Assessing Your Channel with Growth in Mind
Your channel strategy is not something you can set and forget. It should be ever evolving. This is especially true when your company is relying on your ecosystem as a main source of growth. But what should you focus on to ensure success?
Key components of a channel organization include the partner account management and development teams, the partners themselves, partner enablement and support, and operations.
Partner Account Management & Development Teams
A team focused on managing partner relationships is crucial. This team fosters communication, resolves conflicts, and provides ongoing support. Be sure to review the performance of each individual on a regular basis including the following metrics:
Sales: look for not only volume but also growth over the same period the previous year
Pipeline build: ensure that your partner account managers continue to maintain at least a 3x pipeline (or more if your business requires it)
Contacts within a partner: make sure your team has the right contacts to take full advantage of the partnership
Partner satisfaction: send your partners a short survey on a regular basis to gauge how they feel about your relationship and the support they are receiving
Your Partner Ecosystem
Selecting and maintaining the right partners is vital. Partners with industry expertise, strong customer relationships, and a proven track record of success will obviously produce the best results. But how do you know which partners are the right fit for your business? This can vary depending on what type of partners you are working with, but for strategic partners, key indicators can include:
Alignment with your go-to-market routes: build strategies to support different types of partners (resellers, referral, implementation, embedded, etc.)
Sales and technical support personnel with experience in your industry: ensure your partners have the right amount of people to support your mutual customers
Executive sponsorship: visibility and support from the executive level is key for a growth relationship
Willingness to develop joint business plans: both parties must be committed to doing their part to grow the business
Partner Enablement & Support
It is important to maintain open and regular communication channels with your partners and offer them tools and resources to help them grow their business. Here are some questions you can ask of your organization and strategy:
Partner Program: is your framework aligned with how you go to market with your partners? Are you offering competitive benefits, including financial incentives? How do your requirements measure up and are your partners meeting them?
Partner Portal: Do you have a centralized online platform for partners to access essential resources, training materials, marketing assets, and sales tools? Can your partners easily register deals?
Onboarding and Training: Are you offering comprehensive training on your products, pre-sales and sales methodologies, implementation, marketing?
Marketing and Sales Tools: Are you providing your partners with resources like product brochures, demos, and co-branded marketing materials? Do you offer market development funds (MDF) to support joint marketing activities?
Technical Support: Do you provide ongoing technical support to partners, ensuring they can effectively address customer inquiries and troubleshoot technical issues?
Streamlining Operations
Both internal teams and partners benefit from simplified and automated processes. Some things to consider include:
CRM & PRM Integration: Are your systems connected to allow for quick and easy syncing, tracking, and measuring of performance?
Marketing Automation Tools: Are you leveraging marketing automation platforms to streamline co-branded marketing campaigns and nurture leads generated by partners?
Data Analytics and Reporting: Do you utilize data analytics to gain insights into partner performance, market trends, and customer behavior?
By reshaping your channel organization with these key components in place, you can effectively expand your reach, leverage partner expertise, and achieve greater market penetration. Remember, a successful channel is all about building strong relationships, providing ongoing support, and empowering partners to deliver exceptional value to end-users.
Do you know the health of your channel? Check out our FREE Channel Ecosystem Health Self-Assessment Tool.