Channel Partner Engagement 101

Channel partner engagement is a term used to describe the level of attention and interaction a partner has with your organization. Engagement comes in many forms and could include partner training, Partner Relationship Management (PRM) interactions, internal meetings, partners selling and marketing your products or services, and channel partners interacting with your industry in general. Engaging your partners and building long-term relationships can be difficult. As a channel organization, you depend on your partners to generate revenue, so keeping their attention is critical to your partner program’s success. What can you do to make sure you are engaging your partners?

Have a program that makes sense for partners

When you build your channel program, you might start to think it is a no-brainer that every prospective partner would like to sell your products or services. You understand the specific needs of your program, but if it does not make sense for your partners, you may be stuck with a poorly motivated channel and low engagement. Understanding what high-performing partners want will help you design a partner program that satisfies their needs and increases partner engagement to accomplish your program goals.

Communicate your value proposition

Once you have a solid partner program that makes sense for all parties, communicating your value proposition is key. This attracts the right partners for your program and keeps you top of mind with existing partners as well. The communication of your value proposition starts the first time a potential partner interacts with your organization and should be re-iterated often throughout your partner relationship. A meaningful value proposition will show that you understand the needs of your partners, demonstrate the value of your products or services, clearly define your competitive advantage, and explain the benefits your program delivers to partners. Channeltivity offers targeted messaging and content tools, perfect for communicating your value proposition to your partners.

Provide tools to make selling easy

You want to make it as easy as possible for your partners to sell your products or services and be successful. Providing market-ready materials, such as battle cards, white papers, co-branded brochures, email templates, and presentations, will make their sales process more efficient. When partners have everything they need, they’re much more likely to sell your solution and be successful. Channeltivity serves at a centralized location for your partners to access your latest and greatest materials and can even allow partners to generate co-branded marketing collateral on-demand.

Beyond providing materials, you can offer benefits such as Marketing Development Funds(MDF) and lead distribution to make it easier for your partners to grow their business. Allocating MDF dollars helps your partners with subsidized marketing activities, such as print or online search campaigns, that generate leads to for your products or services. When it comes to MDF dollars, Channeltivity simplifies the management of your entire MDF process, from allocation of funds to tracking their use. Another strategy to increase partner engagement is to distribute leads to your channel to help them keep pipelines full. Channeltivity allows you to distribute leads and track leads converting to deal registrations.

Offer training and certification opportunities

Investing in training and certifications for your channel pays off in many ways, one of them being increased partner engagement. By teaching partners how to use your solutions to better solve customers’ problems, you’re not only creating more successful partners, but are increasing your mindshare as well. Good training content makes your partners feel more connected to your company because it helps them be successful. Educated partners will be confident in speaking about your products or services, allowing them to uncover more sales opportunities. With Channeltivity’s Training and Certification module, you can easily create and deliver media-rich training to your partners, keeping them educated and motivated to sell.

Help your partners be successful

As a channel program manager, the best way to increase partner engagement is by helping your partners be successful. A successful partner generates revenue for your organization because your program meets their needs. They understand your value, have access to the right resources, and are trained to accomplish their goals. There is no shortage of options you can use to help your partners become successful, but the more helpful you can be, the more partner engagement you can expect.

Partner engagement involves many moving pieces, and a full-feature PRM solution such as Channeltivity will help you manage partner engagement more efficiently. Ready to boost your partner engagement levels? Schedule a demo with our team to see how Channeltivity will help, or contact our customer support team with any questions.