This post is #9 in the series, ‘What most Tech CEOs get wrong when Starting in Partnering’. Click here to read previous post #8 Partner Management: The Fool’s Hope of Asking What They Need.
Partner Portals are typically for more established partner programs, but many companies want to look the part from the start and spend great effort on their website partner pages with initial partner portal. This is a fake-it-till-you-make-it approach here with the one big problem that, the partner program looks fake, and has slim chance or making-it in its initial form.
Technology doesn’t fix a bad process, like powering the rocket pointing in the wrong direction. For example, so many companies have very inefficient sales process, as they blankly adopt the standard sales stages from their new CRM, and too little effort in understanding what their sales process should be.
Vendors, Starting in Partnering invest in technology aspects too early with very optimistic assumptions of success:
Learning Management System and Content (LMS): The over-optimistic-under-prepared vendor will have so many partners that we need to have online recorded onboarding training materials in place before we start. The focus on this material makes many assumptions on what the partners will need, and tend to be more focussed on the easy part, solution implementation, and very little on how to sell.
Partner Applications: The over-optimistic-under-prepared vendor sets out criteria to consider only applications from partners who are serious and who will invest, on the assumption that potential partners will be beating at their door to sell their solution. Crickets! Meaning; silence in the dead of night with zero activity.
Deal Registration: The over-optimistic-under-prepared vendor wants partners to register deals so they can check the partner is doing what their supposed to be doing, what they want them to agree to. Why should partners bother registering a deal?
Affiliate and Referral Management Systems:
Systems to manage Affiliate and Referral partners allow you to track and reward activities at volume. For vendors starting in partnering, the partner models are often unproven, and number of partners are too low to warrant a technology investment. A technology solution alone is not going to boost an unproven model.
Partner Incentives:
“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world” – Archimedes.
Some believe that incentive systems are the silver bulley to getting partners and their sales teams to move and sell their solutions. Financial Incentives are best applied to gain subtle behaviour change in how people operate, and major incentives are required for major changes in behaviour. Too much is too often invested without understanding the partners business and what behaviour-change to apply the required level of incentive. Incentive Systems and Technology does not fix the problem.
Licenced PRM / Partner Portal Platforms: Some more well-funded, and maybe more established companies with more money to spend, with the confidence of their direct sales success, implement one of the many PRM Platforms. Like the CRM scenario, many companies adopt the out-of-the-box structure and processes without properly developing their partner program. A PRM is the window for partners into a vendor’s organisation and partner program processes, across Training/Onboarding, Marketing/Sales Collateral, Relevant News Updates, Events & Community, Partner Applications, Planning & Tracking, Management & Reporting, Deal Registration and Pipeline Management integrated with CRM, Partner Website Pages, Partner Listings and other elements to make partners successful.
As a past software techie, whenever anyone asked me advice on what solution to buy, my question was always, “What are you trying to do?”. It’s natural for people learning how to solve challenges, want to put a name to their pain, and the fastest solution to that pain. Investing in a tech solution too early more often exposes the challenges further, rather than solves them.
The best teams invest in understanding the challenges, the process and the capabilities and then see how and where technology can ease and accelerate the process. When working with partners there are so many aspects to be proven before investment in software systems are warranted to manage the process.
Watch out for the next post in the series ‘Partner Types Terminology and Tiering: Disconnected Thinking – What most Tech CEOs get wrong when Starting in Partnering #9’