Motivating your channel partners to drive partner engagement

For partner programs to really work, they need to be 

1. Partner-friendly, meaning not asking for too much from your ‘already-busy’ partners
2. Really motivating and truly creating value for your partners, motivating them to sell more for you
3. Driving partner engagement
   1. By figuring out what is important to them and offering that as reward and also 
   2. By understanding what your partners really need help with to sell and market your brand successfully and providing them with the support they need 

Vendors need to remember that it is not just money that motivates channel partners. There are other elements in the mix to drive value for the partner-vendor relationship and all of these elements have to come together to make the channel program a success. Most partner programs are complex and there are various blockages on the path to its success. Vendors have to understand their partner types and partner personas and tailor the partner programs and support offered, to suit each one of them. That’s the only way to remove any kind of blockage that prevents the channel program from being a success. 

Typically, partner personas can be categorized into 4 types, as follows.

The largely varying partner personas mean vendors need to have partner marketing programs that cater to the needs of every partner persona. One area where many vendors go wrong is ignoring the partner personas when investing in a channel marketing program. Vendors often assume that a standard channel marketing program will work with all partners regardless of their persona. 

For channel marketing programs to be successful, they need to be tailored to suit the different kinds of partner personas that the vendor’s partner ecosystem has. By doing that, vendors can expect 

• Greater partner engagement–When the vendor’s channel marketing program suits the partners, provides them with that they need, they are more likely to engage with the vendor’s brand
• Greater partner sales and revenue-A more effective channel marketing program translates into better marketing and sales numbers for the vendor

If you liked this post, stay tuned for Part two of this blog post. Meanwhile, you can also check out our webinar recording on the topic, Making your channel program truly partner-friendly.