6 Best Practices for a Successful Channel Incentives Program

Originally Published: February 22, 2022

• Without a tie-in to overarching goals, channel marketing typically takes a spray-and-pray approach to marketing in partner programs.
• To drive better performance, channel leaders should consider three deployment options; through-partner and for-partner marketing.
• Gaining the right balance along all three options ensures successful engagement and execution of channel demand programs.

What is Channel Marketing?

Channel marketing encompasses marketing to partners in the indirect sales channel.

Technology companies leverage channel distribution strategies for software, IT services, telecom services and more. It’s become so prominent in the industry that marketing through these distributors, agents, resellers and consultants is referred to as “the channel.”

Marketing in the channel is more complicated than direct marketing because you need to communicate your value proposition not just to the end customer, but to, through and for your sales channels as well.

Over time, channel marketing leaders typically take a trial-and-error approach, looking for some combination of brand awareness, through-partner marketing and supplier-led marketing that yields the highest results.

While companies refer to these terms differently at times, they can be viewed through three lenses: 

1. Programs to drive brand awareness and engagement with partners.
2. Partner-led demand programs that partners execute on behalf of their suppliers.
3. Supplier-led marketing programs that help prospects connect with partners; these can be simply referred to as “to-partner,” “through-partner,” and “for-partner” marketing. 

This article will define these three delivery options and make suggestions along the way on timing, duration and key examples. I’ll also explain how having the right balance can yield the highest results.

Plus, here are 11 channel marketing best practices that can help engage partners and keep your program top of mind.

To-Partner Marketing

The first of the three delivery options, to-partner marketing is when suppliers create marketing programs, treating partners like leads, to drive partner awareness or engagement in a specific activity.

Oftentimes referred to as to-channel marketing, this marketing delivery option usually means recruiting and engaging sales partners in your partnership with them—why they should work with you, benefits of working with you, how you can help them attract and serve their customers, and so on. To-channel marketing can have several layers, such as distributors and technology services brokerages (TSBs) as well as their networks of resellers or subagents.

In this first option, vendors may want to drive awareness for a specific activity they would like partners to engage in. For example, this could be deal registration or a reminder of an upcoming training program or event they would like partners to attend.

To-partner marketing has two primary objectives:

• Objective one: Sign up partners
• Objective two: Motivate partners to sell your solutions

To do this, channel marketers must use all content marketing vehicles at their disposal to establish thought leadership, generate interest and maintain mindshare.

Smart partners engage with partner programs that have strong marketing support to shore up this side of their business. One of the most important things providers can do to increase their indirect sales pipeline is build their company’s own brand, making it easier for partners to sell their solutions to end customers.

Key Examples of To-Partner Marketing

To-partner marketing activities might include all the communication required to get partners to attend a webinar, where they can learn about a supplier’s new portal.

Rather than taking a one-and-done approach, a supplier could send partners a timed three-part email cadence:

• Email one: Announces the webinar and why the partner should attend
• Email two: Reminds the partner to register for the webinar
• Email three: Final message, sent after the webinar, that could take them to a resource page where they download on-demand recordings of the webinar

Even the webinar itself, which may provide a demo of the portal, can be considered a vital element of a to-partner marketing tactic as it can contain key messages, guiding partners through best practices or activities the supplier would like them to engage in.

Other to-partner marketing examples might consist of:

• Newsletters sent to partners apprising them of new developments in the partner program
• Marketing events – both live and virtual – to raise partner awareness for new offerings
• Announcements for new training or certification programs

Timing and Duration of To-Partner Marketing

It’s critical to align the timing of to-partner tactics with the call to action (CTA) you want partners to execute.

For example, if it’s a webinar you’re asking partners to join, then ensure you’re inviting them three weeks out, just like you would a customer. If it’s a more immediate task, like asking partners via email to make sure they complete their profiles on the partner portal, take a more immediate approach by providing a link to an FAQ or guided tour so they can quickly act on your requests.

