Utilize This Channel Partner Onboarding Template For Scaling Your Program
If you've not heard of them by now, channel partners are valuable resources for growing your company, increasing sales, and satisfying customer demands more quickly. However, successful partnerships usually be a combination of education, work as well as a thorough onboarding process.
The best part is that Channel template for onboarding partners and LMS partners can simplify this process.
In this post we'll go over:
- Why channel the partner's onboarding of partners is crucial
- The process of onboarding looks like
- How to create your own onboarding plan (with an easy-to-download channel partner onboarding template! )
What is the purpose of a channel partner onboarding strategy vital?
Channel partners possess substantial purchasing power for customers. No matter if you're distributing your product via a Wholesale, retail or agency channels, your affiliates can influence purchases based on their product knowledge.
With no channel partner onboarding and education Untapped revenues literally is going to disappear.
Here are three reasons why channel partner onboarding strategies are crucial:
- Makes sure partners are set for success. By providing channel partners with expertise in their product will increase the effectiveness of customer interactions.
- Ensures across-the-board compliance. Inconsistencies in brand guidelines as well as other compliance-related activities causes a many headaches. Proper partner onboarding ensures consistency on compliance, branding and messaging from the beginning.
- Growth at scale. When onboarded correctly, channel partners are the best way to speed up company growth. They are able to communicate your distinct value proposition, provide immediate support and help get the product to your customers' hands quicker.
Understanding the channel partner onboarding process
Did you realize that channel partners could take more than a year to be profitable for your business? That means that time is of the essence - and so is the necessity of a successful onboarding strategy.
Let's start by defining the four major phases of an onboarding process:
- When you are in the process of discovery, you as well as your channel partners work in the context of existing procedures and processes. You gain a better sense of their weaknesses and strengths - as well as how onboarding could enhance the capabilities of your service.
- During documentation, you provide your collaborator with the material they require to present to clients. The essential documentation can comprise selling sheets and best practices, as well as marketing materials, as well as other supporting information.
- Then, you launch enablement training, where your channel partners are onboarded with your products, company as well as customers. The training also reinforces the value proposition of your company and your messaging schemes, so the partner feels confident marketing your product in comparison to the competition.
- Finally, feedback is an essential stage where you gather insight which can help you continuously improve your onboarding program.
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Success Factors: Get your strategy for onboarding channel partners correct
Creating a channel partner onboarding strategy can be a bit intimidating initially. In fact, you may already be asking yourself any (or any) of these inquiries:
- Where do we start?
- What data do we need to include in Channel partner education?
- What are we trying to accomplish?
- How can we simplify this for our customers and partners?
These questions are a good starting point! Also, as we've been through the channel partner training block several times Here are some of our top practices:
Make expectations to the software
Prior to implementing any approach to training It's crucial to be aware of what it is you're trying to achieve. Do you want to better support your partners with an increased amount of hands-on training? Amplify sales growth? Cut down on the churn of your customers?
What ever your aim is, write the details down and make sure you check in on your goals throughout the process.
Conduct a gap analysis
Different partners face different challenges. This is the reason it's a good idea to start your process of onboarding with a focus on their particular requirements using a gap analysis.
If you go directly to the source, you can identify:
- Knowledge in the gaps
- Inconsistencies
- Mistakes or common mistakes
- Product shortcomings
All of this should be addressed in the instructions for onboarding.
Think about the particularities of various partners
Being a part of a range of channel partners can mean that the onboarding experience they receive could be differently from one. If you are a partner with a combination of Distributors, Independent Dealers independently-sales agents (ISA), service delivery partners, or other partners, you should consider developing onboarding courses tailored to their needs.
Identify essential internal stakeholder
It's now time to take a look at the inside. Pinpoint internal stakeholders that will play a key role in establishing, managing the distribution of the onboarding process.
The most likely internal stakeholders to take into account are:
- Channel managers
- Experts in technical expertise
- Product managers
- Sales trainers
Streamline your training delivery
By using a software such as Plus, you are able to make your timeline for your launch regardless of how challenging it is - using your personal customer success manager. The platform is easy-to-use when creating courses from scratch and for uploading existing courses.
LMS's are also great tools to automate the delivery and communication process. Once your training courses are installed, Plus allows you to publish your contents on your own time and easily host multiple sites each designed to meet your particular partners' needs for training.
Participant education at work Meeting CommentSold
CommentSold is an SaaS and e-commerce platform which utilizes Plus to manage and execute the training of their partners as well as their engagement strategy. With their custom-designed website, they can attract new partners and offer certification courses, share product updates and information, and distribute sales materials to their existing partner ecosystem. Learn more about CommentSold and check out their partnership education program here.
Follow up
After your channel partner's to join your onboarding program has been taken off the ground Don't let your foot off the gas just yet!
Be sure to establish 30/60/90-day checks to follow up with your partners in the channel. Check-ins can be a great way to learn how the programmes are aiding them in understanding, communicating, and sell your product to customers.
Get started with a channel partner onboarding template
Templates are one of the best tools to get an onboarding program started with a blank slate. We even have created a channel partner onboarding template you can download and customize based on your specific needs.
In the event that you're planning to start your own business The first step to take would include creating an onboarding checklist. These are the essential steps to mark off in your journey:
- Get the essentials including partner's Name, Status, and product line and price
- Identify internal and external stakeholder
- Documents that you already have, including brand assets and marketing material
- Check it out and provide useful information from education for customers
- Create module Content
- Design a communications strategy
- Offer training for systems, in the event that it is needed.
- Launch campaign
- Revise, revise, revise
Starting your journey by using the channel partner onboarding templates is sure to get you off to the right track. But, no matter your choice, you must create a program that is knowledgeable Flexible, adaptable, and willing to any feedback.
Ready, set, go!
After you've created the template for onboarding your channel partners and you're now ready to simplify your process on an LMS system. Book a call with the Plus team now to find out about our services!