Deal management is a huge area that is oh-so important for most companies. This is even more true for manufacturers working with channel partners and trying to stay in control of deals made by distributors, resellers or partners. Something that is easier said than done and can create problems for your forecasts and deliveries.
Here, we´ve gathered all you need to know to stay in control of the deals you and your partners are working on.
What is deal management?
Deal management is basically the process with which you handle all the deals you, your partners and distributors are working on. It includes everything that concerns the creation, structuring, negotiating, monitoring and documenting of said deals, and is meant to make it easy for all involved parties to understand their responsibility in the matter. Successful deal management makes it straightforward for sales reps to add and update deals, while giving managers a complete overview of how the pipeline looks. Good deal management tools will boost the accuracy of sales forecasts, improve data quality and help companies go from guessing to knowing.
What is distributor deal management?
Distributor deal management is more or less the same thing as deal management – only here it refers to keeping track of deals made by a partner network. These are usually a lot harder to manage than internal deals, given the fact that your partners, distributors or resellers are further away from you than your own sales teams. Something that underlines the need to find tools that give control, provide an overview of all the deals worked on by partners, and make it easy for them to add and update deals as they go along.
This is not usually something that a CRM provides the necessary tools for, and many companies look to modern Partner Portals to provide their partners with a single interface for managing deals, fetching content, finding training material etc. Which boosts the chance of partners actually adding the deals they´re working on – given the additional value they get out of visiting their partner portal.
How can I improve my distributor relationship management?
Offering your distributors an easy way to get all the information and training they need, to communicate with you and manage their deals, will be key to grow the relationship. A Partner Portal that keeps everything in one place can be a solid way of making it happen.
What are the key components of effective distributor sales?
Creating an effective distributor sales machine requires a good distributor engagement, distributor enablement and distributor management. Basically, you´ll want to give your distributors all the training and material they need to sell your product(s) well, you´ll want to keep an open line of communication and notify them of any changes or updates to product material, price lists etc. You´ll also want to stay top of mind – and keep a total overview of distributor actions and performance. Including the deals they´re working on, the training they´re completing and the end customers they´re addressing.
This can beneficially be managed in a solid Partner Portal that clusters all of the above in one interface – making it so much easier for partners to find what they need and provide you with the information you need.
How can I best manage distributor deals with Pipedrive?
Many small -and midsized companies are working with Pipedrive as their CRM – and for good reason. Pipedrive gives a cost-efficient CRM that can help keep your pipeline updated and maintain an overview of customer interactions. There is, however, not currently a good way to give partners their own Pipedrive environment without giving them user privileges in your corporate CRM (and paying for the seats), which is where Partner Portals like SP_CE come in.
With SP_CE, your partners can add and update their deals directly in their Partner Portal, and any changes will be directly synced to Pipedrive. Giving partners, resellers and distributors an easy way to manage their pipeline, while you get all the data you need directly into your CRM.
What digital tools best support distributor deal management?
Digital tools that support distributor deal management include advanced Partner Relationship Management (PRM) platforms, but these are usually way too expensive for small -and midsized companies. If you´re one of them, you may want to look at modern Partner Portals like SP_CE, and that can help you enable, engage and manage your distributor network while making it easy for them to manage the deals they´re working on – at the same time as you can give them access to all the other things they need to succeed and that may include product training, marketing -and sales content, classes and courses as well as a direct support line to you.
Why is distributor deal management important?
DIt´s usually rather easy to maintain an overview of the deals your own sales teams are working on, but this is not always true for your distributor networks. Maintaining control over distributor sales reps is a hassle, and getting information on deals and progress oftentimes turns into guesswork. Your distributor may just email you the information and you´ll be forced to keep a spreadsheet that may or may not end up being accurate. Something that can make your forecast spin out of control.
This, in turn, can mean a risk of having too much, or too little, inventory, which can be a big problem for getting your products out and protecting your bottom-line.
Curious to learn more? Contact us today to see SP_CE in action or check out our Partner Portal FAQ here.
