What is a Channel Partner Community?

When talking with channel managers, we find there are certain features of Channeltivity that are new to them and their channel program. Creating a Channel Partner Community is one of those areas, so we wanted to take a step back and talk about what they are and how they can be added to a channel strategy to strengthen relationships.

A channel partner community is the group of vendors, manufacturers, value-added resellers (VARs), distributors, managed services providers, and/or systems integrators involved with selling a product, service or technology. It also includes the tools and resources necessary to ensure this group functions effectively.

A strong partner community fosters collaboration and provides benefits for all members. It allows them to:

• easily make connections with each other
• share knowledge and ideas about effective sales and marketing strategies
• facilitate more effective co-marketing initiatives and better marketing development funds ROI
• ask and answer product questions and facilitate communication between developers and channel partners
• disseminate and access materials and resources necessary to market and sell successfully
• avoid friction in the deal process by enabling transparency and mutual access to respective systems of record like CRM or PRM.

Have you had success implementing a Channel Partner Community? If so, tell us about it.

A channel partner community doesn’t arise on its own, and the vendor or manufacturer is in the best position to foster it – and has plenty to gain from doing so:

• Enhanced competitive edge thanks to knowledge-sharing between partners across companies, organizations and geographies
• Improved ROI that comes from the efficiency of a single system of record, allowing streamlined business processes, enhanced communication and faster business decisions
• Better reporting and forecasting due to shared data across companies
• Capability to support sales reps, wherever they are, with the right information at the right time – most recent account activity, purchase history, or the latest product and pricing information.
• Ability to engage with partners in a timely, personalized manner and equip them to more effectively address prospects’ pain points

Want to learn more? Visit Channeltivity.com, then contact us to discuss how Channeltivity can help you implement your own program.