Longer, multi-touch to-partner marketing campaigns can be used to reinforce new program benefits, like deal registration or new offerings. In these cases, the campaigns should last as long as you want your partners to be made aware of the new offering – no need to sound like a broken record if the message has already been received.

Through-Partner Marketing

This second delivery option is sometimes referred to as partner-led marketing. It’s used to generate demand through partners by offering them tools, programs and campaigns they can use to reach new prospects or existing customers.

Sometimes referred to as through-channel marketing, this marketing delivery option means marketing your products and services to end customers through your sales channels. This might include some to-channel elements (such as what partners get for selling that product) as well as sales-enablement training and materials your sales partners use to recruit and close end customer revenue.

Often fueled by market development funds (MDF), through-partner marketing includes digital marketing programs, such as social selling or content marketing programs, which can be fully developed or customized by the partner with a message or CTA of their own.

Regardless, the objectives of these programs are to ensure partners can execute targeted marketing programs and upload their customer lists if needed, but not necessarily to make them expert marketers.

Key Examples of Through-Partner Marketing

Digital events fall into this category and are becoming more relevant to partners post-pandemic, having eclipsed live events. These programs contain all the elements needed for the partner to advertise, execute and follow up on a digital event regardless of geography. Key ingredients include a strong mailing list, registration and resource pages, and follow-up email campaigns to nurture leads.

Another example partners favor is “Social Selling” programs that allow them to syndicate content through their social accounts, like LinkedIn, and reach contacts within their network. This is a popular tactic with channel marketers who want to tap into a partner’s network of prospects and customers. Key to this program’s success is the ability to curate social content on a regular basis, then later link this content to inbound landing pages and follow-up offers. Channel marketers can automate campaigns such as these for partners using partner relationship management (PRM) software platforms, like ZiftONE^TM.

Through-channel content is similar to what your company would develop for direct marketing initiatives. The primary difference is that all physical and digital assets are typically designed to be branded or co-branded by your partners. Top channel marketing programs go further than just allowing partners to add their logo and website; they enable partners to customize channel marketing collateral with their own messaging that promotes their value proposition as well as your products. Examples of brandable content include:

• Flyers and data sheets
• Battlecards
• Blogs
• Case studies
• eBooks
• White papers
• Presentations
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Webinars
• Events
• Digital campaigns
• Social campaigns

Timing and Duration of Through-Partner Marketing

Ensure adoption with partners for any through-partner marketing effort by letting them know what’s in it for them and how they can participate.

Precede the actual marketing activity, like executing their first campaign, with a brief webinar you can use to invite targeted partners and track those that attend, then reach out to them immediately afterward to execute the next step, using a partner concierge if necessary. The actual demand gen programs themselves should have a cadence in terms of touches, email drops, etc., that will support the target buyers’ journey. This should last as long as necessary, which is typically determined through marketing planning that factor in the buying process, average selling price (ASP), method of buying (committee, consensus or transactional) and type of demand (new concept, new paradigm or established market).

This process will describe the campaign and assets to reach the target buyer, whether a transactional purchase under $15,000 ASP (think broken router) that requires a one-touch inbound search engine optimization (SEO) campaign or a multi-touch nurturing program that could last for months for an enterprise computer software (SW) purchase involving multiple decision makers.

For-Partner Marketing

The third deployment option, for-partner marketing, is used when the supplier is delivering a marketing program or deploying a tool on their website, like a partner locator, directly to the prospect for the benefit of a partner.

Key Examples of For-Partner Marketing

In the website prospecting example mentioned above, a lead is sent to the partner when a prospect requests to connect with a partner who can help them. Here, the supplier delivers the assets directly to the customer on their website and any resulting inquiries will be passed on to a specific partner.

Another example could include a competitive marketing program, where the supplier is trying to steal market share from a competitor by targeting a list of prospects and connecting them with a partner who can facilitate a try-and-buy offer. In this example, it’s better for the supplier to drive the competitive message since the partner often plays the role of a trusted advisor, and it wouldn’t work well if they were seen as biased.

