Let’s look at few steps that will help you to accomplish this.
#1 Connect with your channels
Most marketers think that generating leads for channel partners is
not part of their job. That is the first step to a disconnected relationship
with your channel partners.
Lead generation is a huge investment of time and money. Your
channel partners may not be equipped with the content or data to generate leads
on their own. That’s why you could save their time by generating leads for
them. Have an effective channel automation system in place, so that your
qualified leads are automatically transferred to your channels. Directing these
leads to your channel partners will keep their pipeline full and you can track
how they are communicating with these leads.
To enable them further, you can give them the data that will help
them to nurture or sell to these leads. An in-depth insight of what your leads
have been up to will give your channels a foundation to build their selling
strategy.
#2 Manage marketing and sales assets
Branding and consistent messaging can be a challenge when you have
channel partners. We have seen cases of distorted campaigns due to inefficient
brand compliance approaches. What you need is a central repository of all your
assets in it. You can make this available to all your partners. The best part
is that while your partners can customize these assets, there are also
limitations that you can set to avoid any brand compliance issues. Use a
sophisticated system that lets you to tag your assets so you can easily find
them and avoid duplication; a system that makes it easier to store and find
collateral instead of making it a lengthy or tiresome process.
There, you have done some effective asset management for your channels. As there is no
dearth of ready content, your partners will be happy to engage more and more customers
using these pre-approved assets.
#3 Let them
personalize
Of all the searches on Google, almost 20% are for local searches.
This means that a relatively higher percentage of your business comes from your
local markets. To cater to the needs of this high margin, you have to be able
to communicate with them on a personal level.
Letting your channels to customize their campaigns is a great way
to tap into your potential leads. You could also use this feature for ongoing
promotions. For example, suppose a retail outlet e-mails discount coupons
to customers who have made purchases exceeding $200 within the past month. An
automated can update this list every month; so only those contacts who made
purchases, above the specified amount receive the coupons.
Communicating with your customers through personalized campaigns ensures a higher engagement and
conversion rate. Your channel wins, and so do you.
#4 Make
your data useful
A research by IDG suggests that more than 85% people agree that
big data can help businesses make more “informed” data-driven decisions. Hence,
for a high impact marketing and sales campaign, it is important to provide your
channels with this data.
Big data includes all relevant information
about the lead that helps to classify and segment them. The same data can be
used to determine the stage of the prospect’s buying cycle. Such information
can let your channel partners devise highly personalized strategies aimed
towards these lead segments.
The capability to devise these strategies is possible only if your
big data is actionable. Usually big data is just a heap of unclear data where
channels hit a dead end. But presenting the data in a way that’s understood and
employed to design campaigns, makes a lot more sense to the users.
The data in your system is central and common to you and your
channels. This warrants a certain level of transparency between you and your
channels. You can also reach out to their assistance as and when they need,
without going through some disconnected process.
#5 Automate your
channel process
Your channel partners could be termed your extended “sales teams”.
Just as sales enablement is important within the organization, it is important
to enable your channel partners too. Giving your channel partners the
right tools can help generate, nurture and eventually close sales faster. As it
is evident from recent trends, sales teams are being highly empowered to
perform better with maximum efficiency. This is possible only when you give
them the tools that will make “selling” their core responsibility. Likewise,
empower your channels with tools like a good channel automation software.
This software can track every possible interaction with the lead,
allow them to customize campaigns and provide actionable big data. In short,
provide them with each and everything we have discussed so far. In addition to
this, make sure you give your channel partners- sales playbooks. The sales
playbook can be a guide to them for each stage of the buying cycle of
prospects. Channel partners will be armed with all assets pertaining to any
particular campaign or stages of sales cycle or based on channel locations and
requirements.
And lastly, consider channel automation software that lets you
manage your co-op funds smoothly. Managing co-op funds requires a system that
allows you or channel partners to carry on transactions effortlessly. Instead
of maintaining and updating data manually in excel sheets, it is much more
convenient to just feed the data in the system as and when necessary. You need
to have a system where you can centrally manage all your details and
transactions with each of your channels partners.
So what your channel partners expects from you is a well-nourished
diet of leads, assets and actionable big data. As long as you can whet their
appetite with all these, you’re golden.
To learn more about enabling Channel partners through automation,
download the e-guide here
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