If You Pay Peanuts...

I quite often get into debates with vendors on who should manage their typically unmanaged mid-tier channel partners base. It never ceases to amaze me how times vendors think the answer is a telemarketing agency alongside a bit of email communication. That will keep partners engaged, and aligned to your business, right? Don’t count on it.

Mid-tier channel partners will consistently make up a significant portion of your revenue, and that’s why a sensible investment in these partners can drive not only revenue growth, but engagement and loyalty. In my experience, telephone based support works best; whether you do it in-house or appoint an agency, make sure your team is made up of smart, experienced and highly motivated people who have the ability to understand your partner’s business and take them on a journey which supports their growth, whilst still being aligned to your business. Also make sure they are native language speakers. The cultural connection they will make with your partners cannot be replicated by someone who can speak four languages. While that’s not always an easy thing to do, my advice is to invest in the team. Enable them to truly understand your business and culture. Give them access to your tools and materials. Introduce them to your local teams. Train them regularly. Invite them to your sales and marketing meetings. Essentially, treat them as you would any other member of your channel team; in turn, they will have the ability to engage partners at whatever stage of the journey they are on and support them to get to the next stage. They will understand how to align partners to your business and they’ll be motivated to drive success and quality outcomes for your partners and for your business. This will all be done without a telemarketing script in sight!

The pre-work is just as important as the engagement with the partners. A key element that vendors forget when targeting the mid-tier channel partners is making sure the right partners get the right level of engagement. Understanding the current buying patterns, program engagement and partner profile will provide a pretty good indication of where the investment should be and how you engage. But just because the data says the partner should engage with you, it may not always be the case. Be prepared to review this on a regular basis, quarterly is best, and allow partners to be brought in or relegated from the group. This will ensure that you’re always engaging the right partners. Again, having the right level of resource touching these mid-tier channel partners means you receive quality feedback and insight into what’s working and what’s not.

Yes, these teams will cost you more to attract and retain, but the value you receive from the sheer depth of engagement with your partner base will pay dividends in the long-term. What’s that old saying about paying peanuts…?

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