Timing and Duration of For-Partner Marketing

These types of programs should not be overused, lest they create a dependency on suppliers to find leads for partners. Instead, they’re typically used as “silver-bullet” campaigns that are targeted and used within a limited timeframe in support of an offer, such as a financial incentive offered in Q4 or competitive win-back program lasting 30-90 days.

Tools, like the partner locator or online configurator that can help a customer learn more about solutions and where to find them, could last longer but should be periodically audited for effectiveness.

Achieving the Right Balance in Marketing Efforts

There are two ways to look at the collective use of To-Through-For partner marketing. One way is to think about the three options individually, to determine if your organization is employing too much of one option over the other.

Sometimes channel marketing leaders will complain that they’re doing too much for partners, handing them leads from their website with little agreement to follow up with them in a timely manner. In this case, the supplier may be looking to shift the activities from for-partner to through-partner as in the example below:

Or you might hear them say they spend too much on messaging partners in newsletters, emails, events, etc., with little insight or ROI on whether their communications resonate with partners. In this case, they may want to spend less time over-communicating and more time getting partners to take the next step.

You might be wondering, “What is the right balance?” Well, there’s good news and there’s not-so-good news…

The Not-So-Good News About Balancing Marketing

The not-so-good news is that all partner programs may differ in the types of partners they support, so no one model works for everyone.

A reseller program may require a hefty amount of to-partner marketing to remind smaller resellers to engage.

An alliance program between two suppliers that also includes direct sellers and respective channel partners could require a completely different distribution of activities.

The Good News About Balancing Marketing

You aren’t alone. Most programs already track their spend in these areas. For example, if your company is working with MSPs, it wouldn’t be hard to find the right balance for those types of partners. You need to benchmark how suppliers, master resellers, agencies and other channel providers engage with these types of partners.

A good rule of thumb that works with most partners who resell third-party products and their services is to spend most of the effort on through-partner activities, mainly because they are revenue-generating and can show ROI.

Next, consider what it takes to effectively communicate with partners on these activities with at least a 25-30 percent investment in to-partner marketing. Why? Because if you don’t, most suppliers report that the engagement for the through-partner drops below 15 percent without a steady use of awareness programs reminding the partner – what’s available, what’s in it for them, how they can engage and where and when to get started.

The final delivery option – for-partner – should be limited to specific tools or programs to help customers connect with partners, like a partner locator or a specific campaign, such as a financial offer made to customers directly and later fulfilled by a partner.

Best Practices: To-Through-For- Partner Marketing Investment

Again, these are limited programs and should not, on average, take up more than 10-15 percent of overall channel marketing investment unless you are uniquely required. This distribution is illustrated in the table below:

We’d like to hear from you!

Want to gauge your own investment against other channel marketing programs? We’re surveying channel suppliers online at this link. 

Please join others in submitting your distribution and the types of partners you support by filling out the survey. Once you do, we’ll provide you with an approximate benchmark of your channel marketing investment compared to others supporting similar partner types.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Here’s something that never changes: People saying the channel is changing. They’re right. It’s been happening at a breakneck pace for at least my entire channel journey, which stretches back into the last millennium!

In nature, changes in the ecosystem cause organisms to adapt. This is no different within partner ecosystems. In our current climate, I contend that the most important adaptation a channel professional should undergo is one towards accounting and finance literacy. While channel roles have always asked for people with highly evolved relationship skills, they may not always ask for traditional “numbers” people.

Unfortunately, what’s been done in the past isn’t necessarily what still works. Today, the most successful channel leaders need to be good at building relationships and at delivering strategies backed by sound financial reporting.  This starts by understanding how your channel metrics impact the company’s P&L (profit and loss statements). 

If acronyms like P&L, COGS, and EBITA don’t come as easily to you as VAR and MSP do, you’re in luck. I’m speaking at the upcoming MSP Summit in Orlando, Florida. Come to my session for actionable insights into reading financial statements. From there, you can start on the path to making your CFO your BFF.

