Boosting partner engagement with an integrated PRM platform
Did you know that recruitment of new partners is only 30% of the job,…
Traditionally learning management systems (LMS) are associated with the training and education of teams within the organization, including in-house sales teams. However, the role of LMS has now expanded to include the channel ecosystem.In fact, LMS is now a critical component of any next-gen PRM platform. This blog discusses how LMS can facilitate improved vendor-partner relationships and result in better partner management and engagement.
When it comes to the channel sales model, the dreaded 80-20 rule has been persistent. 20% of partners play a significant role in driving channel sales for the vendors. This 20% is most engaged with the vendor's brand and is also responsible for bringing in the majority of leads. While a lot of vendors tend to accept this 80-20 rule as an integral part of the channel sales model, it doesn't have to be so. There's no reason, why vendors can't have a highly engaged channel ecosystem that covers more than just the top-tier partners. However, in order to be successful, vendors need to break this 80-20 rule and treat partners like they would treat their in-house sales teams. Vendors need to offer partners all the marketing and sales support they need to sell their offerings effectively. This is where LMS comes into the picture.
A powerful learning management system that allows vendors to create and manage learning curriculum, course catalogs, and similar partner training and educational coursework easily, can help vendors design partner-centric training programs that yield the desired results. By integrating with external learning experiences such as web-based training sessions, virtual (online) classrooms, or even actual classroom sessions with instructors, the typical partner programs can be made more interesting and interactive thus increasing partner participation and engagement. Plus, a learning management system allows vendors to measure the effectiveness of their training, partner understanding of the course material and enhances partner learning experiences for better results.
Typically, channel partners are recruited, onboarded, trained, and given access to the vendor's partner portal along with an asset repository that contains sales and marketing collateral and expected to take it forward from there. What channel partners really need, is support to market and sell vendor products at the local level, during every stage of the buyer's journey. Partner training and education is not a one-time activity to be undertaken when onboarding the channel partner or something that vendors provide when there's a product update or new product launch. For partner training to be effective, it needs to be a continuous process that expands beyond familiarizing the channel partners with the vendor brand and product to cover other areas such as marketing and sales. Vendors can also use these training sessions to measure partner engagement and expertise by adding certification to the mix.
By leveraging modern learning management systems, vendors can build effective partner training programs that work to increase sales revenue, cut turnaround time, and support channel partners as they work to meet their sales goals on time.
Mindmatrix makes partner training efficient, objective, and effective by providing all the essentials of onboarding and training in one place
Mindmatrix is a leading provider of PRM software, channel partner marketing software and sales ecosystems enablement solutions including partner portal software. Since its inception in 1998, Mindmatrix has been focused on helping companies sell more, faster. A pioneer of sales (direct & indirect) and marketing enablement technology, today Mindmatrix is the only company offering a fully unified platform (Bridge ™) that connects and enables sales (direct & indirect), marketing, alliances and partner ecosystems. Backed by Mindmatrix's innovation and expertise, Bridge expands sales ecosystem enablement beyond its traditional boundaries to cover not just Sales Ecosystem Enablement, but also Partner Marketing and Multi-vendor Solutions Management
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