Monitor and measure
your channel partner’s performance and based on that, coach them
—offer them the right training and tools to help them do better.
Measure! Measure! Measure!
Tip: In order to be able to measure the engagement levels of your
channel partners, get clear visibility into channel partner activities.
You need tools that tell you exactly where and how your channel
partners spent the MDF allotted to them, what marketing/sales
campaigns your channel partners engaged in, how effective they
were, how they are faring with opportunities, how many leads
they registered, etc. In short, you need detailed reports that
identify how each channel partner is performing, so you can take
remedial measures. Invest in a tool that offers you a 360-degree
view of your channel partners so you know, at any given point of
time, what your channel partners are doing and more importantly,
how they are doing. Once you set that up, you need to monitor
their performance consistently and coach, guide and support
them until they are ready to fly on their own.
5. Just as in any other relationship, trust plays a major role in channel
relationships as well. For your channel partners to sell your product
or service wholeheartedly, they need to be convinced of its value
and that it is saleable. Show your channel partners the path to
success by walking them through the initial deals. Close one or two
deals for them, show your channel partners how it is done and
watch them believe more in you, your products and your sales
process. By doing this, you not only convince them that your
product/service is easily saleable, but also win your channel
partner’s trust and confidence by proving that you are truly their
partner in success.
Help your channel partners see the
path to success by guiding them
This one is a no-brainer. Making it easy for your channel partners to
sell your products and services will make them push your brand ahead
of competitor’s. We discuss 10 ways you can make this happen.
Make it easy for your channel partners
to sell your products and services
6. A successful onboarding program is the stepping stone for your
channel partners when they join you and serves as a guide for future
action. Almost every vendor has an onboarding process in place, but
a majority of them find that it doesn't lead to the results they seek.
Create a strong partner training
and onboarding process
We tell you about 3 elements that can help you take
your onboarding program to the next level
Training
playbooks
Automated
certification programs
Channel partner
portals
7. When your channel partners sign up with you, they expect much
more than a bunch of induction presentations and brochures. What
they really need are plays for different scenarios or plays for
prospects that are in different stages of the sales cycle. Channel
playbooks fit this need perfectly. Create channel playbooks that are
easy to understand and share them with your channel partners.
Playbooks should help your channel partners understand the what,
when, and how of prospect engagement—what to say to a
prospect, when to say it and how to say it so they can respond to
leads anywhere in the sales cycle. These are the 3 key questions
that your playbooks should answer for your channel partners.
Playbooks
What to
say?
When to
say it?
How to
say it?
Tip: Make sure the playbooks are easy to access, use and are
always up-to-date. Remember, the playbook is NOT an asset dump.
Your channel partners shouldn’t have to sift through multiple
folders and documents before they find the asset they require.
Instead, it should be an organized collection of assets where they
can quickly find what they need.
8. Merely training your channel partners is not enough. You need to
make sure they have understood and can apply the knowledge you
shared. One way to do this is through automated certification
programs. Encourage your channel partners to take certification
exams from time-to-time: upon introduction of a new product or
service line, in the event of product updates, or even in general to
ensure they are in touch with the features and benefits of your
products/services that they are selling. After all, if they are to
convince someone to buy a product or service, they have to be
convinced of its benefits themselves.
Automated certification
programs
Tip: Set-up 2-way alerts for your training and certification exams.
Have your channel partners get automated notifications when they
are due to take an exam, their certification is about to expire, or a
new certification requirement has been introduced. Conversely, you
should get a notification when someone acts or when the results are
in. This not only increases the chances of getting a response from
your channel partners, but also helps you keep track of the most
engaged channel partners. Check which partners are actively relating
with your brand and which ones just don’t bother. Why invest your
resources in partners who just don’t care to learn more about you?
9. Unlike salespeople, your channel partners don’t have hands-on
access to your sales/marketing training sessions or brand induction
workshops. They don’t have the luxury of having a solid sales game
plan written out for them every quarter. A partner portal compensates
for this by providing your channel partners with easy access to critical
elements that will help them close deals faster. A partner portal plays
a key role in helping make it easy for them to sell more for you.
Channel Partner Portals
Tip: Make sure your partner portal covers EVERYTHING that your
channel partners will need when selling your product or service.
Examples include asset repository, deal registration capability, MDF
application, access to training & certification programs, access to chat
support so they can reach out to you instantly, etc. Channel partner portals
are becoming commonplace. If you want your channel partners to use your
partner portal regularly, you need to make it better than the others. Offer
tools for collaboration, support and assistance direct from the portal, and of
course, make sure it is available whenever they need it. That means making
sure your partner portal is accessible via smartphone and other internet
enabled devices. The more hassle-free your partner portal, the greater the
chances your channel partners will actually use it.
10. If you thought attracting, recruiting and onboarding the right channel
partners was a challenge, you are in for a surprise. A bigger
challenge awaits: keeping them engaged. Keeping your channel
partners committed to your brand takes a lot more than annual lunch
and learns. It takes a lot more than quarterly meetings. Keeping your
channel partners engaged takes continuous interaction—it demands
staying in touch at regular intervals: ‘checking-in’ if things are going
smoothly; offering that much needed ‘pat-on-the-back’ to
encourage them; and having ‘the talk’ about your channel
relationship not heading where you wanted it to.
Stay in touch/engage with your
partners on a regular basis
Tip: Create partner engagement email or SMS drips that keep you in
touch with your channel partners automatically, even while you are
focusing on other, more important aspects of your business.
Imagine sending them personalized, automated, regular updates
about your products/services, upcoming training/certification
programs, new marketing campaigns, brand positioning and values,
etc. Wouldn’t that automatically increase their interest and
engagement with your brand?
11. Vendors often fail to provide their channel partners with a guided
sales process. When a new channel partner is recruited, they are
provided with a bunch of documents related to the product/service
they are to push. They are never really given a clear roadmap or
action plan on how to sell. Lacking that, channel partners find
themselves grappling with questions such as what to say, when to
say it and how to say it to their prospects. Such selling is not very
effective, ends up being quite generic and often ignores the USPs of
the product/service. The lack of a guided sales process and
insufficient training and guidance for channel partners hinders lead
closure leading to poor channel performance. Offer your channel
partners a guided sales process—a clear action plan for selling. They
are more likely to be successful when they have a roadmap that
covers every possible milestone on their way to a sale.
Tip: Channel sales playbooks–discussed earlier–play a role in the
creation of a guided sales process.
Offer your channel partners a
guided sales process
A playbook helps connect your content to the buying stages. It lets
you map your sales assets to the relevant point in the buyer’s
journey and gives your channel partners easy access to all the sales
and marketing assets they need when reaching out to their leads.
Create playbooks for different plays, different sales cycle milestones
and even different prospect personas, and pain points. Once you
give your channel partners the answer to the when, what and how of
selling, you will make it a lot easier for them to close leads.
12. So you have shared all your marketing and sales content with your
channel partners. That’s great! But, are you still confused why they
are not able to do as good a job at marketing and selling your
products as you expect them to? Well, that’s because they are not
able to really connect with their leads. The marketing and sales
assets developed at the corporate level may not have the desired
impact at local levels.
Tip: Personalized sales/marketing materials that are co-branded to
reflect your channel partner's local brand are a great way to make
them feel like they are a part of your team.
Give your channel partners personalized
marketing and sales content
If you want your channel partners to really use your sales and
marketing collateral, personalize them for their local markets. This
will also make your channel partners feel like they are truly a part of
your team by making them your brand partners. Help them engage
in local marketing, building their local brand presence as they push
your products. Examples include co-branded marketing & sales
assets, joint social media marketing campaigns, localized marketing
for product promotion webinars, etc. Localized marketing can help
drive more leads at the partner level, which translates into more
sales for you.
13. Take some work away from your channel partners without adding to
yours! Use sales and marketing enablement tools that help you create
lead generating marketing campaigns, landing pages, microsites, etc.
Run marketing and sales programs on-behalf of your channel partners.
Help your channel partners behind the
scenes by generating leads for them
Content syndication tools, centralized local marketing tools and tools
that let you market on behalf of your channel partners will help you run
the show and drive leads for your sales channels at the local level. This
will also keep your brand safe.
Remember, when you are letting your channel partners personalize
your sales and marketing communication materials, make sure your
brand standards are not compromised. It is advisable to be sure
certain brand elements are ‘off-limits’ to channel partners so that
while local elements are present, your key brand image is retained.
14. Use lead scoring, smart segmentation and routing tools to ensure
only the best leads are sent to your channel partners. The better the
lead quality sent to them, the better the chances of closure. That will
make you their favorite vendor!
Pass on only the best leads to your
channel partners
Just as you need to stay in touch with your channel partners at regular
intervals, your channel partners also have to engage their leads. Lead
nurturing translates to lower lead drop rates and higher closure rates.
Offer your channel partners the tools and assets they need to nurture
their leads throughout the buyer’s journey.
Help your channel partners nurture
relationships with their prospects
15. One more way to move your channel partners closer to success is
giving them a complete, 360-degree view of their prospects. When
your channel partners know what stage of the sales cycle their leads
are in, it automatically helps them pitch your products and services
better to the leads.
