Ways to Make It Easier for Your Channel Partners to Sell More of Your Product Faster
The best way to succeed in channel sales is by arming your channel partners with the right tools, resources, and skills to be able to sell your products easily and quickly. The question is: How do you do this?
Here are five ways to ensure your channel partners have everything they need to successfully sell and grow your (and their) business:
1. Offer the Right Training and Tools
From the moment you start onboarding new channel partners, the goal should be to give them everything they need to sell your product effectively. You must deliver dynamic self-service training, access to partner portals where they can find collateral and resources, and access to the tools that will drive lead management, sales automation, content distribution, and more. With a powerful partner relationship management (PRM) system, onboarding and training become a seamless part of your channel partnership program. Lastly, provide your channel partners with a margin calculator so they can understand the difference between manufacturing costs, the price to the consumer, and how the total product margin is distributed among all channel partners.
2. Deliver the Value Proposition
For your channel partners to sell your product or service successfully and with zeal, they need to have a good understanding of your value proposition. Channel partners will ask what is in it for them, and you have to be prepared to answer by understanding their unique business model and how they—and your business—can truly benefit. Avoid a one-size-fits-all approach, because channel partners will see right through it. Let them know how your product or service stands out from the rest, which will make the partnership valuable for everyone involved. Here are a few tips:
- Clearly explain what your product or service is and does—don’t use buzzwords or industry jargon.
- Describe the core problems that your product or service solves, who your competition is, and how your company stands out from the rest.
- Give them a peek at your future plans, and keep them in the loop so they feel like an extended part of your internal team. Better yet, ask them for their input.
Once you’ve delivered a convincing, honest value proposition, provide your partners with the resources that will enable them to take that proposition to the end user.
3. Enable Through Collateral
One of the most powerful ways to make it easier for your channel partners to sell your product quickly is to ensure they have a deep and rich library of assets and collateral—both internal and external. For internal assets, consider providing the following:
- Playbooks
- Documented sales processes
- White papers
- Templates for sales proposals
For cobranding and marketing collateral, consider providing:
- Brochures
- Product information
- Sales templates
- Fact sheets
Giving your channel partners these assets will ensure that they are properly marketing your product or service. This is crucial for maintaining a sense of control in the sales process and for creating consistency, so that the right message gets across, no matter who the channel partner is.
4. Incentivize to Sell
Incentivizing the sales process can motivate your partners to work faster and more intelligently. With a PRM tool, you can determine, measure, and evaluate important sales performance indicators in order to reward your channel partners.
5. Keep Partners Informed
In order to make your product or service as easy to sell as possible, be sure to regularly evaluate and assess what is working for your channel partners and end users and what isn’t. This will allow you to coach your partners and provide them with any additional training and tools they may need. Also, by regularly updating your channel partners on campaigns and promotions, you will ensure that they deliver your product or service to market quickly and easily. What’s the best way to do this? By implementing a robust PRM solution with an easy-to-use dashboard that delivers a central point of access for all levels of an organization.
With a robust PRM solution, you can make it easier and more efficient for your channel partners to sell your product or service. If you’re ready to help your channel partners sell more quickly and easily, listen to The Allbound Podcast #44: Sunir Shah—Partners Are Customers of Your Partner Team.
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