More and more companies rely on their channel partners for indirect sales and as a means of reaching additional customers. Having a partner communication and engagement strategy in place is more crucial than ever to ensure the success of all parties. On top of that, partners and resellers have multiple suppliers making it all the more important that the provider stands out and establishes an engagement plan to build partner loyalty.
When creating and executing a partner engagement plan, there are a few key tips to keep in mind for ensuring success. The more engaged a channel partner, the greater the tendency for them to sell more of your products and services.
Take a look at the four factors currently impacting your partner engagement levels:
1. Industry Disruption
Change happens faster than ever before, and you and your partners have to keep pace. This includes incorporating new products, accommodating advancing technologies and learning to implement new strategies.
2. Changing Customer Expectations
Customers now buy on a spectrum—from little sales interaction to sought-after expertise. If your partners don’t feel your brand provides the support they need in order to meet their customers’ expectations, they’ll leave you and your partners for someone who does.
3. Channel Confusion
Increasingly complex business agreements between you and your partners make it difficult to fully understand the best working process to efficiently support their needs. This is only made harder by the continual change in the market caused by mergers and acquisitions.
4. Information Overload
All of the above contribute to information overload. Your partners are bombarded by so many different messages that it’s hard to differentiate your brand from other brands vying for their attention.
The harsh truth today is that organizations who don’t adjust to the fast pace of change are losing market share, losing customers, going bankrupt or being bought. But those who leverage successful strategies to overcome these challenges will see strong (and engaged) relationships with their channel partners.
Here are three ways to make engagement with channel partners happen:
- Make It Easy: Enable partners with the foundational knowledge and tools they need to meet customers’ expectations and be an expert on your products.
- Provide Meaningful Motivation: Use unique and personalized ways to incentivize, encourage and reward partner performance.
- Create Memorable Engagements: Cement your partner relationship for the long-term through fun, non-traditional ways.
Related: When it comes to making data-driven decisions for channel marketing success, here are some ways you can start small and still make a huge impact on your channel program.
Partner engagement is essential in creating partner loyalty. Putting channel partners in a position where they can become experts on your products and solutions will enable them to go to market with confidence, build their sales funnel, increase revenue streams and produce an overall increased ROI.
Looking for more ways to tackle your channel engagement problem? Download our ebook, Is Your Channel Engagement Strategy On Autopilot?