Ready to learn more about how brushing up on financial literacy matters more in the channel than it ever has before? It’s because… 

It’s not “channel for channel sake,” but “channel for revenue’s sake.”  

“Channel first!” has become a channel chief battle cry. Partners like hearing it but even they know that a channel program won’t last if it’s not the supplier’s most attractive go-to-market strategy. A combination of the profitability, scale, time-to-value, and risk status of a channel program needs to stand out from other routes to revenue. The most successful channel leaders will study and master financial reporting to win the hearts of CFO’s and partners alike. Demonstrating real Return on Investment (ROI) is music to a CFO’s heart. Successful channel chiefs focus on proving the value of the channel to the organization.

Private equity has taken an interest in the channel.

It’s a particularly active economic time for private equity firms, and we see big investments happening across many industries. Channel companies are no exception. There’s an abundance of PE-backed investment and M&A in tech companies with a strong indirect sales model, in both distributors and technology service brokerages as well as in channel tech companies. It’s important for channel leaders in companies seeking investment to understand what is attractive to private equity. Then, when private equity inquiry and investment arrives, channel leaders need to be able to answer tough questions about the profitability, sustainability, and scalability of channel revenue.  

These skills lead to career advancement and flexibility.

Climbing the corporate ladder or reaching for roles outside one’s experience takes boardroom prowess. The best feedback I’ve received in my career was that my lack of accounting and financial literacy was holding me back. Imitating a deer-in-headlights when asked how changes in the channel program will affect COGS and SG&A isn’t a good look.  All that to say, I had to adapt. I became what the ecosystem required. Acquiring the financial education I needed put me on the career path I desired. Simultaneously, I became a real asset to my employers, our customers, and the partners we work with. 

Bottom line: admitting you have a gap and starting to fill it is the hardest part.  If you’re interested in learning exactly how to do just that, please join me at MSP Summit for my session on “Building Your Channel Leadership Skill Set: How to Read and Understand a P&L.”

When? Tuesday, September 13

1:45 pm – 2:20 pm

Where? Caribbean Ballroom 1

Sign up to register here!

In any service or support business, there’s one key question that investors ask that separates the wheat from the chaff: “Does it scale?”

You don’t need to be seeking investment or exit to benefit from the wisdom of that question. Scale translates to consistency and predictability in service levels, revenue projections and cost forecasts. 

Scalability is vital to partner enablement, which is the most critical component in the long-term success of any channel program. To scale that part of your business well, you need a framework that drives repeatable, reliable results.

Why should you care about Channel Partner Enablement?

Successfully enabling your channel partners delivers numerous benefits in all the areas that matter to the C-suite, including:

• Shorter sales cycles – A powerful enablement program shortcuts partners’ learning curves and speeds sales qualification and quote times. In turn, improving these key metrics accelerates time to contract and, by extension, closing.
• Higher conversion rates – Partners get better at generating revenue when they’re better educated on products and solutions, or they have access to materials and hands-on support to help them close business. Partner enablement delivers on both fronts.
• Better quota attainment – Partners that can shorten their sales cycles and increase conversions are better at meeting – and beating – their quotas.   
• Accurate forecasts – As all of these key performance indicators (KPIs) improve (sales cycles, conversion rates and quota attainment), so does the accuracy of your channel revenue and partner performance forecasts. Accurate forecasts translate directly to accurate planning – not just in your channel department, but throughout the company.  
• Scale inside the partner organization – Have you ever noticed that your sales team seeks out the best salespeople in your company for tips and tricks to help them close more deals? Partners are no different; they gravitate toward success. The better you enable them, the faster your company mindshare grows, and the quicker your products penetrate portfolios across your partner organizations.
• Lower partner attrition – When you deliver a strong enablement program to your partners, you keep them active and engaged for a longer period of time. That’s because you’re strengthening the ability of your partners to close deals. There’s no more powerful way to build partner loyalty than by helping them grow their businesses.

