{"id":2560,"date":"2018-07-23T20:27:42","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T20:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devbloglavaprotocols.nityo.in\/4-ways-you-can-enhance-your-channel-partners-experience\/"},"modified":"2018-07-23T20:27:42","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T20:27:42","slug":"4-ways-you-can-enhance-your-channel-partners-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavaprotocols.com\/the-cloud-blog\/4-ways-you-can-enhance-your-channel-partners-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways You Can Enhance Your Channel Partners\u2019 Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0\u00a0Tiffaini Bova, Global, Customer Growth, and Innovation Evangelist\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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A staggering 80% of the world\u2019s commerce occurs via partners \u2014 retailers and dealers, for example. These channel partners use their unique knowledge of local markets and pre-existing customer relationships to better position products and services to help businesses scale. However, the competition that partners face is fierce, so it\u2019s important to make their job as easy and integrated as possible with your brand.<\/p>\n

Imagine managing your partner relationships with an online portal that they\u2019ll actually want to use. In order to be enticing, portals must include three key aspects:<\/p>\n

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  1. Personalisation<\/li>\n
  2. Tools to market and sell<\/li>\n
  3. Seamless collaboration, so brands and their partners can easily communicate<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In this article, we\u2019ll cover the concept of personalised experiences. As I like to say, \u201cexperience is the new product\u201d because no longer are companies competing on the quality of their offerings. Like today\u2019s customers, partners are ready and willing to make decisions on what brands to work with on experience alone.<\/p>\n

    Here are 4 ways to personalise the channel partner experience for your brand:<\/p>\n

    1. Span the Entire Supply Chain<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

    Brands may think a good experience results from addressing the supply chain gap between their organisation and the partner. However, that\u2019s only one small piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

    Smooth experiences that cover the entire supply chain from brand to partner to customer tend to be the most successful. The question that all brands should answer is not just, \u201chow do we connect with partners?\u201d It\u2019s also,<\/p>\n

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    \u201cHow do we connect with partners in order to help them build loyalty with the end consumer?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    2. Ease of Use to Win Mindshare<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
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    Partners will work with the brands that provide the products or services that their customers demand, which means brands need to work hard to stand out.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    One way is to create a better experience for your partners by consolidating everything they need in one place.<\/p>\n

    However, many brands struggle with the reality of how partners perceive their online portal\u2019s effectiveness. While 47% of vendors think their portals are effective, only 34% of channel partners agree.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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    There are multiple reasons why a partner may not like using your portal, including having to sift through disorganised information, and switching between multiple, disconnected tools. Since partners often work with several brands at once, this problem can multiply and, therefore, cause the required effort to become overwhelming.<\/p>\n

    A more engaging portal offers an experience that is helpful, connected, and seamless to use.<\/p>\n

    3. Millennial Expectations Push Vendors to Change<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

    Millennials have become a large part of the workforce. In fact, according to\u00a0CompTIA 2016 Channel Survey<\/a>, 75% of the channel will be comprised of millennials by 2024. Because this generation grew up with the Internet, they expect the easy, connected, and personalised experience that they\u2019re used to in their personal lives, to cross-over into their professional lives as partners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    And because millennials are also a fully mobile generation, access to information on-the-go is important. For partners who are often out meeting customers, the ability to connect with their brands on mobile makes a big difference.<\/p>\n

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    Partners will prioritise brands that provide an effective on-the-go experience.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Customer Story: Red Hat Revamps Channel Partner Experience<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Red Hat<\/a>, a company that makes open source technology for enterprises, is a great example of a business that re-imagined their channel partner experience. Although many Fortune 500 companies use its innovative technology, Red Hat struggled with creating a smooth user experience via an outdated portal. In short, partners had trouble finding the relevant information they needed.<\/p>\n

    By making the move to\u00a0Sales Cloud PRM<\/a>, Red Hat partners can now access sales and marketing support, product documentation, and online training in the same place that they manage their account, opportunities, and register new deals.<\/p>\n

    Plus, with custom objects (objects that do not come out-of-the-box with Salesforce, but can be created and customised by an admin) \u00a0in Salesforce, Red Hat is now able to display dynamic content to over 30,000 business and technology partners based on their specific segment, tier, region, role, and even specialisations.<\/p>\n

    For Red Hat, their improved channel partner experience has led to:<\/p>\n