As a business owner, you know partnerships can help your business grow. That’s particularly true these days when working with other companies often means more than just selling each other’s offerings. You might create new products together, help promote each other, and even share ways to keep your joint customers happy.
However, managing the inner workings of a modern partner ecosystem is tricky. Keeping track of everything—from joint projects to shared goals—requires a lot of effort and coordination. Plus, as your network of partnerships grows, so does the complexity of managing all these relationships.
Fortunately, digital partner management tools are now available to replace the time-consuming, traditional methods of handling partnerships. They simplify working with partners, free up time for growing your business, and ensure success for everyone involved. Here’s how to make these tools work for you.
Understanding partner relationships
In the past, business partnerships often followed a basic model: You’d make something, and your partner’s Sales team would sell it without changing much, if anything.
Nowadays, partner opportunities have evolved. It’s not just about selling for each other anymore. On top of those typical reseller programs, you and your partners can focus on deeper collaborations. You might innovate together to create new products that neither could develop alone. Or you could combine your marketing efforts to amplify your reach beyond what you could achieve individually.
Additionally, you can invest together in projects that promise mutual benefits, sharing the risks and rewards. This new approach to partnerships opens a wealth of opportunities, but it also requires a more sophisticated partner relationship management system.
Common types of business partnerships
There are many business partner programs, each with its own purpose. You might want to stick with one type or try a few. Let’s explore some of the most common partner program types.
Reseller partners
Reseller programs involve partners who buy your products wholesale and then sell them to their customers for a profit. This partnership is excellent for expanding your reach without managing sales operations directly. Your reseller partners handle your products’ marketing, sales, and distribution within their networks. Your primary role is to ensure a steady supply of products to them.
Affiliate partners
In affiliate and referral programs, your partners help you promote your products and get commission payments in return for sales. They might use blogs, social media, or videos to talk about your products. You pay your partner a set amount for each person who buys something or interacts with your brand after seeing their promotion.
Channel partners
Channel partners help you sell your products. They’re like reseller partners but do more, such as adding their own services or making your product better match customers’ needs. They may also act as distributors to new markets and regions, using channel managers to provide resources, training, and support.
Strategic partners
Strategic partnerships allow you to team up with other businesses to reach big goals that benefit both of you. For example, you might share resources like technology or expertise to create new products, enter different markets, or explore business opportunities together. These partnerships might be official with written contracts or casual based on trust and shared goals.
How partner relationship management improves business results
Thoughtful partner relationship management can improve business results for you and all the partners in your ecosystem. Caring for these relationships builds a strong foundation where everyone can succeed together, leading to many of the following benefits.
Creates a mutually beneficial partner ecosystem
With the right approach, partner relationship management can create an environment where you and all your partners support each other’s growth. Creating a robust partnership network encourages all partners to share their knowledge, resources, and strengths. This kind of teamwork improves your collective ability to overcome challenges and take advantage of opportunities.
Facilitates innovation and adaptability
Good partner relationship management encourages you and your partners to share ideas and work together. This drives innovation, resulting in cutting-edge products, more efficient business processes, and the exploration of untapped market niches. The insights can also help your business become more agile, enabling a swift response to evolving customer preferences and market conditions.
Increases market reach and revenue growth
Taking great care of your partnerships can help your business reach new customers and markets that you couldn’t before. When your partners help improve, promote, and distribute your products, it can increase sales and help your business grow. It’s also a great way to support your partners, creating a positive cycle of growth and success for everyone.
The role of partner relationship management software
As partnerships get more complicated and involved, good management is key to getting all the desired benefits. Since that’s easier said than done, you need efficient business tools to help, like partner relationship management (PRM) software.
With PRM software, you can manage all your partner data and interactions in one place, making it easier to handle as your network grows. It’s designed to help you keep track of all your partnerships, streamline communication, and identify new growth opportunities.
It’s important to note that PRM software is different from customer relationship management (CRM) software. While PRM software focuses on partnerships, a CRM system is about managing customer interactions. Using them together offers the most complete picture of your entire business ecosystem, helping you manage all your relationships effectively.
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PRM software features and benefits
With features like automated onboarding and performance tracking, PRM software simplifies partner management. Here are some of the ways using this software can improve your partner strategy and results.
Automate partner onboarding
PRM software streamlines the onboarding process for new partners, allowing you to say goodbye to tedious paperwork and manual business processes. It guides each partner through the setup process, collects necessary information, and provides access to essential resources. This ensures that your partners can hit the ground running and start contributing to your business success right away.
Manage partner relationships
With PRM systems, you can keep your partner interactions organized in one place. It provides a centralized platform for storing contact information, tracking important dates, and recording meeting notes. This helps you stay on top of your partnerships and build stronger relationships over time.
Offer additional resources and training
PRM software allows you to empower your partners with the resources they need to succeed. On this platform, you can provide access to your business glossary, training materials, and marketing assets. This ensures your partners have the right tools and knowledge to collaborate effectively toward shared goals.
Maintain open communication channels
Using PRM software tools for seamless communication ensures you and your partners stay connected and informed. You can use built-in messaging features, chat rooms, and email integrations to collaborate and update each other on your progress. This fosters transparency and trust, leading to more productive partnerships.
