For a PRM strategy to be successful, it is important that your approach should allow changes in business processes based on the demands of partners, suppliers and customers.

PRM used for training

PRM has revolutionised partner development, preparation and knowledge sharing. Systems with incorporated e-learning tools have training programs designed for the personal profile of sales, marketing and expert staff in the partner group. They give training in an engrossing and entertaining way with use of multimedia technologies. They also use partner portal or an extranet and online testing to automate the certification procedure.

Such tools can assure the accurate checking of test results for training certifications. PRM automation ensures that the most entitled training programs are advertised, managed and rendered to the most deserving individuals within the community. This reduces the costs associated with time spent in classroom training and managing these complex business processes.

Loyalty programs

Most producer loyalty programs contain the same inevitable collection of branded program productions, which are poorly handled and barely evaluated by partners, but this is not the case with an efficient partner relationship management plot. This will assure that manufacturers coordinate their partner programs to bring value to the partners and their clients. Loyalty programs should aim at providing associates with the infrastructure and tools to support their marketing, sales and customer-support systems.

Once the base for the loyalty program has been built, it is time to reward the deserving team/partner.

Big box reseller: They play the role of middle men who look into activities such as moving bulk volume.

Master distributor: Master distributors purchase adequate supplies for small scale dealers.

Buying group: Buying groups obtain from the manufacturer or distributor in bulk.

Channel: Moves the products and services to the end user.

Broker: The broker negotiates the deals, partnerships, and sales between companies.

Independent representative: This is one of the most important aspects of partner portals; independent representatives will help in providing a sales service which will offer local market access to manufacturers.

Dealer: A dealer is a reseller who is given the authority to offer customer support by vendors, in most cases. They are independent companies and are usually involved in the automobile or heavy equipment industry.

All these aspects come together in order to generate a smoother functioning business. The vendor has to impart important company related information to the channel partners. This information will let your partners know more about your new product or strategy for better organisation.

These portals not only inform the partners about a new product/service, but they also educate them about new strategies and ways of conducting business. Involve your channel partners in your business with the use of efficient and well-planned partner portals.

Deal registration is a program which allows channel partners to send a message to the vendor or business owner about the new lead.

The significance of deal registration for your business

The main aim of the deal registration program is to reduce conflicts between channel partners and the vendor’s sales team. This program helps partners to develop new programs and increase their profitability. In most cases, business owners also offer channel incentives to partners for their pre-sale investments. These incentives are only for the partner who registers first for the lead.

There are many companies who have opted for deal registration to protect their partners’ profit margin. The latest deal registration program also uses online software. By using this feature, the business owners can increase their indirect sales to some extent.

Once you have decided to opt for a deal registration program it is important to educate your partners regarding the new program. Proper training will help them to understand all the facilities of the program. Even briefing your partners about your business objectives is important.

Improve your business productivity and efficiency using a deal registration program.

One of the challenges is to discover what happened to leads sent to the channel. You may face some questions like:

• The leads that your partner followed up
• The amount of leads that turned into sales
• The total return on investment for each program that created the leads

A channel sales representative can help your partners follow up the leads and close them. This will be an indication that you are on the right track and are doing a good job. There is a chance that many leads still do not close. In such a situation, these leads are of no use. Each partner representative may work with many partners in the channel and each of the partners may have as many leads as possible. A single representative works on one lead at a time so the rest are kept on hold.

This scenario calls for good lead management.

Partner portal strategies are very effective as they serve as a focal point in joint business ventures, business convergences, communication and collaborations.

A partner portal system can be defined as an internet based application that allows a manufacturer’s pipeline or partners to gain access to valuable information such as marketing strategies, pricing, support and overall sales. It can be accessed from the manufacturer’s main website and you will require logon credentials to log into it. You can thus assign logon credentials to important partners and they can access the necessary information at any give time. Partner portals can be a critical component of a successful strategy that will be useful for a small business.

Given below are the various features of partner portals:

Capture leads - Partner portals will assist leads and will also decrease the number of quarrels over a lead. Partner portals can be accessed anywhere and you can access it from any computer 24/7.

Content management system – A portal manager will allow you to instantly upload content on your portal via a dashboard. You do not need any prior training for this and you can upload your content without affecting the current layout of your site.

Password protection - By using a password protected log in, your associates can instantly access company related content.

Use partner portals systems to make you business more efficient.

Types of partners – Partners will usually consist of resellers, distributors, service providers, installers and other strategic partners. This will help them obtain information that pertains to your company’s marketing resources, pricing and sales data and technical details. This is classified information and is available to selected users only.

