Author name: mohaliweapex_zugit

A partner program is a simple, cost-effective way to grow your market and increase revenue. By collaborating on marketing material, content creation, and campaigns, agency partners can enjoy a strong partner base as they seek out additions to their audience and enjoy the benefits of an agency partner program. To help develop the best channel sales program you possibly can, we have identified 10 of the best programs to learn from. Importance of Channel Partner Programs A channel partner program is a valuable tool because it allows you to focus time and energy on setting up a reliable system and taking a step back, rather than having to continually create new marketing programs and campaigns.  Channel programs have a positive impact on both business growth and success, because they bring in a slew of potential customers that are already on board with potential partners, cut down on marketing expenses and development, and allow you to provide value to yourself while also giving your partner a leg up. Key Elements of Successful Channel Partner Programs It is not enough to simply encourage businesses to use a partner program, however; implementing a successful program requires utilizing a few key elements. These include: Partner incentives A partner needs to have some incentive to enter into the program and maintain its parameters. Incentives can include partner training, support services, and a partner portal to keep track of campaigns and expectations. Having these systems in place creates an ideal partner ecosystem.  Joint marketing Joint marketing means sharing both the challenges and the benefits of marketing. By marketing together, a successful channel partner program will provide regular channel management and partner onboarding to ensure that all marketing materials showcase the benefits of both parties.   Sales enablement Enabling prospective partners to complete the sales aspect of the partnership well is vital. Deal registration will help keep track of sales to keep partners on track, and revenue sharing models allow partners to see results quickly and easily once they have made sales.   Partner tiers By offering partner tiers for your prospective partners, you can create a system of internal motivation. To establish this framework, you can create partner certifications and offer different products for different tiers to keep interest and motivation high.   Partner collaboration Partners are just as their name suggests: partners. The system of partnership is not one that focuses on a highly segmented structure, but instead invites partner collaboration and involvement. To help foster that partner ecosystem, be sure to share partner success stories, create platforms on which to share ideas and suggestions, and a resource team from which to draw to retain consistency in marketing posts.  Identifying Ideal Channel Partners To make sure that customer relationships do not suffer, you must foster your channel partner relationships. This starts with making sure that the partner team you develop is a good fit for everyone on the team. To find the ideal channel partner, consider the following carefully.  Partner types There are different ways to welcome a partnership into a business model, though the two we will focus on here are technology partners and channel partners. Technology partners are partners who fuse their own programs or developments with yours to promote a product or service to benefit both. A channel partnership involves a direct sales process wherein the partner either markets or sells the product or service of its partner.  Partner experience A company who has had some experience working with sales initiatives outside of their own can be a boon to a channel sales program, but perhaps more important than that is a company’s customer experience. All of the amazing tools in the world cannot surpass the need for superlative customer service and a solid customer base, and those should be the first things you look to in internal organizations prior to developing a partnership.   Ideal customer profile Followers and audience size alone are not the core elements needed to determine how well-adapted a company is to being an agency partner. Customer retention and other internal resources are also important factors to consider when evaluating potential partners. Retention cannot be bought or guaranteed, and well-designed customer support efforts make a world of difference in maintaining a consistent revenue stream.   10 Examples of Channel Partner Programs to Choose From Shopify Shopify is a user-friendly platform. With a large customer base, it is typically considered one of the most attractive options for anyone targeting e-commerce businesses for a partnership. Because Shopify is well-established, it offers regular updates and improvements to its platform. Its structure allows partners to stay competitive in order to offer plenty of features to prospective clients.  Hubspot Hubspot is also well-established, and offers a comprehensive suite. Included in its tools are inbound marketing resources, sales resources, and customer service assets. By offering a full range of solutions for prospective clients, Hubspot sets itself apart. Hubspot places a focus on the success of partners, and has a team to provide support and resources in order to help partners grow and develop their business.   Salesforce Salesforce is a CRM platform, and works well with partnerships and helps optimize partner experiences by providing a large range of applications with the ability to connect and subsequently work with a diverse range of clients. Because salesforce is committed to innovation, it can help partners keep ahead of industry trends to continually offer the best solutions.   Cisco Cisco differs somewhat from its predecessors, as it has primarily been used in networking, security, and collaboration. Cisco can be used to provide partners with different opportunities to expand and improve referral partner programs. With a global presence and a strong brand reputation Cisco can provide partners with a chance to work with a leader in the industry to lend an air of credibility and potentially develop more sales opportunities.   Adobe Adobe is a giant in countless industries, and the same is true of partnerships and sales and marketing. Adobe offers powerful tools for creation and marketing, and allows partners to cater