The Key Components of Any Partner Enablement Strategy

Sales partner enablement should be an integral part of your channel partner onboarding program. We’ve identified seven core program building blocks that can simultaneously build your partner’s capabilities and your mutual partnership:

1. Training: The foundation for any partner enablement program is training. The scope of this activity will depend on your particular company’s solutions. In some cases – vertical solutions, for example – a significant portion of the training will be dictated by industry-specific needs. But many of those principles apply to selling a broad-based B2B product. Training should include:
   • Market demand and the problems your product class solves
   • In which niche(s) your product plays best
   • Why your product is better for your partner’s customers
   • What the partner gains from selling your solution 
   • Current partner SPIFFs and end-customer promotions
   • How to get closing support when it’s needed
2. Goal Alignment: Hopefully, you’ve developed an ideal partner profile (IPP) and screened for partners that align with your strategic goals and operational capabilities. But don’t assume that success will materialize based on compatibility alone. Take the time to map out goals for the partner that align with your overall goals, identify where your partner has holes that you can help fill, and make plans to check in regularly on progress toward those goals.
3. Incentives: Your competitors don’t pack up and go home when you’ve successfully converted a partner. They invite your partners over and over – often with steadily increasing incentives – to jump ship and sell their solutions instead. On this front, your best defense is a potent offense. Build in incentives that keep your partners selling your products in pursuit of higher-level rewards. Well-rounded partner incentive programs typically include SPIFFs on product sales, bonuses on revenue milestones, luxury rewards like car leases and trips for top performance, and public recognition of their achievements through awards.
4. Sales & Marketing Collateral: Many channel partners are great salespeople. Most are not great marketers. Providing your partners with materials – both physical and digital – they can use to promote your solutions is key. Depending on your partner mix and your partner program model, you’ll need to provide fully white-labeled or co-branded materials to which the partners’ logos can be added.
5. Ongoing Communications: These days, everything changes quickly. Keeping your partners updated is both challenging and essential. You need a communications plan just for partners like you do your internal teams and your customers. These could include product bulletins (for new products and updates), partner newsletters, email campaigns and dedicated social channels to communicate with your partners.
6. Get Feedback: A good partner program incorporates partner feedback not only on your products and how they perform on the street but on your partner program itself, including your partner enablement program. In fact, the best partner programs have borrowed a fundamental tenet of design thinking—feedback-based development and refinement. 
7. Partner Enablement Software: If all of this sounds like a lot of work, it is. That’s why scaling is both a challenge and a necessity. On this front, partner enablement software can be your best friend. Embrace it.

10 Steps to Build Your Partner Enablement Framework

Partner enablement is a big undertaking, but it doesn’t have to be painful. We’ve broken the process down for you in 10 simple steps that can help you achieve success, and we asked a panel of industry experts for advice along the way.

1. Arm Your Company Before Arming Your Partners
2. Plan in Advance for a Simplified Partner Enablement Experience
3. Nail Down Your Other Partner Onboarding Practices
4. Establish Your Training Plan
5. Build Your Incentive Plan
6. Develop and Deploy Collateral
7. Establish Your Communications Routines
8. Align and Set Your Goals
9. Be Responsive
10. Assess and Adapt

Step 1: Arm Your Company Before Arming Your Partners

A little prep goes a long way. When establishing or evolving your channel program, it’s essential not only to work through how to recruit channel partners but also to enable them. You’ll especially want to think through platforms, including learning management systems (LMS).

“A solid LMS is critical to educating and certifying partners on your products and process,” says Robert Maute, Chief Revenue Officer for master customer experience technology integrator CX Effect. “In addition, a solid Partner Portal (PRM software) is critical to providing them with tools and strategies to help better market your products.” 

Liz Lederer, Senior Vice President of North American Channel Development for Star2Star, agrees. The cloud communications provider gives partners access to its LMS for technical and sales training and its knowledge base for technical support, account information and quoting tools.

Step 2: Plan in Advance for a Simplified Partner Enablement Experience

Your partners saddle up with you to solve their customer problems and grow revenues, not to decode how to work with your company or use its systems. Like all of us, they suffer easily from app fatigue. Make their experience painless and positive. 

