If you’re unfamiliar with the word, channel partner training refers to the instruction given to everyone engaged in marketing, producing, maintaining, or otherwise delivering your product or service. These include franchisees, suppliers, vendors, contractors, consultants, merchants, and resellers.
You should use only the best LMS for partner training. Using LMS for partner training may help your organization increase sales, guarantee a consistently excellent customer experience, quicken the time to get a product to market, and increase revenue. It’ll also help you produce more informed, capable, and aware partners. You should use only the best LMS for partner training.
But how do you successfully deliver channel partner training? By following these eight practices mentioned below. Let’s get started!
Always Emphasize Providing an Excellent Onboarding
By offering an onboarding procedure that makes your new partners enthusiastic about deciding to engage with your business, you can start your entire partner relationship on the right foot. A thorough onboarding procedure should promote engagement, and this early involvement builds a favorable view of your business. Maintain the momentum, and you’ll have a better chance of keeping your partners.
A solid onboarding strategy also helps your partners catch up with you quickly. Your partners can spend time stepping in to promote your product/service rather than wasting time figuring out your company procedures, your product, and a lot of other basic questions. But what constitutes a top-notch onboarding program? It should be a replica of the onboarding you presently provide to your newly hired employees, with adjustments for cultural and motivational variances. Make sure it is clear and concise. Also, ensure you provide your partners with relevant materials in an organized and easy-to-navigate format.
Give Your Partner the Scope to Talk to Your Experts
There are dozens or hundreds of employees at your organization who are specialists in your product or service. Several teams work on your product. These include the marketing, research, and development teams, employees who are good at sales, and customer success teams. Each of these teams plays a significant role in your company and is an expert in their domain.
For instance, the research and development team is knowledgeable about every aspect of your product’s manufacturing and how it differs from others in the market.
Don’t keep your specialists hidden in your organization. Instead, make them accessible to your partners so they may benefit from their expertise and knowledge.
Always Keep in Mind the Importance of Using the Right Technology
The instrument you employ to deliver it to your partners is more beneficial than the training’s subject matter. A learning management system (LMS) should be easy to use so learners can utilize it regardless of computer literacy. Also, you must search for an adaptable platform that accommodates your wide variety of channel partners. A fully-customizable LMS can give focused partner training in the manner you desire.
Develop Specialized and Targeted Training
Is it simpler to provide the same training materials for partners? Yes, but no one will benefit if partner enablement is not focused on the area your partners serve. Your partners will be more successful if you consider fundamentals like culture and language apart from more sophisticated requirements like marketing techniques.
For instance, it might be better to provide a training program that educates your partners to sell more effectively rather than delivering a universal marketing campaign for your entire channel of partners. By doing this, you’re giving them more than just support; you’re giving them the power to perform better.
Never Hesitate to Have a Conversation With Your Partners
Even if you think you know everything there is to know about your business, your sales and marketing plans, and even your clients, communicating with your actual partners will still teach you a lot. Find a feasible and effective channel to communicate with your partners, whether by phone, through a survey, or by forming a formal Partnership Advisory Committee. Inquire about their needs, pay attention, and take action on the information you gather. You can use their feedback to enhance your business procedures and partner enablement strategies.
Scheduling Regular Checks of KPIs is a Good Option
The best partner training strategies avoid a one-and-done approach. Instead, they are persistently and frequently audited, reviewed, and improved. Review each component of your framework, from instruction and management to return on investment, and check in with your partnership program.
Ensure you track the KPIs that will provide you with the needed data at each scheduled check. The number of partners taught, partner engagement, revenue from partners, customer happiness, and partner profitability are a few illuminating KPIs to monitor. These indicators provide a reliable indicator of how well-balanced your partner’s training plan is.
Set Up a System of Rewards and Incentives That is Appropriate
Maintain consistency with rewards, and make them appealing and unique. You must elevate your game when providing incentives to your channel partners. Any ineffective incentive won’t inspire your resellers, distributors, or other partners.
You may offer training attainment certificates and use gamification features in your learning management system when providing training to channel partners. Programs that offer rewards or incentives can help to maintain involvement.
Integrate the Systems to Accomplish a Happy Administration
A good training process can leave an excellent first impression, but you must also ensure that your systems are simple. This situation is where integration steps in.
The systems you share with your partners should provide a sensible administration and a positive user experience. Your partners will be more inclined to use your training if it is accessible to them quickly. They are more likely to continue promoting your product or service to their customers the more frequently they use your training. So, integrate systems that will give your partners easy and frequent access to the training materials.
Conclusion
Like other partnerships, both parties must contribute to channel partner training for success. You’ll accomplish more for your partners than simply empowering and educating them if you pay attention to their training needs and take action on the gathered information.
