This document summarizes a presentation on using incentive programs to accelerate partners' digital transformation. It discusses assessing the current state of partners' demand generation and skills, aligning incentive programs to partners' sales processes and the buyers' journey, and developing a framework to incentivize key partner activities and behaviors at individual and company levels. The framework involves identifying target activities, tagging them as influencing individuals or companies, selecting appropriate incentive types, applying benchmark incentive rates, and measuring programs. The goal is to use incentives to drive partners' marketing certification, demand creation, opportunity registration, deal closing, and renewals behaviors.
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8. The Key Issues Impacting Transformation
Digital transformation of your
partner businesses requires
new skill sets, and partner
companies willing to adapt
and evolve
Digital transformation is
disrupting existing channel
financial and incentive models
across every sector, on a global
scale
Digital transformation has
created misalignment of your
partner’s sales process, with
the new digitally-connected
buyer’s journey
9. Can Be Addressed With “Incentive Engineering”
Behaviors are easier to track,
it is their collective impact that
improves channel performance
Incentives must be used to remove
the “friction” in the transformation
process to streamline lead to
revenue
You can change behaviors, and by
extension, the outcome of the
cumulative transformation motion
10. The Takeaway Today
A step-by-step approach to
identifying the most effective
combination of incentives at
the company, team, and
individual level - to deliver
partner results
Demonstrates that a sales is
the results on a number of
productive activities and
behaviors which when
properly orchestrated lead to
that sale
Aligning the partner’s sales
process to the buyers journey,
improving demand generation,
lead management, and
opportunity management;
accelerating time to revenue
11. Current State of Channel Demand
Business and market realities have created an unprecedented opportunity
12. Current State of Channel Demand
61%
of vendors report they offer
partner-generated lead
programs
61%
of vendors report they offer
vendor-generated lead
programs
41%
of vendors report they offer
referral lead programs
SiriusDecisions 2017 Global CMO Study
13. Top Challenges for Partners
72%
Inability to connect
offerings to buyer needs
and challenges
69%
Inability to differentiate
offerings from competition
or status quo
65%
Poor content quality or
inaccessibility for
lack of education
Command Center™
14. Current Marketing Automation Tool Utilization
SiriusDecisions CMM Tool Study
17%
of partners actually utilize
channel marketing and
management (CMM) platforms
10%
of partners actually possess
dedicated marketing resources.
Most only have a role
16. Three Key Areas to Focus On
The Buyer’s Journey
Partners identify and meet the buyer’s
information requirements.
Marketing Certification
Educate them on positioning an
offering with their target buyer.
Drive Behavior
Allocate the reward where the
effort is being made
18. Marketing Accreditation – The Basics
Basic Best Practices
- Identify the marketing role/associate at the partner
- Engage them with learning tracks and rewards
- Teach the basics of demand generation & nurturing
- Teach them to use your marketing automation tools
- Show them your campaign-in-a-box options
- Measure results and share with your audience
- Reward those who met or exceeded expectations
SiriusDecisions research indicates partners are three times more likely to respond to a demand creation
program offer after engaging in some form of marketing training
19. Marketing Fundamentals Education
Buyer’s journey, digital marketing, ABM, customer marketing, etc.
Marketing Sales
Demand Generation Content
Infographics, Articles,
Viral Videos, SEO, Web syndication
Lead Management Content
Whitepapers, Webinars,
Newsletters, Reports, eBooks
Opportunity Management Content
In-person Events, ROI Calculators, Demos,
Testimonials
Research
Options
Business
Problem
Explore
Solutions
Research
Vendors
Determine
Strategy
Build
Shortlist
Assess
ROI
Decision (1 Month)Consideration (3–4 Months)
The Buyer’s Journey
Awareness (1–2 Months)
20. Its Also About Play Execution
Step-by-step guide to the marketing campaign
21. Partners should be
taught to identify and
meet the buyer’s
information
requirements during
each stage of the buying
process.