“Make it easy. Make it quick,” says MeiLee Langley, Senior Director of Channel & Field Marketing at cloud communications provider Nextiva. “Give partners tools they can learn, use, and measure easily and quickly. Partners are busy selling and implementing products; show them the value the training, tool, or program will bring them and how little time and effort it will take them to complete/use it, and you’ll see your engagement soar.”

Tess Smith, Senior Vice President of Sales for NetFortris, shares these sentiments. “Simplify constantly,” he says. “Understand context, align priorities, prioritize time management, measure outcomes and adjust accordingly.”

Step 3: Nail Down Your Other Partner Onboarding Practices

Partner onboarding and enablement are intertwined in a yin-yang symmetry. Partner enablement is essential to channel partner onboarding, but onboarding is also a crucial part of enablement. Getting the rest of your onboarding processes down pat will set up partners for success through the rest of the process and build trust at that crucial time when your partner is forming opinions about working with you. 

“My advice [is to] build trust early on by demonstrating your commitment to the relationship and to the mutual success of the channel partnership,” says Jasmina Muller, Vice President of Global Channel Partnerships for global critical event management platform Everbridge. “Get to know their business objectives and how best you can help them support their end users, and continually offer the enablement and engagement they need to succeed. Build the relationship for the long term, and plan for the future.” 

This is sound advice that applies throughout the relationship—from ensuring that you’re employing partner onboarding best practices to rewarding partner loyalty and longevity.

Step 4: Establish Your Training Plan

In addition to the LMS solutions advocated by CX Effect’s Maute, other opportunities for training exist, including:

• Live training at your partner’s site
• Live training on-site at your company
• Remote or virtual training (including webinars for established partners)
• Incorporating training in partner summits
• Co-locating with or near major industry events that will attract many of your partners and planning training days adjacent to the primary event’s dates
• Helping partners close deals (some may need assistance until they’re fully up on your products and value propositions)

In-person contact with your partners is important because video calls can’t fully replace the impact of face-to-face meetings, says Charlie Pagliazzo, Vice President of Channels at communications solutions provider Granite Telecommunications. He’s also a strong advocate for enterprise-wide support of partners when they need it.

“[Make support] available all the way up to ownership to work with partners and their prospects,” Pagliazzo says. “Participate in partner training sessions. [We] attended every event partners were having pre-pandemic [because] attending industry events and always being there [demonstrates commitment]. [Embrace] partner and client visits. Video calls can’t totally replace in-person visits. I predict they will resume post-pandemic.”

Step 5: Build Your Incentive Plan

Once you’ve got your partners through the door, you’ll need to give them a reason to stay engaged with you. Your most potent competitors – and if you use them, even top-tier distributors – develop reward systems that incent their partners to send revenue their way. You’ll need plans of your own in order to compete in today’s channel. 

Additionally, if the right support systems are in place, you can create incentives that help your channel partners develop more autonomy in their sales efforts. 

“Like a building under construction, partners need good scaffolding,” says Heather Tenuto, Chief Revenue Officer for enterprise channel management platform provider Zift Solutions. “Provide tools and support while they are learning to sell and support your product or service, but also incentives for earning autonomy.”   

If you want to develop bigger and better rewards programs, refining your partner enablement framework into a well-oiled machine generates more ROI toward that goal. It delivers the revenue and margin predictability you need to cost-justify your incentives. 

TIP: Some partner programs incorporate lead sharing into the mix. In some cases, leads are provided as rewards for business closed. If you include lead sharing in your partner enablement plans, be sure to track the outcomes of those leads to ensure that future leads are routed toward partners that work them effectively.

Step 6: Develop and Deploy Collateral

As we noted earlier, most channel partners have stronger sales than marketing skills. Providing materials they can use to present a more professional image can help them close business. And you’ll make your brand manager happy in the process because you’ll ensure that representations of your company are complying with brand guidelines. 

