Channel Readiness & Partner Value Drive Channel Partner Program Design

Determining the improvements you need to make to your channel partner program to drive revenue growth isn’t easy. There are two key drivers that will help you plan a new or refreshed partner program design: Channel Readiness and Partner Value.

Any channel program needs to deliver real partner value, and you need to understand how it differs from what your competitors offer. This is the basis for designing any partner program. Channel readiness is the other key driver. It’s about assessing the key elements of your partner program, and ensuring it provides your partners with what they need to be successful.

A structured framework to channel readiness can be a good tool to use for designing a channel partner program, following are some channel readiness questions to guide you through the thought process:

1. Business Goals & Channel Objectives: Do you have clearly defined goals and objectives for your partner program, such as revenue volumes, number of new customers, number of trained partners, and product volumes?
2. Partner Role & Profile: Have you clearly defined your partners’ role in the sales cycle? What defines your ideal partner and do they have the proper skill sets for your sales process?
3. Capacity Planning: Do you have a clear view of the number of channel partners, technical specialists, and sales partners to achieve your objectives?
4. Partner Value: Can you clearly articulate the value prop of your channel program? Have you tested it?
5. Partner Recruitment: Do you have a marketing plan to market your channel programs to your ideal partner prospects?
6. Economic Model: Have you validated the economic model for your partners and channel sales reps?
7. Product Access & Skills: Do you have product access and affordable training and certifications programs in place?
8. Marketing Support: Does your channel marketing plan support the latest digital marketing approaches? Do you offer a channel marketing concierge service?
9. Sales Support: Does your program provide access to technical sales resources to accelerate sales cycle times?
10. Program Structure & Tools: Do you provide easy access for the channel sellers including support through mobile devices?
11. Management System: Do you provide dashboards and reporting tools so your partners are able to easily manage the various elements of your relationship?

Download the following eBook on Channel Readiness Assessment to give you some additional ideas and considerations on each of these topics and help guide your efforts in designing a partner program:

Do you have a clear view on the differentiated partner value your channel program needs to deliver?  Are all the elements of your partner program in place, so your channel is ready to deliver?  Has your channel program evolves over time, it is important to step back and ask these questions. 

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