Combine Marketing Skill Transfer and Vendor-Specific Information
The partner should be
taught to position an
offering with the target
buyer by showing how to
align the messaging to
the type of demand the
partner must try to
create.
Partners should be
trained to develop these
leads using multi-touch
lead-nurturing programs,
as well as learn to use
the four critical elements
in digital marketing.
The Buyer’s Journey Demand Type Multi-Touch
22. Marketing Accreditation – How to Get Started
Share Incentive
1,350 points ($150)
25 registered
attendees
Content deployed
on the partner
website
Email sent to
100 contacts
Create Incentive:
900 points ($100)
Creation within
the CMM platform
Learn Incentive:
450 points ($50)
Passed quiz in the
incentive center (with
training material)
Incentive
Event
Landing Page
+ Email
Content Syndication
Share MetricCreate MetricLearn Metric
Marketing
Activity
Passed
training/quiz in the
incentive center
Passed
training/quiz in the
incentive center
Creation or
Implementation of
the code
Selection within
the CMM platform
26. Enablement Pre-Sales Post-Sales
Commit
to
Change
Loose
Status Quo
Explore
Solutions
Research
Vendors
Determin
e
Strategy
Build
Shortlist
Assess
ROI
Decision (1 Month)Solution Stage (3–4 Months)
The Buyer’s Journey
Education Stage (1–2
Months)
Commit
to a
Solution
The Partner’s Sales Cycle
The Partner’s Sales Cycle Length
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8
Through Partner
Marketing
Sales, Marketing &
Product Training
Demand
Generation
Deal
Registration
Lead
Follow-Up
Close Deal
Registration
Proof of
Concept
Renewals
Addt’l
Subscriptions
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4
Aligning Your Partner’s Sales Process
27. Enablement Pre-Sales Post-Sales
The Partner’s Sales Cycle
Through Partner
Marketing
Sales, Marketing &
Product Training
Demand
Generation
Deal
Registration
Lead
Follow-Up
Close Deal
Registration
Appointment
Setting
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4
Renewals
Addt’l
Subscriptions
Deal Reg Deal Close
Incentive Rate 0.50% 2.50%
$150 $750
# Deals Reg Closing Ratio Deals Closed Average Value Revenue
240
480
50%
50%
120
240
$30,000 $3,600,000
$7,200,000$30,000
Incremental Revenue $3,600,000
Accelerating Time to Revenue
State
Current
Future
28.
29. BTW - GAMIFICATION: noun gam·i·fi·ca·tion ˌgā-mə-fə-ˈkā-shən
Gamification in the channel is all about driving and rewarding activity
and behavior completion… it’s not about games
31. Understand your partner’s different profiles and business models
incentives to the selected
partner business model
because different partner
types require different
motivators.
Align
and select the different
personas within the
partners you want to
target
Identify
who you are trying to
influence, to then segment
your incentive program
accordingly
Understand
your partner audience and
determine which partners
types are in the best
position to achieve the
target results aligned to
channel objectives
Consider
32. Identify and Align Desired Behaviors at Individual and Company Levels
Financial Goal
• Increase sales revenue
• Increase pipeline contribution
• Customer retention
• Upsell and cross-sell
Partner Capabilities
• Certification/training completion
• Joint business planning
• Partner scorecard
• Increase program engagement
Demand Creation
• Closed-loop lead reporting
• Demand creation participation
• Increase partner generated leads
• Increase marketing contribution to pipeline
33. Influence Those Activities and Behaviors with Incentives
*Incentive/funding program types
Establish a comprehensive incentive strategy incorporating leading and lagging indicators of success, as
well as clear goals aligned to “who” is being incented, by aligning incentives to partner personas
Co-op Funds*
MDF Funds*
Revenue Achievement
Performance Rebates*
Volume Rebates*
SPIFFs*
Points-based Rewards*
Lagging Indicator Incentives
Can only be measured when ROI is reached
IncentiveTypes
Channel Incentive Types: Partner Team Individuals
Launch Funds* (discretionary)
Deal Registration
Onboarding Velocity
Certification/Specialization Achievement
Enablement/Engagement Incentives
MBO/KPI Incentives
(Persona-based: Sales, Mktg, Tech, Support, etc.)
