In an ideal world, your partners would go to bat for you every day. They’d be self-motivated, update deal statuses without intervention, and generally make your life easier. Unfortunately, partner expectations have grown beyond manual processes, email exchanges, and one-way digital portals. Keep reading to learn more about what channel managers get wrong about partner relationship management—and what you can do to avoid the same fate.
Expectation #1: Partners will do whatever you expect them to do.
You might think that your partners will log in to your partner portal just because you ask them to. In reality, partners want to be shepherded through a digital partner experience that supports their business success. They don’t want to waste time guessing what they’re supposed to do—they want to know exactly what they need to do, the moment they want to do it. Investing in purpose-built partner relationship management tools makes it that much easier to guide partners—and makes it much more likely that they’ll do what you expect them to.
Expectation #2: Partners will update deal statuses without manual intervention.
Contrary to what you might hope, partners don’t wake up and immediately think about making sure their deal statuses are updated in your program. Remember, these are people who work with a number of different companies and have a lot on their plates. According to
one study, the average partner works with five primary vendors, 15 secondary vendors, and a number of tertiary vendors. That said, it is certainly possible to increase the chances that they end up updating deal statuses on a regular basis. To make that happen, you just need to make their job as easy as possible. This is exactly why Vartopia created
EZ Update—a feature that enables partners to update deal statuses at any time from any connected device, without having to log in to a portal.
Expectation #3: It will be easy to determine how partners influenced every deal.
If you have a single partner who is bringing you business, figuring out how that individual influenced a deal is pretty straightforward. But what happens when you have multiple partners in the mix? That’s when things start to get a little dicey. Without the right tools in place, it’s impossible to determine individual partner contributions to deals in which multiple partners are involved. Most channel tech solutions don’t let you have more than one partner or multiple deal registrations associated with an opportunity. This is another area in which Vartopia shines. As the only solution on the market that enables you to add
multiple partners to multiple deals and opportunities, Vartopia allows you to easily measure partner influence, regardless of how many partners are involved in the deal.
Expectation #4: Managing channel data will be easy.
Many channel managers learn the hard way that managing channel data isn’t always easy. To do it effectively, you need to maintain a single source of truth for all channel data. That way, it is a lot easier to track key performance indicators, as data silos disappear and everyone stays on the same page. For the best results, look for a channel tech solution that consolidates all of your data in one place,
improving collaboration between vendors and partners and giving channel teams powerful analytics capabilities.
Expectation #5: Partners will always do great work for you.
Once again, in an ideal world, this would be the case. But far too many channel managers know that partners
don’t always live up to their end of the bargain. This is why it is so important to invest in powerful channel technology. With the right tools in place, you can quickly determine which partners are working tirelessly on your behalf and producing results—and which partners are sucking up too much time and too many resources.
It’s time for your channel to reflect reality!
Partner relationship management can make or break your channel. When you give your partners exemplary experiences and the support that they need, they’ll do exactly what you want them to. And that’s the ticket to a stronger channel, a healthier business, and a bigger bottom line. To learn more about the easiest way to solve all of these challenges,
request a demo of Vartopia today.
