As the director of sales for an emerging growth company, you have made the decision to employ an indirect sales force. The decision to utilize outside sales partners is part of your newly developed sales strategy in an effort to effectively launch new products in new markets and increase revenues. Now that you have successfully implemented your sales strategy and on-boarded several great partners, you will need to properly manage the channel. To do so, you need a proven channel management software solution, but what are the most critical features to consider?
Channel Management Solutions
As a small to medium sized business, it is important to understand that the solution should be rolled out in the early stages of your channel partner implementation to avoid conflicts and confusion. A great channel management solution houses all of your channel partner engagement tools in one cohesive and powerful system ensuring an efficient and effective channel from the start. Immediate benefits include well trained and motivated channel partners, better job performance, greater organizational commitment, more visibility into your channel and more sales!
In order to achieve such results, consider:
- SaaS-based software which quickly and easily integrates your channel partner marketing activities into a single customized portal.
- An application that enables e-learning activities, collaboration, performance incentives, content creation and distribution for the support and development of your channel.
- A technology that provides a highly personalized environment that is easily updated and available for all partners/users in real time to match your company’s requirements.
- A highly interactive dashboard with discussion forums that can deliver best practices and knowledge sharing
- Cloud based business intelligence which produces analytical, geographical and sales performance reports that allow for comprehensive tracking.
SEE ALSO: Top 4 Best Practices for Channel Managers
To ensure the success of your channel, you must choose a channel management and
partner relationship solution that incorporates ALL of the aforementioned features in a robust technology platform. This technology, also known as Partner Relationship Management (PRM) software, is vital to the success of an emerging growth company like yours.
The purpose of PRM is to capture, empower and engage your partner network by offering partner support through a more efficient flow and organization of information, resulting in your channel partners becoming more productive.
The best Partner Relationship Management software includes a partner portal which provides a cloud-based platform for communication and managing the relationships between your company and your channel partners. The right partner portal can facilitate strong engagement between you and your channel partners and studies prove that strong engagement equals more sales which equal success.
