The goal of any channel partner relationship is for both partners to make money and grow sales. That’s why we enter into these partnerships in the first place. Because of the nature of the channel marketing relationship, it makes sense to find ways to help and encourage your partners to make the sales that will drive profits for both of you.
There are two common mistakes that vendors make – and both of them come from the idea that they need to provide an added incentive to their partners to make sales rather than actually helping them grow their own businesses, which will in turn drive sales.
One common practice that doesn’t work as well as you might think, is offering channel partners a prize if they provide you with a given number of hot leads to whom we can market our products or services. This rarely works, because the partners’ main focus will always be on making their own sales rather than helping the vendor make sales.
The other common practice that tends to fail is offering channel partners additional funds for their own marketing efforts if they meet a target sales goal. This fails for two reasons. One, if they are able to make the sales goals, they already have an effective marketing effort in place and are unlikely to need additional marketing funds. The second reason this doesn’t work is that the vendor has no idea how the partner will spend the additional funding, and it may often be spent on ill-conceived marketing efforts.
The practice that does work is providing channel partners with marketing materials that have been tested and proven in the market place to help generate more sales. Giving them high-quality marketing content – branded with their company name, logo, and partner value proposition – allows them to sell more of your products and services as well as their own.
The better the sales content you provide your channel partners – and the easier it is for them to use the sales content – the more money both companies will make.
The bottom line is that providing your channel partners incentives will only work to a point, but providing them with the tools they need to make more sales does work. Therefore, if you want to make the most out of your channel partner relationship, provide them with the marketing content they need to generate more revenue.
Be easy to do business with. Be easy to grow business with.
