April Showers into May Flowers. 6 Ways to See Real Growth in Your Channel this Spring.
Let’s face it: partner programs require some work. Your channel partner program is sure to be a beneficial stream of revenue for your company, but there are rainy days to balance out the great ones. We’ve all heard it, April showers bring May flowers. Here are 6 simple and easy ways to see your partner program flourish this season:
1. Learn to Love the Rain
A rainy day will never stunt your growth. It’s impossible for every partnership we have to be all sunshine and rainbows. Have you ever had a plant wilt on you? I have and it’s almost as fun as losing a channel partner. Spoiler alert: it’s not fun. Naturally when you’re onboarding a new partner you don’t want to think about what could happen if they don’t work out. Appreciate your channel partners while they’re there, and think just as highly of them if it doesn’t work out the way you both planned. Appreciate the rain for what it is and use those unfortunate events as a baseline for continuous growth.
2. Fertilize
Give your partners the incentive to grow. One fool-proof way to see progress in your channel is to give your partners the tools they need to grow as well as the incentive to utilize those tools. Frequently adding new training materials is a good way to keep partners engaged and help them flourish. Gamification is also a fantastic way to incentivize your partner program; who doesn’t like free gift cards or merchandise? Not only that but adding gamification to your PRM can make your partner’s experience more fun on a daily basis. (Bonus points when partners all over the world are wearing your logo on their t-shirts!)
3. Don’t Over Water
You have to give your partners the tools to be able to flourish on their own. Once you’ve given your partners the tools they need to succeed, sometimes it’s best to give them breathing room. We understand, once your partners are planted you want them to bloom. But, at times, too much attention is a negative thing. If you drown your partners then they may not be as motivated to sell. You’re allowing your partners’ strengths to shine through when you’re not looking over their shoulder with a magnifying glass. Micromanaging shows that you don’t trust your partners and leads to disengagement and a lack of growth.
4. Give Them Light
Trust is the most important part of any partnership, so it’s vital to have transparency between you and your partners. You have insight on how they’re performing, in turn, they should have some insight too. Partners work hard to make sales, it makes sense that they want to know the status of their referral/reward. Let your partners see data and give them insight when they ask for it. Transparency allows your partners to know where they stand, gives them the information they need in order to sell better, and lends a hand to your team success story. Remember, you’re working together. Channel partners don’t work for you, but they’re a part of your overall team and sales ecosystem.
6. Let it Grow
the only way to see if your channel has grown is with analytics. You can’t measure growth if you aren’t tracking it. Analytics are essential to channel sales due to the fact that it gives you clear insight as to what is and isn’t working. It’ll help you see if it’s only a few partners that are making a majority of your sales, it’ll give you insight into what is and isn’t working, and it’ll help you measure your progress. There are a plethora of things in life that are unpredictable, your channel sales don’t have to be one of them. If boosting ROI is a priority, then analytics are the clear answer.
Best practice: Set kpi’s, having a specific goal in mind will guarantee that your company continues upwards growth.
The rain brings the rainbows, and the growth within your channel partner program will be worth it all. Want to talk about some growth tips and tricks? Contact us here.
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