Track sales, leads, and customer referrals
PRM platforms make it easy to monitor your partners’ performance metrics. It allows you to track customer referrals, leads, and sales through real-time reports and analytics. As you look for trends and patterns, the data reveals the effectiveness of your partnerships and enables you to make data-driven decisions.
Deliver payments, rewards, and other incentives
Some PRM software platforms offer integrations that simplify the process of motivating and engaging your partners. With these systems, you can easily deliver payments, rewards, and incentives based on your partners’ performance. They allow you to track your partners’ progress and issue payment directly from the software or set up automated payment workflows.
Signs you need a partner relationship management system
Is managing your business partnerships becoming increasingly challenging? If you’re finding it hard to keep track of communications, measure partner performance, or offer the support your partners deserve, it might be time to consider PRM software.
If you answer yes to the following questions, going digital with partner management could help a lot.
- Do you feel you’re wasting too much time onboarding and training new partners effectively?
- Do you wish you could seamlessly collaborate with partners on projects without endless back-and-forth?
- Do you worry that your brand’s message might get lost in translation across various partner channels?
- Are you constantly wondering how well your partnerships are performing but can’t seem to find clear answers?
- Are you overwhelmed trying to track partner incentives, rewards, and payouts?
Switching to a digital PRM system might seem overwhelming, but it’s a great way to simplify your workload and streamline your partnership efforts.
What to look for when choosing PRM solutions
When choosing a PRM solution, it’s essential to consider various factors to ensure you find the right fit for your business. Here’s a breakdown of what to look for when assessing each platform.
Partner portal
Top-notch PRM software features well-designed partner portals. These portals act as a central hub, enabling partners to work seamlessly alongside your business.
Inside the portal, partners find everything they need to build a profitable relationship with your company. This might include important documents, training materials, and marketing collateral. These portals also let partners communicate with your Marketing and Sales teams, register deals, and keep track of their progress.
Intuitive interface
As you look at each PRM platform, pay attention to its interface style and functionality. It needs to be organized and simple to navigate. Buttons and menus should have clear labels, allowing you to find important features effortlessly.
Additionally, consider whether the PRM tool provides helpful hover hints or guides to help users better understand its features. A user-friendly interface like this improves the partner experience and fosters smoother collaboration.
Customization options
Many PRM solutions can be customized to meet your business needs. This helps maintain your visual brand identity while streamlining the partner management process.
Some key areas this can make a big impact include:
- Branding: Look for systems that let you customize the look and feel of your partner portal to align with your company’s branding guidelines. This includes adding your logo, colors, and fonts to create a recognizable interface.
- Workflows: Confirm that the software allows you to tailor workflows to match your existing processes or create new, optimized ones. This can include customizing deal registration forms, approval processes, and partner onboarding steps.
- Data fields: The system should let you define and customize data fields to capture information relevant to your business. This would allow you to track and analyze partner details, performance metrics, and more.
- Integrations: You should be able to integrate the PRM software with your existing systems and tools. This might include your CRM, marketing automation platform, or enterprise resource planning system.
Switching to new PRM solutions later can be a big undertaking. Choose software with the right customization options from the beginning to ensure it’ll grow and adapt to your business over time.
Marketing and sales support
PRM platforms should include marketing and sales support to help nurture and close deals within partner ecosystems. The support features might look like:
- Deal registration: Register potential deals, reducing conflicts and guaranteeing fair opportunity distribution.
- Lead management: Capture, track, and share leads among partners, ensuring quick follow-ups and no missed opportunities.
- Sales enablement: Provide sales materials with product information, tips, and scripts, helping partners sell more effectively.
- Campaign management: Run joint marketing campaigns with one or more partners, ensuring consistent company messaging across all efforts.
- Pipeline management: Get insight into partners’ sales activities, helping track deal progress and forecast revenue.
Also, look for PRM software that streamlines market development funds management. The system should enable partners to request funds, track the approval process, and report on marketing activity outcomes.
Analytics dashboard
You need a clear view of your results for channel performance management. A marketing analytics dashboard is essential for this, showing you what’s happening in real time across sales, marketing, and partner engagement.
The dashboard should allow you to customize what you track, like qualified leads, marketing campaign performance, or partner sales metrics. Once that’s set up, it should display the data in easy-to-understand charts and graphs. It’s also essential for the system to offer benchmarking tools and create custom reports on demand.
Security features
When managing partner relationships, data security is a top priority. Security measures to look for in these systems include:
- Role-based access control: Allows you to set who can see and do what within the system based on their role
- Two-factor authentication: Adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of verification, like a code sent by SMS or email
- Data encryption: Keeps data safe by encoding it so only authorized users can read it
Together, these features form a shield around your PRM system, protecting all the data stored inside each portal. This protects your business and builds trust with your partners, showing them their information is in safe hands.
Boost partner engagement and business growth with PRM solutions
With PRM software, you’ll be able to manage partnerships more effectively and achieve better results for your business. So, why not give this digital tool a try and see how it can help you succeed? To get started, research PRM solution providers to find the right fit, then gradually integrate the software into your workflows. You’re only a few steps away from unlocking the potential of your partnerships and taking your business to new heights.