Should I be giving my channel partners leads?

Demand generation is key to accelerating revenue growth but is a major cost to channel partners. Giving leads to your channel partners might seem like the perfect solution to your through-partner marketing challenges. However, this is also a risk.

Partners need to have the marketing capability to be able to handle the leads you give them. A partner without experience or the tools to nurture leads will be unable to move early-stage ‘top of funnel’ leads forward. The leads risk being seen as unqualified and a turn-off to channel partner salespeople.

Rather than think of ‘leads’, you need to think of the right ‘activities’ that match the partner’s capability. Then drive partners’ sales growth from the right demand generation activities by making it easy for them to drive their own marketing initiatives. For example, providing a catalog of packaged digital campaigns removes the guesswork from delivering activity. It gives clear deliverables and allows partners to choose activities that they will understand and are capable of delivering.

End customers rarely buy ‘just’ your brand. By providing packaged campaigns, you make it easy for partners to deliver co-branded activities that feature your brand in the partner’s solution.

Work this way and you create the opportunity to follow up with them in the right way for the leads generated to drive partner sales growth.

Sponsored by our partners at bChannels, written by Bastien Goubeaux (Program Manager – Client Services)