It takes a lot to ensure your channel sales model is a success. Your work starts with recruiting the right partner and never really ends. However, there is an issue. Despite being committed to every channel partner’s success, most vendors complain of not getting the results they seek from a majority of their channel partners. So, what’s missing? Here are a few items that can should be on your checklist for partner success.
Show your channel partners the big picture
Educate your channel partners on sales techniques for product lines. Your partners need to be educated from a solution perspective because they need to know how your products solve a specific problem.
Recognize that marketing and sales can’t work in silos anymore
Because the buyer’s journey has changed so drastically in the last two decades, the sales and marketing functions are now intimately intertwined. Marketing covers the first part of the sales process, and then the sales team comes in to close the deal. This means that sales teams and marketing teams need complete transparency with the prospect through the whole buyer’s journey.
100% transparency is a must-have
Channel partners must have visibility into the vendor marketing and sales funnel, and vice-versa. If a prospect of goes to your website instead of your channel partner’s, both you and your channel partner should be able to see that activity. Your channel partner should be notified and kept in the loop so they know exactly what the prospect is up to.
Localized lead nurturing campaigns
Not every lead is ready to buy, but if you don’t want your channel partners to drop them, make sure you provide nurturing campaigns at the local level for your prospects that aren’t yet ready to buy. For your lead nurturing campaigns to have maximum impact, personalize them based on the branding standards of the local channel partner.
Don’t treat them differently than you treat direct sales team
The most important thing you can do to help ensure your partners’ success is to equip them with the same programs that have been most successful for your direct sales teams. Look inward first. Look at your top performers, your direct teams, people who have been extremely successful selling your product. Find out how they sold. Then take that process and make it available to your channel partners so they can use the exact same structure.
Most often vendors don’t get the results they seek from their channel partners because they tend to ignore “the last mile” and the key elements that are a part of this last mile. This includes developing appropriate sales and marketing strategies for their channel partners. The bottom line is, your success depends on your channel partner’s success with selling your products and services. If you want them to truly succeed, make them feel like a part of your business by sharing your vision and all the tools, strategies and processes that you use internally.
Learn how Mindmatrix Channel Enablement Platform can help.
