In a blog post last August, I introduced tips on recruiting channel partners . A large part of recruitment is the ability to ‘walk the walk’ with your resellers. Offering marketing programs that reward retention and loyalty goes a long way toward recruiting, building partnerships and growing the indirect side of your business.

Channel programs fall into three strategic buckets: recruitment, retention and loyalty. Partners that are highly engaged use as many resources from their vendors as possible. So it’s important to create programs that are useful to the reseller, complement their existing marketing strategies and support your channel goals.

So let’s go over retention and loyalty programs. For purposes of this post, I’m going to use the terms reseller and partner interchangeably.

RETENTION PROGRAMS

Retention programs by design are meant to keep the partner engaged in selling your products and services. Some retention programs should be strategic; long lived, it drives sales over a long period of time. Other retention programs are short-lived and are designed to bump sales quickly.

An example of a strategic retention program is a sliding margin scale designed to pay higher margins to larger volume resellers. Once the reseller reaches a certain revenue goal, the margin increases. Be sure to put parameters around this program to keep the volume sales top of mind.

A model for this might look like:

$0.00 – $5,000 monthly sales = 28%

$5,0001 – $9,999 monthly sales = 29%

$10,000 – $14,999 monthly sales = 30%

$15,000 monthly sales = 32%

A short term retention program is simpler and is typically intended for reseller sales and sales management teams. Set goals for tactical programs that address your needs and that will be a good incentive for your reseller to want to participate.

So as an example, as a channel rep for a wireless company, I would offer sales reps in major retailers $10 per phone activated with my company during a specified month. Sales management got $500 if there were 100 or more activations in the month. This model kept me and my company top of mind with both the sales rep and the sales management. The ‘spiff’ for the sales rep has an easy entry point – they did their job and earned more money. The sales management team is incented with a cash reward to grow the monthly sales.

Use short term programs as needed, to move excessive inventory, or to promote a new or seasonal product.

LOYALTY PROGRAMS

Loyalty programs reward a partner over the long term for selling and supporting the products you offer. In many industries, loyalty programs offer awards and gifts to upper management at your top resellers. As an example, I worked in the professional photography industry for years and the major manufacturers offered their top resellers an all expense paid trip to Las Vegas for the annual PMA conference. While there, they also attended the company dealer meeting and dinner. Top partners were offered marketing support to assist them in spending co-op marketing funds.

A loyalty program offers you the chance to highlight your top business partners with awards and recognition. Both go a long way in maintaining a positive, mutually beneficial relationship.

Be prepared to run models on margins and costs to determine if a program makes sense for your business. There are endless ways to build retention and loyalty programs but look at them over the long haul – can you sustain the program and will it meet the goals you have set? Also be prepared to measure and  tweak programs as needed.

Tracy focuses on channel and partner marketing at ReadyTalk, building out marketing programs to recruit partners and reinforce engagement with them. When she’s not coming up with marketing plans she likes to compete in canine freestyle Frisbee and ride her Ninja motorcycle.

ReadyTalk recently revamped the company website. It took hours of research and planning and expertise from all types to develop a user friendly site that portrayed the corporate brand and the way we deliver service and support to our clients.

A new website like this is not for the faint of heart. Whether you are doing a major overhaul or a touch up to your site, we highly recommend starting with the upcoming AMA Virtual Xchange to learn about building brand into your website.

AMA’s Virtual Exchange – Your Website, Your Brand: Maximizing Impact, Technology and Trust is coming up on November 11. It’s a full-day online forum and a great way to learn more about building brand into your website without leaving your office. Best of all, you don’t have to be an AMA member to attend.

If you make it to the event, stop by the ReadyTalk booth to find out what’s new with us.

Tracy focuses on channel and partner marketing at ReadyTalk, building out marketing programs to recruit partners and reinforce engagement with them. When she’s not coming up with marketing plans she likes to compete in canine freestyle Frisbee and ride her Ninja motorcycle.

Over the years, I have seen many companies chose to build a channel program but immediately fight themselves on their decision. It is common for there to be a misunderstanding about the role of channel partners and that can lead to arguments as to whether an indirect channel program is beneficial. Some will argue that it costs too much while others see the value right away. Before proceeding to build a channel program seek buy-in internally from key stakeholders.

As a channel marketing manager, my role is to help the company decide which channel is relevant to the sales organization (reseller, VAR, developer, retail, etc.), how to grow and manage that channel, and what to expect out of the growth of the channel over the years.

