Many tools can build buzz, drive partner engagement, and allow complete control of overseeing what’s working and what’s not. Combining these tools with activities bring everything from new business, increased brand awareness, and drove partner retention and loyalty.
Even with great partner engagement platforms like those that NextBee can offer, it still begs the question, “What are some ideas that can best engage partners?” Below, we outline common mistakes – and then discuss best practice solutions that make the partner engagement strategy work.
Let us dive deeper into your reward and fulfillment options and how NextBee can help with every step.
Mistake #1 – Poor Transaction Tracking
One of the critical reasons for running a partner incentive program is to reward loyalty and encourage continuous partner engagement without giving incentives without proper analysis.
Recommended Partner Engagement Solution: Track every sale made by partners, do a well-defined KPI analysis on the data, and base incentive rewards on partner metrics.
Make it more enjoyable by defining a segmented hierarchy for partners, thus attaching more incentives for higher groups.
Also, partners should have a seamless tracking option that allows the parallel activity to be tracked and rewarded as defined in the program. Activities like receipt uploading, distributor data upload, or any EDI transaction are easily trackable.
Mistake #2 – Disconnect between Partners
A disconnect between the company’s sales department and the various partners can lead to a break in the supply chain.
Recommended Partner Engagement 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 inventory status.
The mechanism of partner programs is designed to push offers on the parallel supply chain. Still, a disconnect jeopardizes the program’s effectiveness, and partners begin to fall out of the program when it is no longer useful.
Mistake #3 – 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.
Recommended Partner Engagement Solution: Engage partners on different channels, make it omnichannel access to increase participation. Explore the use of mobile apps and extend engaging platforms to social media domains.
Mistake #4 – Implicit Sign-on
Do not make accessing the program difficult for the partners and inside sales reps. It is a big turn off when the process of gaining access to a partner program is clumsy.
Recommended Partner Engagement Solution: Regardless of the user, platform, and domain, accessing the program should be configured as a secure single sign-on enabling users to use their current plan, 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.
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. It means the program benefits are not fully optimized.
Recommended Partner Engagement 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 – Not Defining Ownership
So many third-party vendors partnering in the program eliminate the risk of losing individual rights to partners.
Recommended Partner Engagement Solution:
- Define every possibility in management and funding.
- 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 #7 – Rewards are not Motivating
Partners will not find the partner program interesting and have no reason to join in the rewards offered are not desirable.
Recommended Partner Engagement Solution: Do not use a one-size-fits-all reward scheme. Instead, provide a wide variety of incentives as rewards. To understand different program users and offer incentives that will match up with their specific performance and attributes.
Now that you have understood the basic framework and best practices, you can choose the right messaging, actions, and rewards. It will get partners to engage with the platform quickly.
Conclusion
NextBee offers ideas and tools for its channel partner engagement platform, but it just scratches the surface of what our company of developers can do.
From day one, we work with the best practices that drive better partner engagement and garner a more substantial ROI.
