Partner sales play a crucial role for companies operating in the B2B segment. Engaging partners allows them to expand sales channels, penetrate new markets and offer customers a wider range of products and services. Research shows that companies that utilize partner sales channels see a 32% increase in revenue compared to those that rely solely on direct sales.
At the same time, however, there are a number of challenges in managing the partner channel:
- ensuring process consistency;
- operative exchange of information;
- quality control of customer interactions;
- monitoring the effectiveness of partners.
Automation of partner sales allows you to dramatically increase the efficiency of management of this channel. The ability to structure and centralize all information about partners and deals in a single system, use collaboration mechanisms, visualize key metrics – all this, in the end, provides companies with serious competitive advantages.
In this article, we will look at the key aspects and best practices of partner sales automation using modern IT solutions. You will learn how to build an effective partner ecosystem, ensure smooth interaction when working together on deals, as well as how to track and analyze the performance of the partner channel.
Managing the Partner Ecosystem
Effective partner channel management starts with building a structured partner ecosystem. Modern solutions provide vendor companies with tools to systematize all aspects of working with partners.
Partner Portal
The centerpiece of automation is a specialized partner portal – a single point of entry for partners into the vendor’s information system.
The partner portal provides:
- Primary registration and onboarding of new partners.
In the portal partners go through the initial registration process, specify all necessary information about their company and contact persons. This allows to simplify and accelerate the procedure of connecting new partners. - Centralized access of partners to training materials and certification on products and services of the vendor.
Training is provided through the partner portal to validate partner competencies. This provides the necessary level of expertise of partners for quality interaction with customers. - Manage collaboration on deals.
Partner portal provides controlled access to CRM data: registration of deals, creation and qualification of leads, assignment of responsible persons, etc. This allows you to build a coherent interaction between partner and vendor at all stages of sales. - Access to marketing and promotional materials.
In the portal, partners have access to up-to-date presentations, brochures, case studies and other marketing assets to effectively promote the vendor’s products.
As a rule, the partner portal is organized on the basis of internal CRM-system of the vendor, but with limited functionality and customized access rights for the needs of partners. This approach ensures full control of the vendor over interaction with partners and security of corporate data.
Partner Lifecycle Management
Working with partners is a continuous process, the automation of which provides for the management of the entire life cycle – from the initial registration of the partner in the system to the control of each transaction. The management process includes:
- Partner segmentation.
Modern solutions allow to segment partners by various criteria: level of certification and competencies, sales volume, compliance with service standards, etc. This makes it possible to build a differentiated strategy of work with different groups of partners. - Status model of the partner network.
Different statuses are set for each partner depending on the level of indicators. Typical statuses can be: “Registered”, “Certified”, “Silver”, “Gold”, “Platinum”. This incentivizes partners to develop their competencies and increase sales volumes. - Automation of rewards and benefits.
Promotion of partners by statuses automatically determines the available conditions and privileges of cooperation: access to new products, level of discounts, marketing funds, dedicated technical support, etc. The reward system additionally motivates partners. - Control over the fulfillment of partner agreements.
The system monitors the fulfillment of partner’s obligations for each deal – from registration to receiving payment from the client and closing the deal. If the terms are violated, escalation to the responsible vendor takes place. - Lifecycle analytics.
Analytics tools allow to identify patterns in the partner lifecycle, such as the average time to reach a certain status, the percentage of partners falling off at each stage, and characteristic reasons for termination of cooperation. This knowledge allows the vendor to optimize its partner strategy.
Automating lifecycle management processes helps build long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with a network of partners. On the one hand, the vendor receives transparent and controlled interaction, on the other hand, partners have a clear understanding of their status and opportunities for business development with the vendor. This balance is the key to an effective and sustainable partnership.
Certification and Training
Ensuring a high level of expertise of the partner’s specialists in the vendor’s product line is the key to quality interaction with customers. Integration of the vendor’s CRM system with partner training and certification systems plays a key role in solving this problem.
CRM-systems with a focus on partner B2B sales provide opportunities for integration with LMS-platforms (Learning Management System). Data on training and certification of partner specialists is automatically transferred from LMS to CRM and is available for analysis and decision-making in the context of partner interaction.
This integration also simplifies processes for partners themselves. In the CRM interface they can access the assigned courses, can track the progress of training and certification status of their specialists. Many modern CRMs provide low-code tools to customize certification processes and integrate with LMS. Without deep technical knowledge, it is possible to implement scripts for automated data requests, checks, notifications, and other interactions between systems.
Collaborate on deals in CRM
Once an effective partner ecosystem is in place, you should start organizing collaborative work on deals. Partner sales automation solutions offer companies the functionality to ensure coordinated interaction with partners at all stages of a deal.
Flexible access rights management
Fundamental is the ability to flexibly manage partner access rights to data in a vendor’s CRM system. Profile solutions for B2B sales automation feature extensive capabilities to flexibly manage permissions to view and edit information on deals, contacts and activities depending on the status, role of the partner organization and specific employees. Clear delineation of access rights is the key to corporate data security and helps to avoid many problems in the organization of the sales process through the partner channel.
