In an ideal world, running a channel would be easy. Unfortunately, as channel managers understand all too well, a lot of problems can pop up in a channel when you don’t have the right setup.
What kinds of problems can occur in a channel?
Although no two channel programs are exactly the same, there are some common problems that rear their ugly heads in every channel at one point or another.
1. Channel Conflicts Between Partners
Occasionally, partners and vendors submit emails to channel managers to try and hold certain deals. Other times, they try to call the same customer accounts, and systems do not make it clear who is actually involved. As a channel program begins to scale, it is essential that channel managers do everything in their power to make sure that partners and vendors aren’t battling against each other for the same deals, and that they’re registering deals the right way. When channel conflicts emerge, it doesn’t bode well for your channel program, because partners are unlikely to stick around for the long haul when the rules are unclear or unenforced.
2. Portal Clutter and Poor Navigation
Another reason channel programs suffer is due to portal clutter. Partners may be met with far too much information in your portal, much of which is unhelpful because vendors do not segment or personalize the partner experience. It also might be difficult for partners to navigate your portal or determine what they’re supposed to do next. Opting for a one-size-fits-all approach to the content that is deployed to partners isn’t helpful. For the best results, use grouping to differentiate what content certain partners see and reduce channel clutter.
3. Lack of Visibility into Partner Activity
No company wants to have a high-paid channel manager spend all of their time manually contacting partners to track down deal updates. Asking managers to continually log in to the partner portal to look at activity is a problem. That information needs to be brought into the partner relationship management (PRM) platform, where they already live today.
4. Lack of Visibility into Partner Influence
Far too many channel managers don’t have the tools needed to ensure partners are actually
driving sales. Similarly, most channel managers struggle to determine how much credit each partner deserves in
multi-partner deals. In both scenarios, this lack of knowledge prevents channels from reaching their full potential. It’s impossible for managers to know where their market development funds (MDF), co-op funds, or other incentive dollars are being invested, leading to a lack of efficiency.
5. Inability to Measure ROI
For years, channel managers would pay partners to attend a conference, then simply cross their fingers and hope for the best. Historically, there hasn’t been a mechanism that has allowed channel managers to
close the loop on ROI—making it difficult to know how to effectively allocate funds.
6. Lack of Integration Between Systems
Many channels are plagued by data silos that create operational inefficiencies, inaccurate data, and unnecessary data-entry tasks. For example, not every PRM solution can automatically funnel information to and from a PRM platform, leading to human errors and suboptimal analytics.
The easiest way to solve all of these problems.
Luckily, there is a simple solution to all of these shortcomings:
Vartopia. As a purpose-built channel tech solution, Vartopia is designed to solve all of these problems. Vartopia makes it easy to resolve (and prevent) channel conflicts, build personalized journeys that target partner personas, and reduce overall portal clutter. On top of that, Vartopia gives both managers and partners real-time visibility into partner activity. Instead of having to track down updates, the technology takes care of that automatically. Vartopia also ships with powerful analytics capabilities that allow you to make sure that partners are sending deals your way. It’s also the only platform on the market that gives you the granular insight you need to determine individual partner contributions to multi-partner deals. On top of that, Vartopia integrates with your PRM, giving you the peace of mind of knowing that you have a single source of truth at all times.
Overcome these partner relationship management challenges with Vartopia!
Vartopia is the ideal solution for partner relationship management systems and processes. But don’t just take our word for it.
Request a demo today to learn more about why today’s leading channel programs rely on Vartopia.