Liz Lederer, Senior Vice President of North American Channel Development for cloud communications provider Star2Star, says her company leverages its existing knowledge base to give partners access to collateral that often can be branded for channel partners. “[We] give our partners access to our knowledge base,” she says, “which includes marketing collateral, sample campaigns, call scripts as well as help with technical support, account informant and quoting tools. They have access to all of our social media content, and we can co-brand most content for their use.”

Typical forms of collateral for channel partners to deploy include:

• Pitch decks
• Email campaigns
• Brandable flyers (digital and print)
• Drip campaigns
• Lead magnets
• Landing page templates
• Newsletter templates
• Brandable newsletters
• Digital ad templates
• Product and educational videos
• Social campaigns

Step 7: Establish Your Communications Routines

Nothing is static in 2021. You’ll need to communicate with your distributors and partners for product updates, training opportunities, partner events, contests, SPIFFs, promotions, commission distributions and much more. Much of that information also has to be communicated internally. Here are some simple but effective steps you can take to maximize efficiency and avoid duplicative efforts:

• Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. Determine which internal communications assets can be repurposed to keep your channel partners tapped into vital information. This could include materials that can be rethemed/reskinned for the channel, internal distribution assets your channel team forwards to your channel partners, or information you can copy and paste into channel-specific templates and update routines. You’ll likely incorporate all three into your plan.
• Plan processes for the rest. Determine how you want to manage other communications that need to reach your channel partners. There’s a good chance you’ll end up with a mix of product bulletins, newsletters, updates on your channel-devoted social accounts, emails, texts, and portal and application updates. Depending on the content, you may share it across many of these communications channels. The important part is to establish processes, so your communications become automatic and scalable.
• Assess and adjust. Use surveys and one-on-one engagement between your channel managers and their channel teams to ensure you’re reaching partners on their terms and assess how effective your outreach strategy is. Make adjustments when needed.

Step 8: Align and Set Your Goals

The need for alignment between your firm and your channel partners’ needs isn’t new, but how your firm can help your partners achieve their goals has changed since the pandemic—particularly in areas of digital transformation. It’s accelerated, and alignment moving forward will need to be calibrated accordingly. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“While the pandemic presented many challenges, it has also provided many opportunities to reimagine how you conduct business in a digital normal,” says Michelle Ragusa-McBain, Vice President of Global Channel & Digital Strategy for channel consulting firm JS Group. “Once you align on your goal, vision and strategy, you can leverage a symbiotic strategy to survive, thrive and excel in innovative new ways.”

Step 9: Be Responsive

As we discussed earlier, getting feedback from your partners can keep you on your game and ahead of your competition. Solicit feedback regularly and empower your channel team to escalate channel enablement requests. And make closing support available when it’s needed. In fact, depending on the complexity of your product, you may prefer to prioritize closing support as a regular part of doing business. It’s also important to keep in mind that many partners assist their customers with a much broader solution set than yours, so it may be impractical for them to develop the same level of product knowledge as your internal employees.

“We advise our partners to not worry about becoming experts in our portfolio, or in the technology but rather to dive into business challenges their customers are facing and to engage us early in the conversation so we can become an extension of their team and help to solve for those business challenges,” says Lacey Rondon, Regional Partner Leader for multicloud solution provider Rackspace Technology. “Partners have access to so many providers it’s near impossible to be proficient in all aspects of the provider’s offerings. We try to teach our partners enough to gain their customer’s buy-in for the second meeting, and we find that is more valuable for our partners long-term.”

Step 10: Assess and Adapt

Modern channel enablement platforms make it easier than ever to assess the efficacy of your channel programs and the performance of your partners. You can use them to deploy live surveys, identify partners that may have been poached or showing signs of inactivity, and develop dashboards that you and your partners can use to maximize the effectiveness of your partnership. 

Repeatable Partner Enablement Framework – Download

These are our tips for creating a repeatable partner enablement framework that can help grow your partners and your channel.

Have anything you want to add? Sound off in the comments below.