Distributor deal management is fairly similar to your standard deal management – only more difficult to get right. After all, distributor deal management means managing and coordinating all those deals that channel-partner sales reps are working on, and these sales reps are usually quite far away from you.
So, deal management basically means the process of tracking, organizing and optimizing sales opportunities all the way from the initial contact to closing – and this applies whether you´re selling through channel partners or internal sales teams. The difference between deal management and distributor deal management is more about what teams you need to oversee, who needs to be involved in the deals made and how to keep everything transparent. It is, for example, rather straightforward to oversee the deals internal sales teams are working on by using a boilerplate CRM, or something similar, but the same thing doesn´t usually apply for partner sales teams that are further removed from you.
They are, quite simply, harder to control, something that underlines the importance of finding deal management tools that can help you maintain an overview of partner sales actions, deals, order values etc. Which is where smart Partner Portals come in: SP_CE, for example, allows your partner to easily add and update their deals directly in their portal, and the data can be seamlessly synced to your CRM.
How a Partner Portal can help your distributor deal management
Partner Portals like SP_CE can help you make distributor deals easy to manage and oversee, by:
1. Merging the partner journey in one space
SP_CE lets you onboard and train partners, provide marketing and sales material, go through rigorous courses and manage their deals in one place. This, in turn, means that your partners have a ton of incentives to come back to their portal time and again – increasing the chance that they continuously update their deals without you having to chase them.
2. Making deal management a collaborative effort
In each partner´s own portal, their sales reps can easily add and update the deals they´re working on – and you can help them along. This creates a collaborative deal management that makes you and your partners co-responsible for sales success.
3. Seamlessly syncing data to your CRM
Scattered data can be a nightmare. Luckily, all the deals your partners add to SP_CE can be automatically synced to your CRM (like Pipedrive and Hubspot). Ensuring that you always have the latest data to go on and can maintain an accurate forecast at all times.
Curious to learn more about distributor deal management in SP_CE? Contact us today to see SP_CE in action or check out our Partner Portal FAQ here.
