There are undeniable benefits to channel partnership. Brand recognition, more revenue, and increased ROI are just a few. Understand that building any channel partner program takes work. But you are in luck because we have outlined steps to help you along in creating your reseller partner program.
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Determine your goals
You must determine where you want to go before you can determine how you are going to get there. You must establish an overall goal for your business as well as for your reseller channel partners. What do you want them to do and how do you want them to do it?
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Create value propositions
A partnership is a two-way street. Your potential partner is also looking for valuable partnerships. Are you presenting Silicon Valley or something more like The IT Crowd? Value propositions present a clear benefit for potential partners that ask what is in it for them.
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Develop a sales process
Whip out your handy sales funnel and let the planning begin! You need to be awfully specific about what you want to occur at each stage of the sales funnel, or you risk your reseller channel partner program not performing to your level of expectations.
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Research competitors
You can get insight into your own business by researching competitors. Who are they partners with? How are they selling products? To whom? Where? What are they successful at? What could they improve? Let your competitors do the work for you!
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Identify your partners
Now for the fun part! Now that you have some bearings on what you are trying to do, next you need to look for reseller channel partners to take you there. This is also an area you need to spend time researching. Otherwise, you will end up wasting time and money.
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Develop a strategy
Channel management pretty much necessitates a strategy for everything. And your reseller partner program is no different. You need a plan to account for all the moving parts of your reseller channels. It’s wise to get input from your reseller channel partners during this process. It will increase their buy-in.
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Educate and onboard
You must educate reseller channel partners on your products and processes. We recommend a portal to house any documentation, manuals, FAQs, etc. Essentially it will bring efficiency to your reseller partner program. Including those that help your reseller partners hawk your products. Here, you can also implement a certification process to check your resellers’ knowledge.
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Outline roles and responsibilities
Work with your reseller partners to create a list of every single activity that takes place before, during and after a sale. Then designate which tasks will be managed by your reseller partners and your in-house team. Then check to make sure that all relevant parties are clear on who is doing what.
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Segment your partners
Segmenting reseller channel partners will give you some insight on which partners have the highest potential to meet your expectations. There are several ways to segment your reseller channel partners. Geographical location, target audience – the options run the gamut. You can also group reseller channel partners by performance level.
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Implement your systems
If you want to get a gold star from your reseller channel partners, invest in some good digital systems. Word on the street is that sales channel partners usually get the bottom of the barrel in tech systems. So, if you want your reseller partner program to stand out, this is a great place to start.
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Measure partner performance
Measuring partner performance is a proactive method to catch any possible kinks in your system before they blow up to epic proportions. For example, if you spy that a certain reseller channel market is underperforming, you can proactively address the issue. Put checks and balances in place and keep a constant eye on opportunities for improvement.
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Implement rewards program
Who wouldn’t want to be recognized for their efforts with a little something special? Your reseller channel partners will be quite motivated to work for and with you if they receive some type of incentive. And you don’t have to come up with some intricate reward like an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii. Although that would be nice. Remember, cash is king and is pretty much a motivator for just about anybody.