There are so many benefits to a well-run partner channel that after being often asked
“how can a channel partner program help me” I thought it would be helpful to provide my top 10 list.
1. Sales efficiency: One partner account manager (PAM) paired with a handful of productive partners can bring in the same amount of revenue as five or six salespeople at a fraction of the cost.
2. Reduce cost of sales: Channel partners have already made the investment in their people so their teams can reduce your in-house costs on sales by helping you reduce the amount you spend while simultaneously growing revenues.
3. Faster to market: building and growing a direct team takes time. It can easily take a year before seeing any ROI. Channel partners already have salespeople in the field and have relationships with their clients who trust them. They can spread the word to exactly the right prospects quickly and speed up time to market by months and even years.
4. Reduce churn: Channel partners who have working relationships with their customers know if a product or service is the right fit and have an incentive to ensure their customer is making the right purchase. Direct sales are tempted (sometimes) to hype features or even move forward with a sale even if it is not the best fit for the customer.
5. Amplify marketing reach: Your channel partners can collectively create a massive network reach that serves to amplify every marketing message you would normally direct with little investment in marketing dollars.
6. Increase influence: Your partners have tremendous influence that provides a deep and growing network that can engage and activate local audiences with your content to actively increase your site traffic.
7. Rapid testing: Channel partners let you experiment with new products, packages, promotions, and marketing campaigns in a low-risk and controlled environment.
8. Increase LTV: Your partners help ensure adoption through hands-on management of your product or service on behalf of the customer and by integrating it into their standard workflow which increases client stickiness which results in higher LTV.
9. Market intelligence: Your channel partners are highly engaged with their customers (more so than your direct sales force can ever be) and therefore they become a terrific resource for market intelligence.
10. Customer Success: If your customers need training, onboarding, and service – you can leverage channel partners to handle overflow and, in some cases, to replace existing in-house services at a fraction of the cost. Further, the more involved your partners are with your customers the stronger the relationship grows with your brands.
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