Who is at the top and who is at the bottom when it comes to total revenue and return on investment? This is the bottom line when it comes to evaluating your channel partner ecosystem, but there are several factors that contribute to those results and knowing them can help you to better support your partners as a whole.

Revenue Generated From Top Performing Partners

Starting with your top performing partners and determining the amount of revenue they’re bringing in and how they’re doing it is a logical place to start with your research. Is it simply a matter of great resources that is contributing to their success, or are there other factors? What can you learn from them and pass along to your less successful partners?

Revenue Generated From Smaller Partners

Smaller partners tend to be overlooked by channel managers but there is a great deal of potential in supporting them further. Smaller infrastructure typically means less time for marketing initiatives and generating top of the funnel leads. What assets or training can you provide to them to lend better support? This may include co-branded marketing materials, campaigns in a box and sales and marketing training.

Co-Branded Marketing Material Audit

Providing co-branded marketing materials to your partners is one of the best ways to support their marketing efforts and ensure consistent messaging across your channel. These materials should be easily edited, readily available and updated as needed. Smaller partners in particular struggle with creating digital content assets because of the time and expertise needed to do so.

Technology And Communications Audit

Do you have a partner portal or some kind of platform where you can monitor your partners, share information with them and encourage collaboration amongst themselves? Getting your partners to work as a team will benefit them as well as your organization. Giving them a centralized place to collaborate and learn can greatly improve the health of your channel ecosystem.

ROI From Market Development Funds

Are your partners taking advantage of your MDFs, or is the application process to long and convoluted? Streamlining your process and giving clear direction on how to use the funds will encourage more participation and provide a greater ROI. Providing marketing materials, campaign templates and a list of approved outsourced marketing vendors can help your MDFs be put to better use.

Find Commonalities Among Successful Partners

When looking at your most profitable partners, what commonalities exist among them? Answering this question can give you clear direction on how to better support your other partners and enable you to recruit new partners that are a good fit for your organization. Periodically surveying your partners can help to uncover valuable business intelligence and tools such as PartnerOptimizer can automate a great deal of the process, freeing up your time to focus on generating sales.

Winn boasts 30 years of experience in recruiting profitable channel partners for some of the largest tech firms in the world. We also provide marketing support to the channel community to ensure their continued success.