How will it help your partners – You can use a partner portal to update your partners on new promotional discounts and your partner can also examine your service memoranda. A partner portal will help you integrate your business by providing your partners with an assigned sales support representative. This will be beneficial for both parties as the representative can provide configuration assistance to your partners.

How to access a partner portal – Your partners can access the partner portal through the manufacturer’s website. For this, you will have to provide your partners with secure logon credentials.

How will this help your company – This will greatly help your company to avoid channel related conflicts and will help you protect your partners from marginal erosion. A partner portal system will give you valuable information about your sales pipeline and this will assist your partners in times of need.

Use a partner portal to make your business more efficient and maintain steady relationships with your partners.

One of the most popular business strategies used by many business owners is known as Partner relationship management (PRM). With the help of PRM, the companies can easily deal with clients and partners. If you run a business where you have to manage many partners then PRM is an ideal solution for you. Through PRM, you can inform your partners about shipping schedules and sales reports.

Recently designed PRM applications allow the companies to manage their channel network easily. Here are few features offered by partner relationship management software:

Product Launch – If you have launched a new product in the market then you have to inform the partners or resellers to increase sales. Earlier, companies used to send e-mails but now you can upload the information through PRM application. This will save your time and the partners can begin their selling procedure quickly.

Lead Management – PRM allows you to manage partner leads/referrals and retain more customers. Once your partners have registered then you can track their leads and finalise the deal.

Update Sales Information – You can also upload sales-related information such as competitive selling guide, sales tools, marketing collateral, etc. This will help to boost your sales to a great extent.

Improve your business productivity and earn more revenue by selecting PRM.

Important features of partner relationship management

Lead management:

Tracking referrals and partner leads within a sole application enables you to win and retain more customers. PRM also allows partners to register and track their leads with an easy to use partner management application tool. With the help of lead management software, business can analyse ROI by lead source, conversation rates and view the leads generated by all lead sources.

Order management and sales tracking:

PRM software provides channel partners with the ability to place and track all the orders by themselves. On the other hand, businesses get complete visibility into partner’s orders, sales and leads. Using this data, you can create customised data reports depending on your requirements.

Channel incentives:

With the help of PRM software, businesses can easily calculate partner commission. This might include commission on quantity, sales, profitability and inventory. Businesses can even reduce errors related to redundant imports, exports and data enquiry.

Promotional discounts:

Using a single application, businesses can easily track and analyse important marketing data including ROI from combined marketing efforts, leads and closed sales. Companies can even measure the effectiveness of your combined marketing efforts, separating both problematic and successful campaigns.

With all the above advantages, integrating a partner relationship management strategy in your business sales channel can be very helpful.

High value products and few customers give rise to competition and there are cases of a lead being stolen before the actual deal is finalised. Sometimes, channel partners also have to compete with the vendor’s sales team. The main reason behind these conflicts is to gain more profit. If you are searching for a perfect solution which will help you to reduce the conflict rates then you should opt for deal registration.

Deal registration is a web-based application which allows business owners to keep a check on the activities of all channel partners.

What beneficial features are offered by deal registration?

Deal registration programs are designed in such a way that all channel partners can register their leads and improve their workflow by a great extent. By doing this, they can easily turn leads into sales opportunities. The process of deal registration begins when partners submit a deal which can be seen by channel managers and business owners. Whether the manager has accepted or rejected the deal, the partners will receive the notification automatically via the deal registration program.

If you have decided to use deal registration then make sure that it is implemented and executed by your sales department properly.

Partner portal programs play an important role in different types of businesses. For instance, manufacturers have dealers, distributors and retailers whereas a software company deals with technical partners, VARs and integrators. In both scenarios, a partner portal application helps managers to communicate with their partners. Here are the few things which can be shared through partner portals.

• Sales leads
• Business quotes
• Dispatch reports
• Placing orders
• Marketing reports

Apart from above mentioned features, partner portals also work as a support centre for all the partners who are located around the world. And the internet allows business owners to offer 24/7 support to their partners.

A few additional features offered by partner portals

Partner portal programs play a key role in channel management, as they inform the company about different issues. In the past e-mails were sent to inform partners about business issues but now partner portals offer real-time updates whenever required. A well-designed partner portal allows the partners to know about the investment, leads, deals, business strategies and upcoming meetings.

If you use a partner portal you can have a successful channel network and hence higher profit margins.