While many channel organizations claim that creating and sustaining a rewarding Partner Experience tops their list of priorities, few actually know exactly where to start. The latest eBook from Zift and Oracle uncovers the 5 Key Ingredients of a Positive & Profitable Partner Experience.
The ‘Secret Recipe’ for Success
When it comes to recipes, who better to ask for advice than a celebrity chef? For this ebook, we looked first to the channel and global B2B experts at SiriusDecisions. They point out that channel organizations seeking the elusive ‘secret recipe’ for success should first take stock of the tools, support and overall experience they provide to their partners.
The simple fact is, today’s partners have more suppliers and product lines to choose from than ever before. According to SiriusDecisions, resellers are typically balancing six to seven vendor relationships at once and the Partner Experience or PX has become a primary decision driver. Without proper programs and tools, partners look elsewhere, engagement plummets, and so do customer satisfaction and sales.
Recognizing the vital importance of the PX, SiriusDecisions devised a framework organizations can use to measure their own capacity to provide partners with a holistic and rewarding channel program and experience. Within their PX Maturity Model, they call for Suppliers to provide “Tailored programs and tools based on discrete Partner needs” along with “fully-automated and integrated partner-facing and systems with SLAs monitored continuously for improvement.” Sounds like a tall order, but that’s exactly what a Channel Marketing and Management (CMM) Platform can serve up for hungry partners.
What’s Baked into Your CMM?
Equipping yourself and your partners with a Channel Marketing and Management (CMM) Platform is the fastest path to a mutually rewarding Partner Experience. There is no easier way to automate essential channel marketing tasks or provide an optimized Partner Experience. Done right, implementing a CMM can set suppliers apart from the crowd. So, it’s important to seek out a CMM that bakes in specific capabilities (or ingredients) specifically suited to partner palates. Streamlining Lead Distribution Management (LDM) is a great place to start.
Key Ingredient #1: Lead Distribution Management
Without high-quality leads, Partners will fail to engage and perform. And without a straightforward process for delivering leads to partners, even high-quality leads will get lost in the shuffle. Look for a CMM Platform that:
Minimizes Work: Your CMM should be able to deliver leads directly into the workflows and/or systems partners are already using, eliminating duplicate work and the number of systems partners have to log into.
Pairs Leads with Insight: Accompanying leads with activity history and insightful prospecting data helps partners to speed and strengthen follow up – and ultimately close more business.
Moves Beyond Automation: The right CMM Platform doesn’t just automate lead delivery, but also provides control, visibility and quantitative feedback across the entire lead lifecycle and sales process, so you can accurately measure results.
More Insight & Key Ingredients
We’ve packed a lot more insight and 4 additional essential Partner Experience ingredients into our latest eBook. Learn more, including the Top 5 Reasons Partners Don’t Engage with Suppliers, by reading the complete eBook 5 Key Ingredients of a Positive & Profitable Partner Experience:
