Channel Management Blog
Our blog features channel management tips, best practices and expert insights to help you get the most out of your PRM and create a successful partner program.
Featured Download: 5 Habits of Channel Manager Rock Stars
Channel manager Rock Stars are channel builders. They know how to sell, how to be strategic with partners and how to build an organization that will generate significant sales. Download our new ebook for free to learn what Channel Rock Stars all have in common and how you can adopt these habits into your own channel role. […]
Do you know the Secret Sauce in Channel Manager Success?
In the ever-present drive to grow the channel, it’s easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Our goals are usually expressed in numbers, and in the push to reach them, we get focused on moving the needle, completing the task, getting the result. But true success comes from remembering that your partner […]
Channel Manager Software Can’t Take the Place of Human Interaction
No matter how good channel manager software gets, if you put your technology between you and your partners, you’re maybe being more efficient, but it’s efficiency in a penny-wise-and-pound-foolish kind of way. Channel Manager Software Doesn’t Let You Outsource a Personal Relationship Companies should implement channel management/PRM and CRM tools to see trends and to know where […]
Determining the ROI of Your Channel
Everyone is looking to get an ROI read on their indirect sales channel, especially those organizations that are just starting out with a partner program. If you’ve been tasked with managing this initiative, odds are your CEO is regularly asking, “what are we getting out of the channel?” This is true especially for CEOs who […]
Structuring a Partner Program to Get the Partner Behaviors You Want Part 1
If you’ve ever had a spiff program not work the way you’d hoped, you already know that partners can behave in completely unexpected ways… Or are they really that unexpected? With a little forethought, if you consider what an incentive program is actually enticing, you will see pretty quickly that the partners’ behavior is completely […]
How to Increase Deal Registration
Deal registrations are the key to channel visibility and, therefore, to accurate channel sales projections. The first key to getting partners to register their deals is to acknowledge this value proposition for yourself. Obviously, the better you can see what’s in your sales pipeline, the better you can forecast your partner channel revenue, and the […]
The Channel as Search Engine Optimizer
Five Steps for Dominating SEO Using Your Channel Lets face it: The reason you build a reseller channel is to accelerate your company’s sales ten times faster than you could by building a direct sales force. Historically, Partner Relationship Management has focused on providing static marketing materials, funds for marketing campaigns, and distribution of leads […]
The Truth about the Magic Hockey Stick
It looks so nice on the channel partner revenue graph — a line inclines gradually for a year or so, and then makes a sharp upward turn, the shape of a hockey stick. Everyone thinks their indirect sales program is different, that wild success is inevitable—just get some partners and launch. But the fact is, […]
Joint Business Planning: A Myth or Necessity?
I bet you’re hoping I’m going to say “myth.” No one likes planning, right? But we might as well face facts: joint planning with partners is a critical best practice, and vendors that make the effort are much better positioned to have a successful channel. Joint planning keeps your partnerships from going dormant. Vendors usually […]
FAQs About Partner Relationship Management (PRM)
Launching an indirect channel sales program is exciting, but I can tell by the questions I get from customers that this is an area that’s regularly underestimated in terms of planning and resources required. Here are some of the most common questions we hear as people embark on their partner relationship management journey and answers […]