It’s natural for businesses to question whether a PRM is even required for the channel to succeed. After all, companies may have far more consumers in their present queue than participating sales partners, making the purchase of a dedicated PRM technology difficult to justify.
Even if you don’t utilise a PRM right now, you’re bound to stumble across one (or more) at some point in your career. After all, in this report, 35% of respondents claimed they use one.
We’ll talk about PRMs in this post, including what they are, how they work, and why you should get one. Continue reading to learn more.
What Exactly Is a PRM?
Channel sales managers and channel marketers can use Partner Relationship Management (PRM) systems to link and automate all aspects of their partner management process in one place
PRM systems provide a stable support environment with tried-and-true routines that help a growing growth organisation structure and manage its channel relationships. This feature enables a rising growth firm to manage the complete channel partnership relationship, from recruitment to optimization and termination. A PRM system can be thought of as a technology solution as well as a marketing plan.
However, PRM technology isn’t for everyone, and implementing it at the correct time is crucial to the partner program’s success.
Does My Business Require a PRM Solution?
Are you unsure whether your firm requires a PRM portal? If you already have a partner program, here are some indicators that it’s time to invest in a PRM solution:
Leads or deals are registered by partners via email or spreadsheet files
Perhaps partners aren’t tracking leads at all, or if they are, the channel team is chasing them down to follow up on qualified leads or close sales. It’s time for a PRM community as contract volumes grow and this workflow becomes overwhelming, limiting insight into the pipeline. The effectiveness of a channel sales plan will be immediately affected by managing how leads are “pushed out” or distributed.
It takes an eternity to locate collateral
It’s a solid sign that your company needs to get a PRM community if it’s wasting time looking for assets, responding to partner requests, and providing the same content over and over again.
Collaboration with international partners
It is considerably easier to extend your business outside of your immediate area, but new locations bring additional problems, such as currency, time zones, and language differences, as well as interacting remotely. A PRM network will enable you to serve a broader range of partners, including both large and small businesses with distinct demands and processes.
Improves the communication process with channel partners
It can be challenging to communicate effectively with all of your partners. It develops partner relationships through channel marketing.
A partner management system should allow partners to send questions or feedback via the self-service portal, which suppliers should respond to as soon as possible. Since partners desire vendors who are simple to work with, this two-way collaboration enhances partner engagement. The PRM tool can also be used to store partnership-related papers and make them accessible to all parties involved.
What Is the Importance of Partner Relationship Management?
The following are the characteristics of a PRM tool:
- Automating the onboarding of new partners
- Providing a simple-to-set-up-and-manage central management platform for partners.
- Can share educational and sales resources.
- Tracking leads and deals in a more efficient manner
- Allowing affiliate commissions to be paid quickly
- Forecasting channel sales and determining the most productive partners
- Ensure leads aren’t distributed to more than one partner to avoid sales and channel friction.
What PRMs Tools Should I Use?
There are already so many new tools on the market and it might get difficult in determining the best PRM solution that you require. There is no one-size-fits-all solution: while most partner programs adhere to the same best practises, each business has its own workflows, requirements, and obstacles.
Let’s have a look at our selection of PRM tools to assist you choose the best choice.
Salesforce PRM
Salesforce PRM is a partner and channel management tool that enables you to customise associate recruitment, sales, training, and data collection. It includes built-in tools to assist partners educate and support them so they can sell more.
Impact Partnership Cloud
Impact is a PRM tool that maintains channel partner relationships. It allows you to engage your colleague, connect with them throughout all digital channels, and track their progress. Collaborators, advertisers, influencers, sponsorships, non-profits, channel initiatives, and other sorts of relationships are all supported.
Zinfi
ZINFI’s solution comes with a wide range of feature modules, allowing businesses to pick and select only the features and tools they require while connecting with existing systems.
Channeltivity PRM
Channeltivity PRM is a partner relationship management solution that uses a single, robust Partner Portal to streamline contract registration, MDF demands, channel lead management, training, and Salesforce integration. It aids in the improvement of stakeholder relations as well as the rise of sales and revenue.
Channeltivity is simple to use, quick to set up, and provides customers with the tools they need to grow their channel by building meaningful relationships with partners and delivering just what they need, whenever, wherever, and on any device.
PartnerStack
PartnerStack is a cutting-edge platform that improves the partnership management experience. Through an integrated marketplace, partners can reach out to more vendors, and vendors can reach out to more partners. According to PartnerStack’s G2 reviews, the technology is primarily used by small organisations with fewer than 50 employees and mid-market businesses with more than 1,000 employees.
Allbound PRM
Allbound is a cloud-based partner relationship management software that enables partners and partners managers to collaborate through a partner-centric interface. It has a Customer Success Manager that can assist with onboarding, co-branding, deal registration, channel statistics, and marketing collaboration, among other things.
Partner managers can make educational materials such as instructional films and quizzes available to partners as needed, simplifying the process and enhancing participation.
There are a number of elements that may influence your decision when it comes to selecting the finest PRM software for your organization, which is why fully examining your firm’s specific needs is essential. Sector, budget, onboarding criteria, features, connectors, and even the exact partnership tactics you choose to follow should all factor into the PRM software you choose.
Final Thoughts
With increased possibilities for customization, workflows, and business intelligence, PRM is gradually becoming more automated and customizable. As PRM evolves, it’s important to keep ahead of the curve by developing a sound strategy and implementing software that will help your channel partners succeed. Finally, if you provide the necessary infrastructure and support, your channel partners will be successful with PRM.