To be successful with partners, you need a good product, right? You need to be profitable for them to sell, correct? And, you need to be easy to do business with? True enough? Unfortunately, the last one is the stumbling block for many…and yet, in today’s market, it’s becoming what can ultimately make or break a businesses. The customer experience is the new Holy Grail that defines business success. And for a company that sells through indirect channels, the front gate of that experience, is the partner portal.

To be successful with partners, you need a good product.The No. 1 reason your partners may not love you anymore...and what to do about it.

Hint: It’s probably not your product,

it’s your portal.

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You need to be profitable for them to sell. Correct? And, you need to be easy to do business with. True enough? Unfortunately, the last one is the stumbling block for many…and yet, in today’s market, it’s becoming what can ultimately make or break a business. The customer experience is the new Holy Grail that defines business success. And for a company that sells through indirect channels, the front gate of that experience is the partner portal.

To be successful with partners, you need a good product. Right?

For many, being easy to do business with is the stumbling block for success in today’s market.

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Often, it’s a home grown, cobbled together site that’s built onto or cut out of a CRM system. Typically, these sites have a huge tech debt, with a dated look and feel, dated content, technology that’s years old and are a single sign on nightmare.

It’s ironic then, that for many companies, the partner portal is the “ugly step child” of their company’s Web portfolio.

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Partners have had enough. They want what can feel like a fictional “one site to rule them all” experience from the vendors they do business with – or they will go somewhere else. Independent analyst research proves this over and over. Falling behind your competitors on the “ease-of-doing-business” front is unforgivable in today’s market.

“The transacting business element of their vendor relationships is the most burdensome to customers and is the one thing that causes them to shift their investments and wallet share to other vendors. Given that partners closely associate ease of doing business with your channel IT systems, if your partner loyalty is waning, it’s time to reinvest in a more robust, modern Partner Relationship Management (PRM) capability.” — Principal Forrester Research Analyst Tim Harmon, “Partner Relationships Need Their Own Management System.” August 2013

What’s the real danger to your business?

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...Sadly, not only is a poor partner portal experience turning off your customers, it’s costing you money to maintain legacy systems. Plus, the potential for compliance issues abound, given dated PRM systems often fail compliance audits because they lack the necessary documentation processes for remuneration and MDF allocations.

You’re not just losing partners…And what’s worse, your legacy PRM is depriving you of your ability to truly manage your partner relationships. CRM systems have long helped companies see their customers and optimize their performance, but those systems are designed for end users. They are not purpose built to optimize partner relationships, depriving you of your ability to manage the predictability and repeatability of the team that in essence, IS your sales team.

You’re losing money AND the ability to

manage relationships!

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Fortunately, Forrester’s Harmon stresses in his report, cited on previous pages, that the desire for a more modern way to navigate the vendor/partner relationship is something both sides crave.

“You, and your partners, crave ‘modern PRM weaponry.’ Mobile, social, HTML5, REST APIs — these are the technologies upon which today’s applications are being built.”

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So, what’s the hold up? In reality, you’ve probably taken a run at this more than once. You’re not alone.

Here are the top 3 barriers organizations typically face, and how to break through them.

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Why the barrier: Messy navigation, old content, CRM integration needs, a multitude of poorly integrated solutions for MDF and deal registration, tons of different opinions on what ought to be done but no real internal best practices expert, and a fear of months of work — all combine into what feels like something that will distract the organization from other tasks.

The “too hard” barrier.

What to do: Look for simple, easy-to-deploy SaaS solutions that fully integrate tools that you need to use to service your partners –

automated onboarding, deal registration, MDF management, and lead distribution. And, look for a solution provider that brings best practices

to the table. Tap into those learnings and find a provider that is fully versed in best practices and can truly be your steward in helping you make

the transition successful.

When you outline a best practice solution for your team and a simple transition process to get you from your old PRM to your new PRM that

everyone can wrap their heads around, you’ll inspire your organization’s confidence in the decision. They’ll know the transition can be made

without grinding other activities to a halt.

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Why the barrier: PRM solutions are not new. In the technology journey to where they are today, some have been better than others, but until just recently, have not been modularized to encompass everything a company needs to have a world class PRM solution. Multiple stakeholders, endlessly customized options and very few true best practice guidelines have scared off many transformations for fear of ballooning costs.

The “too expensive” barrier.

What to do: Look for a vendor that can provide a solution that encompasses everything you’re looking for with a defined,

pre-packaged feature set and transition process.

A clean line of sight to best practices, a defined set of technologies that will give you a world class portal and PRM solution,

and a defined, turnkey budget that’s all inclusive makes it much easier to get folks to buy off on a consolidated package and

not worry about surprises.

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Why the barrier: As the SaaS market has exploded, so have the technology options. Marketers and sales folks are worried about

the customer experience and the IT team is worried about bringing solutions into their mix that don’t integrate well with existing

technologies or could cause system vulnerabilities. Very often, the IT team assumes that in their enthusiasm to transform the

customer experience, IT infrastructure requirements have been overlooked or underestimated.

The “My IT team is worried about integrating another technology” barrier.

What to do: Look for a solution provider that can tell you how they integrate with leading CRM systems, how they address security

concerns and how they deliver and meet SLAs. Make sure you’ve checked out those things before you bring in IT, and inspire confidence.

As a marketer or sales person, when you make sure proactively that the solution you’re bringing to the table meets the IT requirements as

well as transforming the customer experience, you’ll inspire confidence that you’re in no way cavalier about the system integrity they are

responsible for maintaining. You’ll show you’ve carefully thought the vendors you’ve considered.

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Impartner provides the industry’s most technically robust SaaS PRM solution – which can launch in 30 days using the company’s highly engineered onboarding process. Based on years of customer research, the process ensures organizations flow through a series of carefully choreographed steps to choose, purchase and deploy a world class partner portal and PRM solution. Impartner PRM will immediately improve the ease of doing business with their company and allow them to optimize their partners’ performance.

Take 30 days, and transform your business with Impartner PRM.

Fortunately, one company has already anticipated these barriers.

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