Collaborative Interest Qualification
Quality lead qualification is one of the most important components of success in partner sales. The qualification process should be inextricably embedded in the CRM system and optimally configured, ideally using artificial intelligence elements. Profile solutions provide for a collaborative qualification process in several steps:
- Partner qualifies leads according to the vendor’s specified criteria. Partner registers information about the lead in CRM according to the approved list of parameters: compliance with the portrait of the target client, term and budget of the transaction, completeness of the LPR, etc. As a result, the lead receives the status “Qualified by Partner”.
- Check the quality of qualification by the vendor. Vendor’s responsible persons verify the quality of qualification of the lead by the partner. In case of incorrect qualification, the lead is returned to the partner for revision. Successfully qualified leads are approved for further development.
- Additional qualification of the lead by the vendor if necessary. At this stage, the vendor may conduct its own additional qualification of the lead to confirm its prospectability. This step may involve direct interaction with the customer or automated scoring using predictive models.
Such a qualification process together with a partner ensures focus on leads with the highest probability of conversion. Qualification results data is accumulated in a single CRM system and is available to both the vendor and the partner. The key to successful implementation is finding the balance between ensuring the necessary vendor control and keeping partners motivated.
Centralized Methodology Material
A centralized system of methodical sales support is also an effective tool for joint work. Partners get immediate access to up-to-date presentation materials, industry cases, answers to typical objections and other marketing assets directly in the context of a particular deal. This improves the quality of interaction with clients.
By automating the processes of working together on deals, companies achieve significant increases in conversion rates and shorten sales cycles.
Monitoring partner channel effectiveness in a CRM system
Along with building effective partner ecosystem management and deal collaboration processes, the ability to comprehensively monitor and analyze partner channel performance is a critical aspect.
Affiliate Sales Reporting
Modern CRM systems provide a wide range of standard reports and dashboards that visualize key partner channel metrics. Managers with their help get data on the total volume of transactions, revenue, conversion at various stages of the funnel both in terms of individual partners and the channel as a whole. Flexible customization options allow customizing reporting to meet the company’s own requirements.
Full-cycle end-to-end analytics
A deeper level of analysis is provided by end-to-end analytics tools, which track the full history of interaction with a customer from the identification of initial interest to the successful closing of the transaction. It becomes possible to evaluate the effectiveness of individual partners, products, marketing campaigns at different stages of the sales cycle. Process bottlenecks and potential loss points are identified.
Research shows that continuous monitoring of KPIs, such as revenue generated from partners and return on investment (ROI) in partner programs, allows companies to allocate resources more efficiently and improve their strategic initiatives. As a result, this can lead to a 10-15% increase in revenue through timely process optimization and improved partner engagement
The previously discussed aspects of automating partner sales channel management are comprehensively realized in the SimpleOne B2B CRM solution. The system is designed specifically for automation and management of corporate sales in the B2B sphere, including work with partners.
- The ability to create a partner portal with tools for onboarding, lifecycle management, partner statuses and certification. The process of registration of transactions by partners with automatic distribution of responsible persons according to the set rules is realized.
- Flexible customization of access rights allows you to provide partners with controlled access to data on transactions, contacts and activities.
- Tools for joint qualification of interests of clients and work with their problems and criteria for choosing a solution are realized. Partners receive up-to-date marketing materials through a centralized system of methodological support.
- Powerful tools for analyzing and monitoring the effectiveness of the partner sales channel. Built-in report builder allows you to flexibly configure and visualize a variety of data slices by partners, products, regions and other parameters. Dashboards are also available to visualize key performance indicators for quick response.
- The platform provides Low-code tools for customization and customization for individual vendor requirements. Open architecture and REST APIs ensure integration with existing IT systems.
The rich functionality of SimpleOne B2B CRM in combination with flexible customization options allows companies to build an effective system of partner sales and ensure its close integration with all business processes of the organization, achieving maximum value from this channel.
Conclusion
Automation of partner sales channel management processes using modern IT solutions opens up significant opportunities for companies to improve efficiency and business growth.
Implementation of specialized systems allows structuring and optimizing the entire chain of work with partners:
- Recruitment, onboarding, certification and partner lifecycle management;
- Consistent processes for collaboration on deals with controlled access to data;
- Operative exchange of marketing and methodology materials;
- Analytics and tracking of partner channel performance and efficiency metrics;
- Flexible customization of business processes to meet the objectives of a particular company
The results of the implementation of such solutions are an increase in the quality of interaction with partners and customers, increase in the conversion rate of transactions, reduction of the sales cycle, as well as significant savings in labor costs due to the automation of routine operations.
In the future, the development of such solutions will continue along the path of deeper intellectual automation. Artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing technologies will allow to move to the automatic construction of predictive models on the effectiveness of partners, identification of hidden patterns in data, hints of the next most optimal actions.