Points-based Rewards*, Gamification
Leading Indicator Incentives
Can be measured and adjusted before ROI is reached
IncentivePrograms
Channel Incentive Programs: Partner Team Individuals
Incorporate leading and lagging indicators
34. Reward & Recognize with Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivators
Research by IRF shows that financial (extrinsic) rewards can reduce the effect of meeting intrinsic goals, if they are not balanced*
Extrinsic MotivationIntrinsic Motivation
*2018 Study by the Incentive Research Foundation
36. The Incentive Framework – Activities & Behaviors
Sales Accreditation
Technical Certification
Enablement Pre-Sales Post-Sales
Marketing Certification
Partner Led Marketing
Demand Generation
Lead Follow-up
Opportunity Registration
Sales Pipeline
Pipeline Goal Attainment
Closed Deals
Additional Subscriptions
Renewals
The 3 key areas to impact partner sales effectiveness are: enablement, pre-sales, and post-sales.
37. The Incentive Framework – Tagging Company and Individual Level Influence
Sales Accreditation
Technical Certification
Enablement Pre-Sales Post-Sales
Marketing Certification
Partner Led Marketing
Demand Generation
Lead Follow-up
Opportunity Registration
Sales Pipeline
Pipeline Goal Attainment
Closed Deals
Additional Subscriptions
Renewals
I
CI
I
I
I
CC
C
I
I
C
Incentive Level
Individual
Company
I
C
All skills and behaviors should be measurable.
38. The Incentive Framework – Influencing Behavior
Sales Accreditation
Technical Certification
Enablement Pre-Sales Post-Sales
Marketing Certification
Partner Led Marketing
Demand Generation
Lead Follow-up
Opportunity Registration
Sales Pipeline
Pipeline Goal Attainment
Closed Deals
Additional Subscriptions
Renewals
Rewards
Co-Op
SPIFFsI
C MDF
Rebates
Rewards
I
RewardsI
RewardsI
I Rewards
CC
RebatesC
I Rewards
I
RebatesC
Incentive Level
Individual
Company
I
C
Incentive Type
Rewards
SPIFFs
Rebates
Co-Op
MDF
Apply the right incentive program to the behaviors you want to influence.
39. The Incentive Framework – Applying The Benchmark Incentive Rate
Sales Accreditation
Technical Certification
Enablement Pre-Sales Post-Sales
Marketing Certification
Partner Led Marketing
Demand Generation
Lead Follow-up
Opportunity Registration
Sales Pipeline
Pipeline Goal Attainment
Closed Deals
Additional Subscriptions
Renewals
Rewards
Co-Op
SPIFFsI
C MDF
Rebates
Rewards
I
RewardsI
RewardsI
I Rewards
CC
RebatesC
I Rewards
I
RebatesC
Incentive Level
Individual
Company
I
C
Incentive Type
Rewards
SPIFFs
Rebates
Co-Op
MDF
$300
$500
$300
3% to 5%
2%
0.5%
0.75%
1%
1% to 3%
1% to 2%
1.5%
2% to 3%
How much to invest?
% of revenue allocated
to incentive solution
And apply the right incentive value to each program.
