Channel partners like resellers, integrators, and strategic alliances powerfully expand a company’s market reach and capabilities. But inspiring ongoing passion and performance from these third-party teams after initial honeymoon periods can be challenging. Rethink traditional channel management tactics for more personalized programs that motivate.
Get to Know Your Partners
First, understand individual personalities, operating processes, expertise levels, and passion areas in your various partner firms. Customize collaboration models and incentives accordingly instead of taking one-size-fits-all approaches.
For example, an integration partner might want joint planning sessions to build future offerings together versus another content just reselling. One reseller may excel at large enterprise deals while another rocks retail channel sales. Align their focus areas while shoring expertise gaps through training and other resources. Ongoing dialogue beyond sales pipeline reviews builds trusted relationships, surfaces smarter ideas, and keeps motivation high through tailoring support to real needs.
Co-Create Value Together
Move interactions with alliance partners beyond transactional by co-identifying market problems needing fresh solutions. Then co-design new offerings combining both organizations’ capabilities into novel products with upside revenue potential for all parties.
Joint innovation sessions often spark excitement along with strengthening collaborative bonds longer term. Partners also gain pride at playing an integral role in shaping offerings versus just building around client specifications.
Partner with other firms to create bespoke solutions for their most important clients, enhancing their unique selling proposition. For example, developing tailored analytics, specialized onboarding programs, or proprietary integrations showcasing the partnership’s combined capabilities to win deals neither could craft as effectively independently.
Spotlight Partnerships Publicly
Look for opportunities to provide visibility to collaborative contributions from channel teams through company-owned channels. For example, recognizing a systems integration partner’s role in launching a complex client solution or an alliance member who helped co-author a published thought leadership piece.
Quoting channel executives and frontline teams directly in company blog articles, case studies, and press releases gives exposure most external organizations struggle to generate alone. It enhances professional standing for the individuals involved both externally and internally at their own companies.
Everyone loves the spotlight; leveraging your broader megaphone to shine praise on partner contributions when apt keeps them eagerly engaged.
Incentivize Key Goals Creatively
Rethink incentive models to better align behaviors to shared objectives beyond purely sales targets. The people at Motivation Excellence recommend channel partner incentives to help force key performance indicators like:
- Customer retention rates.
- Program registrations and attendance.
- Number of joint proposals.
- Referrals to new prospects.
- Case study development.
- Thought leadership content creation.
Such goals require proactive nurturing versus passive order taking. Reward that cultural commitment.
Use prizes like executive meet-and-greet events, co-branded market research, and invitations to annual company retreats or galas to make partners feel like VIPs. High touch cultivation matters more than just higher margins to sustain vibrant relationships amid constant other opportunities they evaluate.
Lead With Appreciation
Everyone wants to feel their efforts contribute meaningfully to others’ success. Channel programs often focus much communication on problems such as delays, conflicts, performance gaps and unfinished tasks. Counterbalance by also expressing genuine appreciation for all the partnership accomplishes together.
Send weekly notes calling out individuals advancing shared goals. Celebrate milestones virtually when in-person gatherings are impossible. Show you notice the extra effort expended to build joint value. Gratitude is the ultimate motivator.
Conclusion
The most successful companies build ecosystems of synergistic capabilities through deeply engaged partners as competitive advantage. But loyalty beyond a first contract takes relationship excellence. With channel teams feeling uniquely valued, involved, and supported in customized ways, they stick passionately loyal for the long haul. And that compounds growth exponentially.