Help your channel partners understand
their leads better
Tip: Getting a 360 degree view of prospects is great, but what’s even
better is getting real-time alerts and notifications about significant
lead activity. After all, you can’t expect your channel partners to look
at lead activity reports constantly and a delayed response can cost
you the sale.
16. Today’s competitive business environment is making profit margins
slimmer than ever. Channel conflicts can strain your channel
relationships and cost you valued channel partners. If you want your
channel partners to work enthusiastically for you, you need to prove
that you care enough to protect their interests and revenue. Your lead
registration process, MDF allocation and disbursal process, etc work to
convey the message to them.
Protect your channel partner’s interests
Tip: One way to avoid channel conflicts is by making sure your partner
portal allows deal registrations.
Deal registration mechanisms allow you to control the flow of leads
to your channel partners. Since every lead has to be approved by
you, the chances of two channel partners pursuing the same lead
drops to zero, eliminating channel conflicts. Similarly, by making it
easy for your channel partners to apply for and procure MDF you
are putting them on the path to success sooner. You are sending the
message that you want them to succeed and are willing to offer all
the support you can to see them achieve their goals.
17. Offer individualized sales and
marketing support
Your channel partners don’t have a full-fledged marketing
department at their disposal. Sure, your corporate marketing team is
available, but it is often spread too thin to support every need of
every single channel partner. To resolve this challenge, you can offer
your channel partners sales and marketing concierge services to
take care of their more individualized marketing and sales needs.
18. You have to find a way to fit your marketing and sales assets into the
systems they use on a daily basis such as their gmail account,
Outlook or even their CRM. When integrating your tools and assets
make sure it also integrates with any third party portals that your
channel partners may already have. Examples include their product
database systems, war-rooms, cloud based vaults, etc.
When we talk of poor channel performance, the vendors often say,
“We have invested in a lot of tools and sales and marketing
resources. Why are our partners still not ‘up-there’?” Well, it is
surprising to note that many companies have the tools and
resources their channel partners need to succeed in selling their
products and services. However, those tools and assets never really
reach the channel partners because vendors expect their channel
partners to proactively look for them and use them. If you want your
channel partners to really use your sales and marketing tools,
programs and materials, you need to make it easy for them to do
so! Bring the tools and assets your channel partners need, rather
than them having to ask you. Because, they never will!
Bring the tools and assets to channel
partners rather than expecting them to
reach out to you asking for them
19. Your channel partners will love you more if you are always there for
them. Be accessible to all your channel partners so you can address
their challenges to the best of your ability, always. Offering a quick
turnaround also sends the message that you truly care and want
them to succeed.
Be available for your channel partners.
Always.
Tip: Offer your channel partners multiple touch-points to stay
connected with you. Examples include chat, phone, emails, quarterly
meetings, etc. Also, make it easy for them to reach out to you.
Ideally, a click on your partner portal should be all that they need to
connect with you for them to achieve their goals.
20. Your salespeople get commission, invitations to company dinners,
events, etc. What about your channel partners? Don’t forget to motivate
your channel partners. They are a part of your sales network just like the
direct sales team. Have a value adding partner program in place to
motivate your channel partners to sell.
Have a motivating partner reward program
in place
Tip: Make sure you market your channel rewards program. The value
your channel partners will derive from it should be clearly
communicated to them. Offer something that they will value and ensure
that the goals are not so high that it seems nearly impossible. You want
to push your channel partners to aim higher, but not set the goals so high
that they give up trying altogether.
21. Once you have a great partner program in place, make sure you fine-tune
it every now and then to suit your partner base. A stagnant partner
program will soon stop generating results. Evolve your channel partner
program to suit your partner base and the end market so it is a win-win
situation for you and your channel partners.
Understand your channel partner’s mindset
and tailor your PRM program to that
Ultimately, it all boils down to making it easy for your channel partners to
sell. Offer them tools and assets that make their job easier. Make sure
those tools and assets are easily accessible. Work with your channel
partners and show them how to close a deal successfully. Walking that
extra mile in a relationship just goes to show how much you care and
always strengthens a relationship. The same goes for your relationship
with your channel partners. If you want your channel partners to choose
you over other vendors, you need to stand out. Protect their interests, help
them generate revenue.
Treat your channel partners like an extended sales team, Give them every kind
of support they need to sell, make them feel like a part of your organization and
watch them treat your brand like their own.
22. w w w . m i n d m a t r i x . n e t
2403 Sidney Street, Suite 150,
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Phone: 412-381-0230
Fax: 412-774-1992
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