Getting your name out there is not always an easy feat; most markets are absolutely flooded, leaving potential customers with a veritable sea of competitors to wade through in order to find a product or brand they want to utilize. That is where a co-selling partnership can bring immense value to your company. What Are Co-Selling Partnerships? Co-selling partnerships between B2B companies are essentially examples of a partner team in which two different businesses carry one another’s products. These can be developed between businesses that operate within the exact same niche–two children’s clothing retailers carrying products from one another, for example–or between seemingly disparate businesses. Co-sell partners are able to reach more potential customers by teaming together, and can even cross their usual target market in the process.  Partner managers within this type of business relationship are able to widen their target markets, share the cost and energy requirements of marketing, and maintain a reliable business arrangement that can help flagging sales or stagnant customer bases. Although precise co-selling strategies may vary from one partnership to the next, the co-selling process is usually the same, with both parties coming to the table with specific products they’d like to utilize in the co-selling relationship and rules regarding the partnership.  Sales opportunities may be greater and the sales process may feel less difficult when you have a reliable, trustworthy partnership with another business. Because these types of partnerships involve a shared sales pitch and shared products, there must be a strong degree of trust between both parties. Whether the deal size is quite small or truly substantial, both business owners and employees must be able to trust that the products and partnerships involved in the deal will be honored and handled professionally. When these deals are handled appropriately, a partner program can truly bolster the sales and reach of a brand or company.  The Importance of Co-Selling Partnerships in B2B Channel Sales This particular type of partner program is an excellent way to extend market reach. This is because they are using the might of not only their own customer base and following, but the customer base and following of an entirely different company. This means the partner’s sales teams, sales reps, and direct sales are all at the hands of the partner, in order to potentially double (or more) sales reach and increase marketing potential.  Using strategic partnerships, both businesses within the partnership can experience a bump in revenue and growth. Using the aforementioned example of partnering within shared niches, let’s take a look at how different partnerships can increase revenue and growth. If a technology company offering CRM software were to pair with a company providing marketing analysis tools, that partner program would reach a previously untargeted or untapped market that fuses both niches and provides an increase in value for both products. If a systems management software partnered with a communication app, they may experience increased traffic to their site, while exposing existing customers to the partner’s product and demonstrating the value of using both products in tandem. These partnerships function as something of an ecosystem partner, as it allows an interdependence between brands that can be lucrative for both.   Although growth and increased revenue can happen fairly organically between any partnership, partner companies can also help lift one another up by providing innovative solutions that might not have been on the radar of the partner. Let’s say, for instance, that one of the sales partners excels in launching new products. Whether they have superb ad copy or they know how to motivate existing customers, your product can benefit from the expertise of the partner. The partner benefitting from that expertise may provide a much more involved and reliable customer service experience, which can then be used to increase customer loyalty for the respective partner. In the partner ecosystem, successes and failures are often shared in equal measure, and businesses can experience enormous levels of growth and have a third-party eye on any areas of lack.  8 Ways How to Leverage B2B Co-Selling Partnerships Now that we’ve broken down the basics of co-sell partnerships, let’s take a deeper dive into how exactly you can successfully leverage B2B co-selling partnerships to arrive at joint solutions, increase prospective customer bases, and ultimately increase revenues. 1. Select the right co-selling partners Not all co-sell opportunities are created equal, and it is important to identify partners with complementary products or services. Note here that we said “complementary,” not identical. You can use some ingenuity here to create partnerships that may not initially seem ideal, but that can dramatically increase your exposure and sales. If you already have a friendly relationship with a company and that company can come alongside yours, that may be a great place to start, rather than trying to create something from scratch.  When selecting a partner, research the expertise, market reach, and compatibility of the business in question. The company should align with your own in terms of ideal audience and general industry. The goal is to have your current customers experiencing a bump in value while making sure that your products and marketing will be handled with the same level of quality you expect of your own business.   2. Align sales processes and strategies When creating a co-marketing plan, you can develop a joint marketing strategy to fall back on. This is valuable, because different companies have different approaches, and you can each provide some value and insight into new ideas. While developing this plan, you can share customer leads and market intelligence to increase reach and revenue, while coordinating sales efforts and combining resources. While the old adage might say that two heads are better than one, in business, two business approaches may be better than one, and may help each of the partners in the co-sell relationship scale new heights.   3. Collaborating on marketing and promotional efforts One of the greatest co-sell opportunities is the opportunity to collaborate on marketing and promotional efforts. Developing joint marketing materials and campaigns can

