article |
January 9, 2018
Is 2018 the Year to Promote or Demote Business Partners?
By:
As a successful sales leader, you spend your life chasing airplanes and living in hotels to Make Your Number. Throughout 2018, you will once again prove yourself worthy by flying 100,000+ miles and sleeping in dozens if not hundreds of hotel rooms. Are your business partners starting 2018 with the same expectation that they will need to prove themselves to your business?
This applies to software alliances, value added resellers, system integrators, distributors, or technical ecosystem partners. Do they know what it takes to earn premier partner recognition from your company?
Download the Channel Engagement Questionnaire tool here.
A Partial List of Business Partner Attributes
Business Partners are an Extension of Your Company
Whether your direct sales force is 100 or 10,000 in size, business partners can extend the reach of your sales team. This is done through increased feet on the street and existing client relationships. The key to success is to capture their mindshare so the next time a client opportunity is presented, your company is integral to the proposed solution. To effectively do this, it requires investment from your company. Business partner enablement, certification programs, market development funds, co-branding efforts, and client testimonials are a few of the investments your company can make. The most important question is, are you targeting those investments to the right business partners?
It’s Not Personal, It’s Business
Often, business partner relationships are based on a strong personal connection. This makes it difficult to conduct tough conversations when expectations are not being met. If you find yourself in this position, re-visit the intent of the business partner relationship. To help, look at our Channel Engagement Questionnaire. Answer all questions specific to your business partners and be clear on what success looks like. The tool will help evaluate your business partners. Download the tool here.
Re-Qualify in 2018
You want your business partners to be accretive to your business in 2018 and beyond. Communicate expectations, track progress, and identify improvements for your business partners to achieve your revenue goals. Get this right and you and your business partner will be upgraded to first-class and escorted to the presidential suite upon arrival.
Have expectations gone up and left you wondering if you have the right strategies to support your revenue growth goals? Here is an that will help you understand if you have a chance at success. Take the Revenue Growth Diagnostic test and rate your Sales Strategy against SBI’s emerging best practices to find out if:
Traditionally, B2B sales teams are mostly dominated by men. Though female sales reps earn a base pay...
Over the years, we have been fortunate to speak with inspiring women who are leading the charge in r...
On today’s special edition of the Revenue Growth Help Desk, we celebrate Women’s History...
In a world of uncertainty, market leaders are sure which customer touchpoints require prioritization...
For market-leading software companies, the changing economic conditions have had a positive effect o...
Current State The number of A-Players an org has can make or break a sales leader’s ab...
As we round out 2020 and begin to look ahead to 2021, the topic of revenue planning is surely at the...
Death by information overload—a theme and phrase we often hear in the age of information techn...
SBI TV episodes bring you Sales and Marketing insights from B2B industry thought leaders and growth experts, on topics like product, pricing, customer experience and success, and go to market. Catch up on new and previous episodes here.