One of the first things to tackle is cooperation with channel partners, especially with the direct sales team. There are endless ways to avoid competition and encourage cooperation – just make that a goal and measure your program against it.

Of course a channel program should be designed for generating sales and supporting customers. Some examples include:

• Setup alliances between direct and indirect teams so that partnering becomes second nature and you will foster cooperation.
  • Team sales reps with channel partners when there is a value add to the customer.
• If sales management deals with both channels, distribute sales quotas to promote cooperation. If not, the first signs of competition will show up.
• A main part of managing both direct and indirect channels is managing the leads of all parties and creating fair and reasonable guidelines for lead tracking.
  • Typically conflict arises when both direct and indirect sales are competing for the same business. Lead tracking can minimize the competition and help management make decisions.

Create a program that fosters cooperation between both teams and you have a win-win.

Tracy focuses on channel and partner marketing at ReadyTalk, building out marketing programs to recruit partners and reinforce engagement with them. When she’s not coming up with marketing plans she likes to compete in canine freestyle Frisbee and ride her Ninja motorcycle.

ReadyTalk is always showing our customers new ways to use web conferencing services. Whether you are trying out teleworking, collaborating with colleagues worldwide, or hosting a lead generation webinar series, ReadyTalk assists you with your business every day. Now ReadyTalk expands their reach with a new Partners Program.

Partners come in all shapes and sizes so we chose to develop a program that offers flexibility and suits a variety of business models. Our recruitment push continues for resellers at the upcoming Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Chicago, August 24-26. If you’re interested in adding audio and web conferencing and web events to your product offering – come by booth 1236 and talk to Betsy or Dwight about how ReadyTalk can help increase revenues from your existing customer base and help you gain new customers with these services. You’ll also want to hear about our new reseller incentive program where you can earn an additional 10% commission for the first six months. Our programs offer a full complement of sales and marketing resources and out of this world customer support. Can’t make Chicago? Check us out at ReadyTalk.com/partners.

Tracy focuses on channel and partner marketing at ReadyTalk, building out marketing programs to recruit partners and reinforce engagement with them. When she’s not coming up with marketing plans she likes to compete in canine freestyle Frisbee and ride her Ninja motorcycle.

Over the years, I have worked with more than 15 startups and have had numerous opportunities to start and grow a channel program from the beginning. There are a variety of ways to go about growing your indirect channel, I have found applying a little strategy and planning up front can keep you on track with goals that align with sales initiatives.

ReadyTalk is taking strides to build an indirect channel. Our approach is to qualify prospects that best fit our business model and offer an advantage to the reseller. With conferencing being a homogenous product in the market place these days, many resellers are boosting ongoing revenues by bringing in conferencing solutions to sell.

So where to start?

PROFILING AND QUESTIONNAIRES

Sure, you can take on any and all interested parties. Simply throwing a wide net will get you a base of resellers to begin working with. Better yet, taking the time to build a profile of the ideal prospect can help reseller recruiters focus on objectives. Build a profile that best identifies the audience you are after and you will find partners that are embedded in that market. The profile could be based on geography, market or other factors such as expertise.

Build a questionnaire that helps you interview candidates based on your business goals. Ask questions about target audience, years in business, number of sales/customer support/tech positions is in place. Can they support the business that comes in? Make contacts with sales and corporate management to gain product mindshare and to have an advantage in building marketing programs.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

Partners seek out vendors that offer clear advantages in the products they sell and in the support offered in sales and marketing efforts. They also want best in class customer support, afterall, they are putting their customers in your hands and nothing makes for a bad experience than poor support. When creating your partner program be sure to address margins, sales, marketing, customer support, reporting and any other relevant topics that pertain to your industry.

RECRUITING

Now that you have a profile and a program in hand you can recruit prospects. You have identified the market you want to target (let’s say geographical) so you can now do a search in the city/region that is your top market to start. Always try and identify 3 or more prospects to talk with so you get an understanding of what the competition is really like and how each individual organization works. You’ll be better informed on partners that align with your business objectives if you interview multiple candidates.

In closing, profiling partner prospects and targeting your market makes for a channel program that covers your sales territory and allows for a planned growth pattern for success.

Want to learn more about profiling for partners? Share your comments below – I’d love to brainstorm with you.

Tracy focuses on channel and partner marketing at ReadyTalk, building out marketing programs to recruit partners and reinforce engagement with them. When she’s not coming up with marketing plans she likes to compete in canine freestyle Frisbee and ride her Ninja motorcycle.