Co-selling is an increasingly viable business model to help businesses of all types grow and thrive. Entering into a partner ecosystem in a B2B organization is not always cut and dried, however, and learning the best practices to develop co-selling opportunities can come with a steep curve. Here, we’ve identified the 5 best practices to co-sell.  An Introduction to Co-Selling with your Partner Ecosystem Co-selling is an approach to business that allows both businesses to vastly improve their reach and marketing potential. As a collaborative sales approach, two or more companies work together to create a shared offering within a cross-over target market. The products involved in this collaboration may or may not be complementary or similar; in some cases, seemingly unrelated items can actually be paired together to provide lucrative partnership for both companies.  A partner team is able to pool resources, share market insights, and leverage each other’s strengths. Co-selling partnerships allows two or more companies to expand their market reach, increase their sales, and bolster customer satisfaction. These ends are achieved primarily through the sharing model: by sharing potential customers, marketing practices, insights, and more, partner companies can go as far as doubling their money and audience, and see a significant spike in their audience and coffers.  The Concept of Co-selling and Its Importance in Today’s Competitive Market Whether the deal size is large or small, there are significant improvements to a number of different components of sales and products. These improvements include:   Faster time-to-market. Because co-selling involves two established companies, their combined resources may make it possible to speed up production and delivery.  Increased sales opportunities. Increased sales opportunities occur in a number of key ways. The first, and most obvious, is the increase in target markets; when you join two companies, you increase your own market size. What may be less obvious, however, is the increased degree of persuasion; when a product is shown in conjunction with another product, or two companies join together, it can increase the seeming trustworthiness and usefulness of the products in question.  Enhanced value proposition. As touched on above, the co-selling process is unique in its ability to enhance the value proposition of a product or business. When a company buys into the product or business, it can appear to increase the legitimacy or value of that product or business. Successful co-selling relationships can increase interest in products more than a sales campaign from a single business can.  Shared risk and investment. Co-sell relationships, by their nature, provide a shared shouldering of responsibility. When you are both putting your money into a campaign or the development of products, you can both reap the benefits and take the hits, reducing the possibility of a larger loss.  Improved customer satisfaction. Different businesses have different customer service practices, and by bringing a collaborative approach to customer service can make for significant increases in customer satisfaction. Co-selling programs can leverage the best of both customer service practices to create a more robust and satisfactory customer service response.  The Benefits of Co-selling with Partners for Software Vendors Expanded market reach. Software is a highly nuanced product, with plenty of loyal fans that often do not venture outside of their usual products. When businesses come together, sharing leads and target accounts, they can reach different markets, and may have the social proof necessary to interest others in their software.  Increased credibility. A co-sell model is also excellent for software vendors, because it lends an air of credibility to both companies; after all, who better to recommend a certain type of technology or product than others in the same field? Who would you be more likely to trust: a hired actor offering a product, or a tech company who has partnered with the software company in question? By engaging in co-selling activities, both brands are lending an air of credibility to one another’s products.  Accelerated sales cycles. Partnership has the ability to accelerate sales cycles, in large part because of the aforementioned co-sell partnership credibility. When an already-trusted entity carries another business’ products, or endorses another business as a co-sell partner, the co-selling partner is likely to see a stronger increase in sales than a standard marketing campaign may yield, because the legwork of research and evaluation has largely already been completed for potential customers by the partner managers.  Streamlined implementation and support. From sales reps to marketing teams, to customer service representatives, a co-selling partner program can essentially function as a doubling of existing resources, and an easy means of streamlining both the implementation of a new product campaign and the support necessary to carry out that campaign. Why? A partner program has already had to complete a great deal of the hard work of a campaign before launching, to make sure that both parties are on board with what is being promoted, to make sure both are in agreement over the co-sell motion, and to make sure all bases are covered within the partner program. This can streamline the entire process, from launch to sale, without completing additional work or expending additional energy.  Continuous product improvement. Having multiple sets of eyes from different backgrounds and areas of expertise can more effectively make sure that market demands are being reached as effectively and efficiently as possible. By having different eyes on the partnership and products, including a possible different approach to sales, to promotion, and even to execution of an order, you can rest easy that your product is likely to be under a microscope with the intent to succeed.  Building a Strong Partner Ecosystem for Co-Selling Although we have discussed the immense value of a collaborative approach, without stepping into this process adequately equipped, your campaign may not actually experience an improvement. The value of building a strong ecosystem is essential for co-selling to actually succeed. The necessary components include:  Identifying the right partners for co-selling There are any number of businesses and markets you can select from to identify the right partner for you and your