40. Marketing Sales
Demand Generation Content
Infographics, Articles,
Viral Videos, SEO, Web syndication
Lead Management Content
Whitepapers, Webinars,
Newsletters, Reports, eBooks
Opportunity Management Content
In-person Events, ROI Calculators,
Demos, Testimonials
The Incentive Framework – Putting it all Together
Early Opportunity
Registration
Onboarding
Velocity
Demand
Creation
Certification/
Specialization
Enablement Pre-Sales Post-Sales
Appointment
Setting
Proof of
Concept
Deal Reg
Closing
+ Subscriptions
& Renewals
Research
Options
Business
Problem
Explore
Solutions
Research
Vendors
Determin
e
Strategy
Build
Shortlist
Assess
ROI
Decision (1 Month)Consideration (3–4 Months)The Buyer’s Journey Awareness (1–2 Months)
Reward for
partner on-
boarding within
the desired
timeframe
Reward for early
opportunity
registration from sales-
accepted leads once
approved
Reward for partners
reaching certification/
specialization goals
Reward for partner
marketing learning and
execution of demand
creation plays
Reward for each
appointment they set
and complete within 30
days of opportunity
registration
Reward for each
POC completed that
includes documentation
for how the POC will
be carried out
Reward for closing
deals, on total revenue,
participating solutions,
and alliance product
Reward for
additional
subscriptions
and renewals
The Partner’s Journey
Incentive Strategy
41. Check List
To Gain Greater Adoption, Take the Partner’s Perspective
What is the offer, What are the qualifications, What does the commitment look like
Profile Partners Against your Ideal Partner Profile to Understand:
Sales coverage, Marketing capabilities, Value added positioning
Define the Different Personas Within the Partner Organization
Executive team, Sales and marketing team, Product and support team
Segment Partners by Profile, Persona, and Go-To-Market
Use launch allowances and programs to accelerate time to revenue
Align Partner Incentives to the Partner Journey by Partner Type to Accelerate Time to Revenue
Recruitment and onboarding, Enablement, Demand generation
Define Incentive Types, Programs, and Personas to Drive Desired Behaviors
At the partner company, team, and individual level
Model, Track, Measure and Tune Activities, Behaviors, and Transactions
Programmatic, Behavioral, and financial program measurement
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Hinweis der Redaktion
Digital transformation is affecting every sector across every industry on a global scale. Specially demand generation professionals and channel marketers are increasingly seeing the value of adopting digital strategies to grow their business. Yet digital transformation of your partner businesses is a complex, multifaceted endeavor that warrants a new vision and new approaches to partner engagement and incentives. This is mainly due to partners lacking the digital sales and marketing skills to effectively market and sell the vendor’s solutions. One clear example is how digital transformation has created misalignment of your partner’s sales process, with the new digitally-connected buyer’s journey. As a matter of fact, according to a partners’ sales processes study by SiriusDecisions, a scant 12% of respondents stated they have modified their sales process to align with the new buyers journey. Enterprise organizations have never experienced this level of upheaval before, and established brands are scrambling to leverage their through-channel marketing automation technology to deliver ROI.
Never the less, the key issues impacting your digital marketing strategies can be addressed with what Forrester Calls “Incentive Engineering” - You can actually change partner behavior and the outcome of the cumulative transformation effort. Think about this, Forrester estimates that sales of through-channel marketing automation technology will climb at a 25% CAGR through 2023 to $1.6 billion. Yet a recent study by SiriusDecisions also revealed that the average utilization of TCMA solutions were under 17%. It’s therefore imperative that vendors engage their partners with comprehensive programs that incent them to take full advantage of these new digital solutions, because what is likely to have the biggest impact on the ROI of vendors investments is how eagerly partner companies adopt the digital marketing tools vendors support.
So today you will walk away from this webcast with a new channel incentive framework to help you increase and improve your partner’s utilization of your digital sales and marketing tools. This framework provides a step-by-step approach to identifying the most effective combination of incentives at the company, team, and individual level - to drive your digital marketing strategies. In doing this, we will demonstrate how a sales is the results on a number of productive activities and behaviors which when properly orchestrated lead to that sale. We will also review how to align your partner’s sales process to the new digital buyers journey, improving demand generation, lead management, and opportunity management; It’s time to REEVALUATE how you model and design your INCENTIVE PROGRAMS – as The days of only offering transaction-based incentives are gone forever.
Let’s start by taking a quick view at the current state of channel demand – as the lack of alignment and proper governance in channel demand management is resulting in inefficiencies, increased costs, lost revenue, and poor partner and buyer experiences. The fact is that Business and market realities have created an unprecedented opportunity for channel leaders to create value for their partner organizations
Marketing enablement is more important than ever before, because many channel organizations are increasingly shifting the responsibilities of demand creation to their channel partners. Everyone is doing it –as vendors who strive to expand sales breadth by adding more partners are also investing in these one- to-many, self-service TCMA tools that address partner marketing needs. Yet key limitations often prevent these programs from being successful.
Understanding your partner’s challenges associated with channel demand programs is critical for making the improvements required to ensure future success. Your partner’s challenges are many – one of the most critical ones is the partner’s inability to connect offerings to the new digital buyer’s needs and challenges. Yet getting partners to participate in learning tracks requires a concerted effort to engage them, and then lead them to the specific tracks they are in need of. The reality is that many of these challenges can be addressed through an interlock with portfolio marketing, and channel marketing’s enablement of partners through knowledge transfer.
To make matters more complex, only 10% of partners actually have a dedicated marketing resource. Most have a marketing role only - someone that does marketing among other things. The key takeaway here is that the partner’s marketing associate or role is a new persona to incent in the vendor/partner relationship. Because these partner marketing individuals lack the sales and marketing skills to effectively sell your solutions. Consequently, you must first identify, tag, and engage these individuals to increase their marketing skills and ensure proper execution.
So how can we gain a better understanding of partners’ marketing capabilities, and enable partners to use the digital marketing programs and tools vendor’s provide?
Let’s start by focusing on three key areas. First employ a marketing enablement/accreditation or certification program, to ensure partners acquire the skills they need to execute your digital marketing campaigns, and gain their commitment. BTW the top reason why partners are not able to connect offerings to buyer needs and challenges is the misalignment of the partners’ sales process to the digitally connected buyer’s journey. So that’s is the second focus area. 80% of Partners still use an activity based sales process that is totally disconnected from the buyers journey. Understanding your end-customer buyer’s journey and teaching partners how to engage buyers by aligning their sales cycle to the buyer's journey is vital to the success of your partner in this digitally-connected end-customer environment. Third, drive partner behavior using channel incentives as the currency to reward partners after completing the prior two focus areas, leading them to select the right play using the funds offered
Alright, so let’s look at how marketing certification is going to help transform partners into taking advantage of all your digital marketing tools. BTW marketing certification should be leveraged as a tool for raising partner commitment levels - for example, using marketing certification as a prerequisite for marketing development funds (MDF).
Let’s start with the basics. This type of education tracks targets the marketing role or individual within the partner organization, plus at least one other person who should be certified for participation in demand creation plays. First you need to Identify the marketing role/associate at the partner to then engage them with learning tracks that will teach the basics of demand generation and how to use your marketing automation tools, as well as your campaign-in-a-box options. The people who fill these new roles within partner organizations (and who are designated as marketing leads) should be the primary participants in your marketing certification training and incentive programs. The training should be scheduled to occur during a new product launch, partner on-boarding, or major campaign roll-outs. Second, measure the resulting number of trainings completed and share with your audience. Key metrics to consider include the number of certification programs offered, the number of partners who participate, the number of partners who achieve certification, and the range of skills and markets in the programs.
Then follow this with marketing fundamentals learning tracks- While partners do not need to be experts in every nuance of aligning marketing programs to prospective buyers, they must have a baseline set of skills that include educating partners on the common questions that customers will ask at each stage of the buyer’s journey. Common questions and objections can be inserted into a marketing playbook, or described to partners and stored in the partner portal for subsequent use. Second Describe the buyer personas who participates at each stage of the buyer’s journey and which assets can be used to meet their specific requirements. Third, help partners understand what type of demand they will be creating with prospects, which will determine their overall marketing and sales approach
Now you then need to follow that up with play execution alignment - Teach partners where to find assets in your marketing automation tool, and how to use them when executing marketing programs. If they will apply marketing development fund (MDF) incentives to request individual tactics/plays from a menu, show them how to access the menu and what processes to follow. Also help them understand what is included in each play they select, the duration of the play, and the reporting expectations.
