5 Key Components for a Fully Enabled Channel Partner Ecosystem
It’s a new year—a chance to reset and create a list of things you hope to accomplish.
For sales teams, it means sales goals and optimism for a record-breaking year.
At the same time, though, the challenges of 2022 are hanging on like a toddler clinging to your leg, weighing you down as you try to move forward. Inflation, recession fears, the Russia-Ukraine war, and rising concerns over COVID cases in China are impacting businesses globally. And buyers remain cautious, to say the least.
Companies have resources to help them through this and help them continue to generate revenue—things most don’t take advantage of: channel partners.
Channel sales represents 75% of the world’s commerce, according to Forrester. But only 20% of channel partners deliver 80% of channel sales. The other 80% aren’t performing.
That’s because companies struggle to provide the consistent enablement their channel partners need. Like your inhouse sales reps, your channel partners need your help. And the best way to enable and support them is with a channel partner ecosystem that ensures they have the skills, knowledge, and content to engage buyers and win deals.
5 Essential Components of Channel Partner Enablement
Channel partner enablement allows you to provide a consistent and relevant experience that proactively supports the channel partner lifecycle. As a result, you’re able to drive mutual benefits for both your partners and your organization—and generate more revenue.
The most effective sales enablement programs deliver these five capabilities. As you develop your channel enablement program and seek tools to implement it, make sure you include the following components—and that the platform can support them.
1. Onboard, Train, and Certify Channel Partners
Onboarding and training channel partners can be difficult. Reps are busy, in different locations, and have many products to learn. To help you, look for a channel partner enablement platform that allows you to onboard and train channel partners in the flow of their work.
Goals:
- Onboard partners with different levels of expertise
- Keep partners active and engaged with your company
- Certify channel reps
- Help partners build better buyer relationships in a hybrid and competitive landscape
2. Manage Channel Sales Content
When your channel partners are always on the go, it can be difficult to keep them up to date on product changes, organizational announcements, or market shifts. You need a way to provide easy, on-demand access to up-to-date and relevant content—from anywhere and on any device.
Goals:
- Make it easy for partners to sell your software and services
- Deliver content in context and in the flow of your partners’ daily work
- Share best practices and product updates via asynchronous video
- Stay on top of regulations and restrict access to content as necessary
3. Coach and Create Top Performers
While most companies recognize the importance of coaching channel partners, challenges prevent them from taking a consistent approach to it. Look for a platform that allows you to provide in-field coaching and reinforcement and allow best practice sharing.
Goals:
- Enable managers to give personalized coaching to everyone
- Collaborate across different locations
- Circulate best practices
- Help partners apply what they’ve learned and deliver messaging effectively
4. Keep Channel Partners Informed on New Products
Typically, sales organizations launch new products and rollout processes via one-shot training sessions where knowledge and skills are “trained but not retained.” As a result, channel partners don’t have the knowledge or confidence to take products to market. A better option is to use asynchronous video training and just-in-time learning, allowing partners to learn the way they want to learn.
Goals:
- Keep partners informed on new products and market changes in real time
- Ensure partners stay on-message and certified to sell your hardware, software, and services
- Engage and capture mindshare among channel partners to scale revenue in a highly competitive marketplace
5. Help Channel Partners Prospect and Sell Virtually
Modern buyers want a more self-driven and digital buying experience. This is more than simply having Zoom meetings or virtual calls. It also involves creating presence in their absence when a channel partner isn’t in a live meeting with a customer. To help your partners do that, allow them to easily share personalized videos and content to add depth and value to every prospect engagement.
Goals:
- Modernize the buyer experience and engage prospects in hybrid settings
- Help partners cut through the noise and stand out among other sellers
- Identify content to share with buyers
- Allow partners to easily share content and ensure buyers can find it, such as through Digital Sales Rooms
Set Your Channel Partners Up to Succeed
As you kick off 2023, you likely don’t have the budget or staff you had at this time last year. To ensure you meet your revenue goals, you need a strong channel partner ecosystem. Make sure you have an enablement program and set your partners up to succeed.
Learn More:
Whether you work in financial services, life sciences, manufacturing, or technology, Allego has a channel partner enablement guide for you. Download yours today:
