Are you aware of the partner engagement program? If no, let’s have an insight into the platform.  

A partner engagement program is all about creating relationships where partners feel passionate, energetic, and committed. 

A well-implemented partner engagement program ought to build a long-lasting, profitable relationship between all the different members. 

The dealers and retailers should help each other push opportunities and expand their products or service availability. Also, brands should offer partners rewards and incentives that increase loyalty. 

The idea of engagement comes from brands engaging with partners and letting them know they are appreciated, heard, and, by relationship, are an empowered component of the company. 

When your partners know that a brand cares about their input and sees the brand, it is working to remove barriers by instituting various forms of recognition, tools, training, and resources. 

The quicker communication for partners tends to submit ideas to improve the company. They become heavily invested in the brand as a whole, especially if they’re given the incentive to do so.  

It is rightly said,‘ A quality partner engagement program is a tangible manifestation of a company’s commitment to its partners.’

Build Engagement And Not Just Satisfaction 

A robust engagement program begins with endless possibilities. A company’s desire to engage its partners, know them better, and the willingness to provide valuable rewards in addition to a great relationship. 

It lays the groundwork for creating engaged vs. satisfied partners. Satisfied and successful partners maintain high loyalty levels to a company; they feel invested in the company. 

Meanwhile, a partner engagement program rewards users for completing certain activities. The partners often receive points towards valuable rewards and recognition for their efforts to meet the criteria of prescribed actions. 

Since points and benefits build up over time, the partner has an incentive to remain active in the program. 

Explore Partner Engagement Best Practices

Many tools can build buzz, drive partner engagement, and allow complete control overseeing what’s working and what’s not. These tools can be combined with activities that bring everything from new business, increased brand awareness, and drove partner retention and loyalty. 

The question arises, “What are some ideas that can best engage partners?” Sometimes, it’s best to answer such a problem by listing out the mistakes we can make while engaging partners to avoid them. 

Below, we have some in-detail common mistakes that can be resolved to make the engagement strategy work. 

Mistake #1 – Limited Access Points 

Considering that the program will have many vendors coming together, it is a big mistake to limit access to just the web or single platform access. 

Solution: Engage partners on different channels, make it Omni-channeled access to increase participation. Explore the use of mobile apps and extend engaging platforms to social media domains. 

Mistake #2 – Poor Transaction Tracking 

One of the critical reasons for running a partner incentive program is to reward loyalty and encourage continuous partner engagement; however, do not give incentives without proper analysis. 

Solution: Track every successful sale by partners, do a well-defined analysis on the data, and give them incentives or rewards on partner metrics. Define a segmented hierarchy for partners, thus attaching more incentives for higher groups. 

Also, partners should have a seamless tracking option that allows them to track parallel activities in the program. Activities like receipt uploading, distributor data upload, or any EDI transaction should be easily trackable. 

Mistake #3 Disconnect between Partners 

A disconnection between the company’s sales department and the various partners can lead to a break in the supply chain. 

Solution: Make sure there is an active collaboration platform between the partners’ sales team where they can have real-time insight into each other’s current status. 

The mechanism of partner programs is designed to push offers on the parallel supply chain, but a disconnected system lowers the program’s effectiveness. Partners begin to fall out of the program when it is no longer useful. 

Mistake #4 – Not Defining Ownership 

Multiple 3rd party vendors are partnering in the program. Eliminate the risk of losing individual rights to partners of the program. 

Solution:

1. Define every possibility in management and funding.
2. Always engage in fine-tuning the objectives with partners and do not leave issues unresolved.

Make sure the terms and conditions are acceptable in the geographical regions of all the partners. 

Mistake #5 – Program not Designed for Long-Term Relationships

Not creating the program as a platform for a long relationship between partners will not make it last, and this only means the program benefits are not fully optimized. 

Solution: Configure the program to provide access to many metrics and export the derived parameters to a CRM system for proper management. Based on partners’ demographics or attributes, always keep them in the loop by sending relevant news and upcoming events. 

Mistake #6 – Rewards are not Motivating

Partners will not find the program interesting and have no reason to join the rewards offered that are not desirable. 

Solution: Do not use a one-size-fits-all reward scheme. Instead, provide a wide variety of incentives as rewards. Understand different program users and offer incentives that will match up with their specific performance and attributes. 

Now that you understand the basic framework and best practices, you can choose the right messaging and actions. Rewards work wonderfully to get partners to engage with the platform. 

Mistake #7 -Implicit Sign-on 

Do not make accessing the program difficult for the partners and inside sales. It is a big turn off when the process of gaining access to a partner program is clumsy. 

Solution: Regardless of the platform and domain, accessing the program should be configurable as a secure single sign-on. 

It should enable users to use their current program, social profile, or company credentials as sign-on details. It will help users to have a seamless experience anytime they try to engage with the program. 

Final Thoughts

A brief discussion of features, ideas, and tools that NextBee offers for its engagement platforms has been penned down through this article. We have tried to scratch the surface of what our company of developers can do. 

NextBee’s provides the best-in-class customer service to ensure your company’s success. We work with the best practices you need to incorporate for driving greater engagement and a more substantial ROI.