As an Account Manager for Zift Solutions, I know firsthand that a powerful technology platform can do great things, particularly when it comes to automating co-branded marketing, streamlining distribution of leads and marketing assets, enhancing visibility across the sales lifecycle and measuring results.

However, there is more to channel marketing success than technology alone. That’s why Zift pairs its technology with Expert Services and a proven Success Framework to help Suppliers see the bigger picture and get the most out of the Zift platform for their channel partners and their channel marketing program overall.

Start with Strategy

No channel marketing program is going to succeed without a clearly defined strategy. You must determine exactly what you want from your channel partners and what they need from you. Then you can outline how you will both achieve those goals. After working with thousands of the world’s leading channel marketing organizations, Zift has a stronghold on Channel Program Strategy and our Expert Services team works with you directly to help you determine the best methods to meet critical sales objectives and reinforce your brand while maximizing the impact of interactive marketing.

Campaign Coordination Comes Next

Campaign Coordination moves strategy into action. Developing the right campaigns for channel partners and selecting the right marketing techniques and tactics takes insight and expertise. Zift’s Expert Services shine in this capacity, extending your team and providing hands-on support to tackle a host of Campaign Coordination tasks, including:

• Creating, designing, launching and adjusting co-branded campaigns for use by partners
• Refining assets and creating re-usable templates
• Establishing and tweaking workflows and lead routing rules
• Defining and creating management reports
• Much more

Drive Adoption

Technology won’t gain a real foothold within your Channel Marketing Program unless Partners make it part of their daily routine. Zift’s Expert Services team takes time to understand the needs and personality of your Partner community, so that when you roll out the Zift platform, it’s accompanied by Partner Adoption Services, complete with training, clear communication and partner events, to generate enthusiasm and engagement from the start.

Empower Your Partners

Even the most enthusiastic of partners may need a little guidance and handholding to make the technology you provide to them really sing. Zift Concierge Services delivers hands-on prescriptive marketing support to your partners to help them get the most from the platform and ensure that everything launched through your partners still complies with your brand standards. This is a great way to empower partners, as Concierge Services does the heavy lifting of campaign creation and execution, then works directly with partners throughout campaigns to ensure proper follow up with prospects to maximize results.

Think Globally

We do. That’s why Zift delivers Global Partner Support. No matter where your Partners live and work, they get the support they need to succeed. In-Language Support is easily accessible and currently available for more than 130 countries using Zift Solutions around the globe.

Measure Success

To see just how new technology is impacting the success of your channel marketing efforts, you must measure results. Zift makes that easy with Account Management and Closed Loop Analytics, which allow you to capture, use and share meaningful data across the channel. It allows you to keep your finger on the pulse of campaigns and optimize the impact of your channel marketing dollars.

“Zift Expert Services has helped us get the best results from the platform and our partners. They not only got us started on the right foot, but have also become a powerful extension of our team.”

Cynthia Caramico,
VP Marketing & Inside Sales,
Avaya

It’s About Teamwork

Technology doesn’t work in a vacuum and, with Zift, neither do Suppliers. Zift fulfills your needs with an array of services engineered to match your desired level of support. Expert Services ensure that everything gets done efficiently, with maximum impact, without adding more to your to-do list. Ongoing meetings help to define objectives and determine the services best suited to your organization and individual needs. We work together to refine plans and action items, so that you’re always getting the most from your technology and investments.

Learn more about Zift’s proven Success Framework, and let us know what you’re pairing with technology in your channel marketing program in the Comments section below.

The post Get The Most From Technology: Seeing The Bigger Picture appeared first on Zift Solutions.

More and more companies rely on their partners for indirect sales and as a means of reaching additional customers. Therefore, having a partner communication and engagement strategy in place is crucial to ensure the success of all parties. Additionally, partners and resellers have multiple suppliers making it even more important that the supplier 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.

1. Relationships

Building relationships is important in all aspects of life, both personally and professionally. When solid relationships are built, all involved parties achieve some level of satisfaction and value. Of course, this is easier said than done – there are many instances where a relationship is a one-way street and only one involved party is gaining value while the other is getting nothing in return. This concept also applies to suppliers and their channel partners. Treating channel partners as an extension of the supplier, and not just another task on their to-do list, will only help strengthen that relationship.

2. Developing programs and content that are responsive to channel partners’ needs

Take some time to understand partners’ challenges and be sure to structure programs to address those challenges and needs. This will only help drive partners to sell the products and services to the end customer and increase ROI. If channel partners are not receiving relevant marketing materials from a supplier, focus will shift to a different supplier that is taking their needs into account.

3. Consistent communication and follow-up

As in any relationship, keeping consistent communication is key. If the only outreach to partners is once a month, when new content happens to be available in which they may or may not be interested, or just out of the blue to make an announcement about a new product, it is likely that the partner will brush it off or ignore it altogether. Keeping partners up to date on upcoming product releases or changes to existing products or solutions enables them to keep their customers up to date as well. Channel partners should be encouraged to stay current, adopt new technology early, and be fully supported to retain their reputation as collaborative trusted advisers.

4. Getting partner buy-in

Show that you care and have listened to their needs and challenges. Your partners are only as successful as the tools that you make available to them. Pushing out a bunch of marketing materials that are being used on the direct side may not be of any relevance to your partners. If they see this as a trend, and that you (the supplier) are providing them materials that do not suit their needs, the end goal of increasing sales for both parties will not be met and partners will begin to lose trust. If partners are able to provide their input, they will be more likely to participate in programs.

5. Getting channel managers’ buy-in

Channel managers play an integral role in providing partners with the tools and education they need to utilize the marketing materials from the supplier. Demonstrate the value of programs to channel managers and provide them with the resources they can use with partners and resellers to keep partners engaged. The more program advocates, the better, and this will result in increased leads, more sales, and improved ROI.

Bottom line, partner engagement is essential in creating partner loyalty. Putting channel partners in a position where they can become experts on the suppliers’ 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.

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