In our first blog from this channel partner series, we addressed four strategic questions that can help take your business’s resale strategy to the next level. And while forming alignment among your executive team to address those four considerations will set you on the right path to develop an impactful channel partner network, there are more resources available to help your business execute ambitious resale strategy initiatives effectively.
Below, we outline more questions you need to answer while developing your resale strategy and connecting with prospective partners about future collaboration opportunities.
More Strategic Questions to Address
How Do I Market to Prospective Partners?
Beyond marketing to your own customer segment, prospective partners need to also feel sold on the ins and outs of your business, products, and services. Promoting your unique value proposition to prospective partners in a compelling manner is an essential piece of your overall strategy.
Consider compiling these baseline materials as part of this partner marketing plan:
- Product information collateral
- Support documentation & scripts
- Industry data compilations
- Competitor analysis & pricing comparisons
What are we Looking for in a Partner?
In addition to shining a favorable light on your own business, it’s important to examine a prospective partner’s business and assess their collaborative fit. With your team of executives, vet the following items to develop comprehensive partner profiles:
- Culture fit
- Mission & values fit
- Big-picture vision
- SLA alignments
How Will We Support our Partners?
Even after both companies are aligned on a collaborative resale strategy and the partnership becomes official, your work is far from complete.
You need to remain proactive and continue looking for new ways to set your new partner up for success. By overseeing an enablement program as part of their partnership onboarding experience, you can set the tone for a healthy relationship with profitable results on both ends.
We recommend tracking the following items to maintain real-time data that you can subsequently analyze to continue refining how both businesses operate as partners:
- Number of collaborative trainings complete
- Number of mutual clients signed
- Number of co-branded webinars hosted
- Number of referrals issued
- Number of lead-generation programs developed
Beyond data measurement, it’s imperative to create a regular meeting cadence with your partner. This could be anything from simple monthly project check-ins to more comprehensive training initiatives and event preparations. Furthermore, you can periodically send over resources that support your partner in their resale efforts. These materials can range from useful collateral to relevant training videos.
Want to take the partnership a step further? Plan ahead for co-marketing opportunities, from social media shout-outs to branded case studies and webinars.
How Will We Measure a Partnership’s Effectiveness?
As the partnership progresses and reseller referrals are generated over time, it’s important to measure both successes and challenges of the relationship. With the help of data, you can quantify the overall effectiveness of the partnership and tweak specific elements of your resale strategy as needed.
Beyond data gathering and partnership measurement, you may also wish to incorporate the following:
- Development of a shared partner portal and information center
- Co-visibility into orders and support
- Co-visibility into mutual client usage/histories/parent accounts
- Co-access to automated commissions tools
Learn More about our Partner Marketplace Today
At Rev.io, we continue to strengthen our partner network and create new reseller channels. Our team is thrilled with the success of these collaborations and grateful for the opportunity to partner with tremendous companies across the advanced communications space. We look forward to seeing some familiar faces from these partnerships at our annual 2020-2021 Client Summit in January of next year, where many of our amazing partners will serve as event sponsors.
If you’re interested in learning more about our partner marketplace, contact us today! We are happy to discuss the reasons why Rev.io is an ideal partner and resale collaborator.