Don’t be ‘That Vendor’ with your Channel Partner

Ever go on a date, or meet someone new that doesn’t know how to read the clues? They over-text, over-email and generally over communicate. They come off as needy, even desperate and the last thing you want to do is engage for fear of encouraging them.

On the flip side is the person that sounds great at the beginning, but then doesn’t deliver. They say they’ll call and you never hear from them again. They never show up when they say they will, and aren’t accountable for what they say they are going to do. It’s too much work to try to keep the relationship up, so you give up and don’t bother spending any more effort.

Now think of your exchanges with your channel partners. Either sound like something you’ve done?

How do you balance the right level
of communication to your partners?

You’ve got great channel programs and want to get the message out. Over, and over, and over again. There is a fine line between delivering information and stalking/spamming someone. Or you’re super busy and find it hard to always respond in a timely manner to partners that do want your help, or you go dark once you sign the partner agreement, leaving that partner to fend for themselves.

You of course don’t do either of these things on purpose, but it’s sometimes hard to know where the right line is. What is the best way to find that balance?

Talk with your channel partner and actively listen to what they say their needs are.

• Build a business plan together so you start your relationship off with mutually agreed upon expectations.

• Have a rich partner portal available with as much content as possible to enable him or her to sell.

• Automate deal registration and MDF so they don’t have to get bogged down communicating with you. You want to encourage communication back to you by making it easy.

• Be responsive when they need that extra hand. It’s also important to know who your high performers are and spend the extra time supporting their successes.

For more insight, download our new ebook: 5 Keys to Building Strong Relationships In Channel Marketing.