Can we keep our indirect channels close to us?

Motivating channel partners can be different from motivating the company staff and the company would normally need a software company’s channel management services. Motivating channel partners such as dealers requires directing their inspiration to easy sales of products.
Basically, the business partners would need to vertically build their own business in a quicker and easier way. This implies that they would therefore understand and know better the way of promoting as well as delivering their services or goods in all business aspects. In other words, they are driven by results usually with an intention of being on a short-term goal.
Good communication is a key feature to building better relationships with your partners. For organizations that concentrate on channel management services, developing effective communication with business partners is important.
• Piquing their interest can be a good motivation factor. Orienting them into finding out new ways of doing business in one way or another will really help them to run their businesses efficiently and also as per the fashion of the process of the parent company.
• Support the operations of the dealers. You may give them access to advertising tools that include catalogues, personalized product recommendations, collateral and content management capabilities, and a sales as well as marketing library. You may also support them through campaign management as well as sales capabilities including contracts and pricing, point-of-sale tracking capabilities and interactive selling and also configuration. Integrating dealers into your own order management system is easy and you may offer them service-enabling tools like knowledge management, live partner support, request management, return and complaint management capabilities.
• Control the supply chain more efficiently. You may work with dealers in performing supply network planning, demand planning and planning production so as to raise delivery performance and to carry out supply chain processes. Results include more accurate planning, increased transparency into processing order, increased process automation and ability to use the resources to a maximum to meet the needs of the customers.
• Keeping them informed about the activities of the company may also assist in motivating them as they can use the information given to their advantage. Promoting friendly business contests or internal contests that involves all business partners is a good way of sparking fire and motivating them to do their work quicker and better. Incentives in form of events, activities as well as goings-on in the company may also motivate them to do their best.
• Instating training sessions, programs, seminars and other events based on skill developments will give them a hint that they will be supported and also given everything they require to learn their job and also supported with the information they need. A company can back the events with giveaways since free stuffs tend to get the good side of anyone particularly after a hard day’s work.
• Support and analyze the performance of the dealers. You may plan and analyze indirect channel business and utilize tools for recruiting, planning, profiling, monitoring, training, segmenting and certifying dealers. In general, these capabilities will assist you to understand your dealers better and this will in turn help them to work more effectively.
• Design intelligent compensation plans, based on one hand their sales performance metrics and on the other hand, fine segmentation of your dealers into groups and categories. Each segment should be compensated and treated differently that the other groups.