Business growth is essential to make sure that even the smallest business can deliver a consistently superlative customer experience, and partnering with a system integrator is one of the most effective ways to accomplish that goal. To understand why, we must first identify exactly what a system integrator is, and why SIs are so valuable.   Definition of a System Integrator A system integrator is a company that specializes in bringing together software and hardware components. In layman’s terms, systems integrators are companies who complete the hard work of fusing both the hardware (think all of the tech) and software (applications, programs, etc.), whether that means finding the best fit for small-scale IT systems, or weeding out the non-contenders from all hardware and software options. To effectively integrate hardware and software, systems integrators offer customized technology solutions and services, each of them tailored to the company in question.  Systems integrators are key partners for software vendors, as they help deliver the best possible value to potential customers. A business model that brings systems integrators into the fold to offer better value to customers is one that may more effectively make use of partnership programs and experience an increased degree of growth.  Importance of System Integrator Sales in Today’s Business Landscape The increasing complexity of both technology and business processes makes system integrator sales absolutely vital. Whether those services are offered as part of a partnership with a tech company, or are being enlisted by a tech company, making sure that all of your systems are properly integrated and functioning cohesively is essential to making sure that your business is operating at its best. Whether you are offering a specific application to potential customers or you are selling hardware, partnering with a system integrator will ensure that all products are delivered and integrated seamlessly, bolstering customer confidence.  The competitive advantage of having an integrated system cannot be underestimated. When all systems are working together as a unit–and doing so effectively–workflow can go uninterrupted longer, original programming can flow seamlessly, and business plans can be carried out flawlessly. Companies who do not integrate systems will not be nearly as efficient or consistent as those who have devoted time and attention to making sure all of their hardware and software components are working in tandem.  The Benefits of Partnering with a System Integrator for Software Vendors Partnering with a system integrator is invaluable for software vendors, because it provides immense program benefits that other partnerships cannot. Rather than simply offering demo equipment to demonstrate the value of a particular offering, these types of partnerships can actually show exactly how software can integrate with a company’s existing systems to increase revenue, efficiency, and more.  By partnering with systems integrators and developing an integrator program, both parties gain access to new markets and customers, while collaborating on product development and improvement. Fusing systems can be a real challenge, and by partnering with a system integrator, you can streamline your sales and marketing efforts, and provide a truly valuable partnership for prospective clients and customers.  Key Services Offered by System Integrators To make sure that the partner team is actually providing the best possible value to themselves and their customers, it is vital to understand the many different services offered by system integrators. As business partners and partner managers, they are able to offer all of the following:  Integration of Software and Hardware Components The most significant way that these possible agency partners can contribute to the lives of both the customer and the channel partner is through designing and implementing complex technology systems. As technology grows increasingly embedded in virtually all aspects of business, more complex systems are needed to make user interfaces user-friendly and functional. Systems integrators take up these tasks with aplomb.  Systems integrators also ensure the compatibility and functionality of all integrated components. There are few experiences as frustrating as bringing a new piece of hardware, or a new program on board, only to discover that it does not work properly with existing products or systems. Systems integrators do the leg work to ensure that does not happen.  SIs can also simplify technology management initiatives for customers. This is another incredibly valuable offering for customers, as it provides peace of mind that new systems or products will not be difficult to bring into the fold.  Customization and Implementation of Software Applications Customer testimonials often highlight how effectively SIs can adapt software products to meet specific customer needs. This is a key area of focus because SIs are able to develop customer features and capabilities that highlight the exact needs of a company or brand. They can also deploy and configure software within customer environments to ensure that they are meeting company needs.   Security and Maintenance of Integrated Systems Systems integrators can also implement or develop security measures for integrated systems to make sure that all company hardware and software is as secure as possible. This is accomplished partly through ensuring seamless integration, but is also achieved by employing the best practices currently on the market and providing ongoing system monitoring and maintenance.  SIs may also ensure system compliance with the current industry standards and regulations, taking yet another complicated or overwhelming task off of the shoulders of a single company.   The Value of System Integrators for Enterprise Customers The value of system integrators for enterprise customers can also not be understated, as an SI can provide boundless expertise in solving complex technology challenges that can elude these customers. Systems integrators are essentially consultative services, which means they have access to a wide range of software and hardware solutions, and can cherry pick from different places and technologies to find the solutions that will be best for you and your business. A systems integrator can also provide streamlined technology management and support to answer to customers’ requests with greater acuity and speed.  Identifying Potential System Integrator Partners Enlisting a partner’s professional services is not always cut and dry. Instead, it often involves a great deal of