Simplify your partner experience and stay top of mind

To simplify the partner experience is a high priority for many channel-sales leaders, and for good reason. Some 70 + % of global B2B deals are now done through channels and the competitive landscape is absolutely fierce. Companies need to stay top of mind and make it easy for partners and distributors to do business with them – and a simplified partner experience can help make it happen.

As you probably know, channel-sales companies rely on distributors and partners to drive sales and expand market reach. These distributors and partners tend to carry products from multiple brands, from multiple manufacturers, especially now that more than 70 % of deals are done through channels. There is more competition than ever, and it’s getting more and more difficult to stand out and stay top of mind. Something that you, as a channel-sales professional, have probably experienced yourself.

Now, one way to tackle this is to become easier to do business with and make it easier for partners and distributors to work with your products. Which is one of the resons why it is now a top priority for many channel-sales leaders to simplify partner experience: after all, if the partner experience is frustrating, if it’s difficult to work with you, distributors may very well choose a competitor’s product first.

Next, we’ll give you 7 ways to simplify partner experience and become truly easy to work with.

7 ways to simplify your Partner Experience

1. Streamline your partner onboarding

The onboarding process is the first impression a distributor or partner has of your company and a complicated one can make partners frustrated from the get-go. You can simplify this process by:

• Automating registration: If you create or find a solid, online partner portal, you could offer your new partners a self-service registration and an easy setup process.
• Providing training materials: Offer easy access to training modules, demo videos, and FAQs that cover common challenges. Make sure that the partner can always reach their training material, wherever they are and whenever they need to.
• Making it easy for partners to ask questions: The onboarding journey probably comes with a lot of questions. By giving partners and distributors a direct line of communication to their channel manager, you can make sure they never lose steam and that the onboarding progresses nicely.

2. Find a user-friendly Partner Portal

A dedicated partner portal is absolutely essential for managing partner relationships at scale. That said, if your portal is difficult to navigate, your partners will struggle to find the resources they need – something that will only make it harder to work with you. If you, instead, find a user-friendly, well-organized partner portal that gathers key information, tools and material in one place, you and your partners will have a great foundation for success.

When starting to look for such a portal, make sure that it offers:

• Easy navigation: Your portal should let partners find product details, pricing, sales tools and marketing collateral quickly.
• Mobile compatibility: Make sure your portal is mobile-friendly so partners can access it on the go.
• Single sign-on (SSO): If partners can log in with SSO it will be so much easier for them to access your portal.

If you want more tips on what to look for, check out our Partner Portal checklist here.

3. Give partners ready-to-use sales & marketing Tools

The easier you make it for partners to promote and sell your product, the more successful they will be. And by equipping your distributors and partners with high-quality sales and marketing collateral, you can help them get your product out there. For example, you may want to provide them with easy access to:

• Marketing content: Presentations, case studies, product demos, and brochures that partners can easily share – and that you control.
• Other digital-marketing assets: Email templates, social media posts and landing pages that can support partner-led marketing efforts.
• Sales enablement tools: This can be tools like product configurators, ROI calculators and pitch decks that make it easier to sell your product.

4. Implement transparent incentive programs

Partners are motivated by incentives, but if your incentive program is complex or hard to track the result can be a loss of engagement. Here, you may want to simplify your partner-incentive program by making rewards easy to understand and track. For instance, you can create:

• A clear reward structure: Straightforward incentives like percentage-based commissions or rebates that are easy to calculate.
• Real-time tracking: Give partners a dashboard where they can view their progress.
• Bonus programs: Additional rewards for hitting specific targets, like selling a new product or reaching a certain revenue milestone.

5. Personalize your communication

We all know that partners need ongoing communication and support. There is a balance to it, though, and overloading them with irrelevant or poorly timed messages can make it more difficult to work with you. To simplify partner experience and make sure that your communication actually helps partners, you should make sure that everything you share and send is personalized, actionable, and truly valuable to your partners. You can, for example:

• Segment the communication: Tailor your messages and updates to fit the receiver. Share different resources to different partners, depending on what they sell and need.
• Hold check-ins: Task your partner managers to regularly check in with distributors and partners. This can help maintain their sales momentum and give you a way to offer proactive support.
• Keep a continuous feedback loop: Encourage your partners to actually provide feedback on what’s working and what isn’t. This can be used to adjust your approach and catch any issues before they become truly problematic.

6. Make support and content easy to access

Distributors and partners often face challenges when selling your products. And if they can’t get the support they need, when they need it, they may lose momentum or even the entire sale. You can avoid this by giving partners:

• 24/7 support: A partner portal with a chat can, for example, allow partners to always reach their partner managers.
• Have dedicated channel managers: Give partners their own contact person, their own channel manager who understands them and who is always there to help.
• Keep an updated knowledge base available: If you have a partner portal where material can easily be accessed, partners can always know where to find what they need. If you don’t go with a portal, ensure that partners have access to some kind of online repository where they can fetch information and material.

7. Empower your partners with data and insights

Giving partners insight into customer behavior and trends can help them make good decisions. This could mean giving partners an easy overview of their own result and actions, and letting them see how customers interact with your product and material. A good partner portal could, for example, let you share detailed analytics on what material end-customers are viewing, how engaged they are etc.

How to simplify partner experience with SP CE

Curious to learn more? Contact us today to see SP_CE in action or check out our Partner Portal FAQ here.