Mindshare, engagement and collaboration – terms that have been used in many of the blog posts that you have read on this site. All of these areas are critical when it comes to the success of your channel partner strategy. Mindshare has been covered in a past post. Let’s focus on collaboration.
You have decided that using a channel partner strategy is the best approach for increasing your company’s sales. The right channel partners have the market knowledge, distribution channels, sales expertise and customer relationships to successfully sell your products and/or services. But managing these relationships is a very complex and time consuming task.
Your channel partners are just that – your partners. As such, it is important to engage with them at all levels and build a relationship that values what each party brings to the table. Collaboration is critical. Collaboration is the ability for partner organizations to interact with each other to realize shared goals. This interaction can take many forms, but problem solving, open communication, and sharing of best practice ideas are at the top of the list. To be successful, you need the right business processes and technology in place to create a collaborative environment for your channel partners. This is what is referred to as partner relationship management, which is the combination of business practices and technology to increase the value of partner interactions.
Effective and efficient interaction between your company and your channel partners, and even between channel partners directly, has many benefits for all involved. These benefits include the following:
- Greater consistency and predictability of the interactions
- Increased productivity
- Increased loyalty and engagement
- Greater profitability
Without effective collaboration, your channel partners will not have a high level of engagement with your company. These independent partners represent other companies, so their sales teams have options when it comes to what products and services they choose to focus their time and energy on.
Your partners are looking for easy access to training courses, marketing materials that are readily available and easy to customize, lead management and sales productivity tools that can be accessed by the appropriate people, and social media and other collaboration tools so that the sales force can feel connected and have a means to share best practices. This complete tool set can be found in today’s leading channel management software solutions. The more advanced solutions are web-based systems which serve as one-stop partner portals with single sign on to all mission critical partner facing systems.
Partnerships can produce astonishing results, but only when:
- Information flows freely
- All parties involved trust each other
- All parties are dedicated to the goal of mutual success
Developing a culture that encourages collaboration will increase partner engagement. Effective partner relationship management requires a business culture that fosters collaboration and engagement. Furthermore, to be successful, you will need to deploy the right technology. You owe it to yourself to consider a channel management software solution which will optimize channel partner performance.
LogicBay’s Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Technology is rich with best practice workflows making it easier for organizations to do business with channel partner re-sellers. The result: More engagement and Mindshare. Greater Efficiency and Cost Savings. Alignment with Channel Partners. And, Performance Improvement for the Entire Sales Enterprise.
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Download this premium white paper to learn Channel Management Best Practices – Make it easy for dealers to do business with you, Heighten dealer engagement, Gain mindshare and maximize financial returns. Learn about LogicBay’s 4Core Best Practice Framework including methods for more effectively training and monitoring dealer employee certifications. |
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Link to LogicBay’s Library of Partner Relationship Management White Papers. These white papers provide best practice ideas on a Channel Readiness and Performance Improvement strategies. Topics include subjects such as: Effectively launching a LMS for the Channel, Applying Lean Principles to Channel Management, Channel Life-cycle Management, Partner Portal Technology Unification, and much more. |
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Link to LogicBay’s Library of Client Case Studies. Learn how LogicBay’s PRM Solutions and Technology have created significant performance gains for clients such as Caterpillar, HP, Daimler Trucks and Outdoor Living Brands. |