Mind-blowing Statistics for your Channel Partner Program

According to DemandGen’s 2022 Channel Partner Benchmark Survey, 82% of B2B leaders
rate their current channel programs as somewhat or not at all effective.

Despite that, 70% plan to ramp up their spend on increased incentives, partner relationship management and partner portals.

But what are the biggest mind-blowing statistics?

Only 12% of their partners leverage these brand-provided marketing programs and portals.  (OneAffinity/Forrester study)

60% to 70% of all marketing content that’s created is ignored by the dealers. (SiriusDecisions)

What gives? Why would so many B2B leaders be doubling down on what’s clearly not working for them?

Unfortunately, this well-intentioned commitment to support the dealers/distributors is based on how manufacturers have traditionally supported their channel partners.

Picture this linear model: Once the OEM developed the sales materials, they were handed off to a dealer directly or via a portal. It was then up to the dealer to take these resources the last mile—to the salesperson’s relationship with their customers.

This model worked up until a few years ago when:

Millennials became decision-makers. This demographic doesn’t like salespeople or being “sold to.”
Overall B2B buying expectations shifted towards a B2C experience. People want easier, more do-it-yourself information and services.
Most of the decision-making process happened before buyers engaged dealer salespeople.
Over 77% of B2B buyers said making these decisions had become far more complex, ultimately leading to staying with the status quo. (Gartner)

So, what do we do? We need to blow up the old model and create a new one based on these new realities. The new model for manufacturers needs to satisfy the following criteria. It must have:

A seamless, user-friendly online experiences that meet the expectation of millennials.
Accurate and helpful information for top-of-the-funnel inquiries is available online.
Communities for potential buyers to share information, build trust, and increase buyer confidence.
Fresh training, content, and tools for the sales reps’ new role as a curating relationship builder.

Pieces of the solution exist today in the marketing and sales tech stacks. Getting them rearranged to support channel partner programs will be an operational and sometimes political challenge.

Picture This New Model

Rather than a linear one, this one is a triangle, with manufacturers, channel partners, and customers at each corner. This triangle represents the community for sharing information. This model is for all current and potential customers as it’s an open system.

A technology ecosystem facilitates this online community. It’s more than a portal. It integrates content management, operations, eCommerce, marketing automation, intelligent search, and CRM. All the criteria can be met while providing a seamless and attractive experience for the customer. These technologies are available today, and you may have them in your organization now.

Channel partners benefit from close positioning as solution providers while getting real-time analytics and intent data from the manufacturer. This information is shared with salespeople and suggested marketing media personalized for their prospects. Salespeople become resources for buyers and their expertise will grow to help facilitate the new digital buying process.

And last but far from least, the community of users and customers created will be invaluable for insights and communications. By building customer confidence, fewer deals will end with “no decision.” More on communities to come.