Partner Enablement in 2024: Driving Growth & Success Effectively/Efficiently

Channel partner enablement is all about solving the question, “How do we get our partners to wake up in the morning, think about our products and brand, and then go out and sell for us?” Sales reps often focus on whatever shiny object they have in front of them, so gaining and maintaining brand loyalty can be a challenge. Engaging them — and keeping them engaged — is paramount to making partner distribution work for you. Today, engagement is more important than ever before because seller and buyer behaviors are changing. Buyers are used to having quick, easy access to information to help them make educated decisions, especially when it comes to their purchases.

“KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID.”

Simplicity is everything in the channel. In the 1960s, the U.S. Navy coined the term to describe their goal in designing aircraft. They cautioned that their planes should be repairable by the average mechanic, in combat conditions, with ordinary tools, keeping things as simple as possible. This became known as the "KISS" methodology. Need another example? Political and public affairs advertisers are often attempting to communicate complex ideas about complicated subject matters. To keep audiences’ eyes from glazing over, the messaging is simplified enough to be understood by the average consumer – likely while they’re distracted – and communicated in plain language. The simpler the message, the greater the likelihood of advertising success. Political and public affairs messages excel when they’re crafted with the “KISS” principle in mind: audiences – whether regular, everyday people or Washington influencers and decision makers – are often focusing on something else, and the advertising window of opportunity is often only open for 30 seconds. The same is true in the channel.

How to craft your strategy

It's safe to say, not all partners are created equal. A business typically has varying levels of channel partners as determined by company size and selling power. SaaS vendors oftentimes will focus their strategy on their larger, enterprise level channel partners. Those larger partners wind up reaping the rewards of a lion’s share of the Channel Partner Enablement budget and resources, while the small and mid-market channel partners are somewhat deprioritized. This might not be an ideal outcome as your share of voice, time, or even resources will align to leave the impressions needed to win hearts and minds within the partner account. So, without a real strategy, time and money will continue to be spent down paths on the assumption that it's a perfectly appropriate and acceptable way to approach their Channel Partner Enablement strategy. It's a failed strategy.

Things to consider when building your enablement strategy.

Developing and managing an enablement program that fosters close alignment via trust and loyalty cannot be done without considering channel partners at every level. Consider many small and mid-sized channel partners, in terms of quantity, often make up the majority of channel partners. Larger partners may have a limited amount of time, money and resource to drive your practice; and be reactive as a result (focusing only on fulfillment). Enablement programs ONLY succeed when close alignment can generate trust and loyalty in both directions at every level. Here is a sample of things to consider that are often overlooked:

• Vertical/Territory coverage

• Tenure of the Channel Reps that you're working with; some don't have relationships that you're seeking.

• Technology alignment to your solution. Example: If you sell a security solution and much of their revenues, come from MSFT (also your competitor).

• Executive Bonuses tied to rebates from competitive solutions.

• Services mix/focus vs. SaaS subscription mix/focus

• Channel Account Manager comp design.

• What % of the org do we need to enable to drive the results we need?

and many more. When considering your IPP (Ideal Partner Profile), assuming that all partners need to be enabled, or enabled the same way, is a massive mistake.

Engagement before Enablement

Without fail, when we engage with organizations, inevitably the focus is on enablement. We get it. Keeping partners engaged is imperative to a successful — and mutually beneficial — partnership. When your partners begin to disengage, it’s a sign that there’s likely a larger underlying problem. That being said, it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong when a new partner isn’t responding to your emails, your check-in meetings are being canceled, or you’re not getting any updates. Is it the partner engagement activities and opportunities you offer? Is your partner platform difficult to navigate? Or is it a reflection of your underlying partnership model? Your technology just isn't interesting? All interesting thoughts: however more times than not, the level of engagement isn't remotely close to being sufficient to support enablement. Enablement isn't your problem, engagement is.

Most organizations have mapped out how they acquire, onboard, and retain their customers. The value of retaining customers is clear, and that same principle applies to the return on investment that comes from keeping partners engaged over the long term. 

Recruiting, training, and onboarding new partners take time and resources from your team. Once you’ve brought the right people and organizations into your community, you want to keep them there. So, you need to give them reasons to stay.

Credit to "Winning by Design" for image above. Above represents a highly edited framework to be specific to Channels.

Above is an example of the process organizations might go through and the mile markers that go along with that journey. The single biggest mistake companies make when engaging & enabling their channels is a lack of field relationships to reinforce the relationship. This can't be done solely by channel reps or marketing. All members of the field must be engaged and active in the channel for them to be efficient and effective.

Absence does not make the heart grow fonder in the channel. A lack of connection or communication is a recipe for failure. Absence welcomes new patterns or vendors to fill your space.

Timing: Making the most of your resources

Channel partner enablement refers to the process of equipping and empowering channel partners to effectively sell, market, and support a company's products or services. Channel partners are external entities, such as resellers, distributors, or value-added partners, who collaborate with a company to extend its reach into the market and target specific customer segments. Timing matters when it comes to enablement. That timing might be different depending on the type of partner, territory/region they're covering, alignment, etc.

Your first major hurdle in your channel partner program is recruiting the right channel partners. If we're successful there, and we're seeing engagement; only then should we focus our time on enablement. Time is always the enemy. Be highly thoughtful when it comes to who/when you invest in enablement. When your program is just looking for its footing, focus on engagement instead.