Partners should be taught to identify and meet the buyer’s information requirements during each stage of the buying process. For each product being resold, a list should be provided of questions that partners should be prepared to answer at each stage using marketing assets (e.g., case studies, white papers, ROI calculators). These questions can be communicated to the partners through a one-page summary that addresses the broad phases of the buyer’s journey (education, solution, vendor selection). Suppliers should also train partners on buying roles (e.g., champions, ratifiers), the influence that these roles exert at various stages of the buying process, and how to customize the content or tactics for each role.
Now let’s look at Demand Type - Partners should be taught to position an offering with the target buyer by showing how to align the messaging to the type of demand the partner must try to create. This training should help partners develop talk tracks for the solutions they are attempting to resell. Partners should also be able to detect when changes to the delivery of the solution affects the demand type (i.e., software as a service vs on-premise). Worksheets should be created that guide partners through a series of questions to determine the demand type; these worksheets can be reused in partner marketing programs or in the development of call scripts.
Let’s now look at multi-touch Lead Development - Because most B2B inquires are generated over the Web - as potential buyers first locate, then educate themselves about potential solutions - partners should be trained to develop these leads using multi- touch lead-nurturing programs. Specifically, they should learn to use four critical elements in digital marketing (messaging, offers, tactics, and data collection) to create a multi-touch program that offers potential buyers appropriate content at each stage of their buying process.
So now let’s see some basic tactical examples of marketing accreditation
And while these are the basic measurements, there are Leading Indicators (Pre-Sale) where to look for increases in the number of partner-generated leads and conversions of inquiries to marketing qualified leads (MQLs). Suppliers should also see higher conversions of MQLs to sales accepted leads. Remember When suppliers tie specific enablement activities (e.g., training, certification) to demand offers, partners are more likely to engage in those demand offers, resulting in higher levels of participation. Key metrics include the quantity of the campaign materials downloaded, MDF utilization, and the pipeline opportunities that originated as MQLs.
Lagging Indicators (Post-Sale) To measure the impact of marketing certification on performance, program performance and marketing contribution reliable metrics are needed. To measure the partner program ROI, the number of deals and the amount of revenue closed as a result of specific demand programs. Suppliers need to know the impact that marketing has on the partner pipelines
Claudio: LET’S RECAP – WE STARTED BY MODELING THE PARTNER LIFE CYCLE. REMEMBER KNOWING WHERE TO INVEST BEGINS WITH AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPECIFIC BEHAVIORS YOU WANT TO INFLUENCE WITHIN YOUR CHANNEL. THEN MODEL YOUR PARTNER SALES PROCESS ALIGNED TO THE BUYER’S JOURNEY BY EXTENDING THE ENABLEMENT PHASE AND INTRODUCING THE CONCEPTS OF DEMAND TYPE, THE STAGES OF THE BUYER’S JOURNEY, AND HOW TO ALIGN SOLUTION MESSAGING WITH DEMAND TYPE. FOCUS TRAINING ON HELPING PARTNERS EVALUATE THE DEMAND TYPE AND BUYER’S JOURNEY FOR THEIR SPECIFIC AUDIENCES AND OFFERINGS SO THAT THEY CAN TO START CONVERSATIONS WITH THE BUYER. APPLY THE RIGHT INCENTIVE PROGRAM TYPE AND INCENTIVE RATE
AN INCENTIVE PROGRAM ALIGNED TO THE BUYER’S AND PARTNER JOURNEY RECOGNIZES THAT A SUCCESSFUL SALE IS THE RESULT OF A STRING OF PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES, THAT WHEN COMBINED, LEAD TO THE SALE. - THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE FOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WITH LONG SALES CYCLES, WHERE MANY DIFFERENT SALES, MARKETING, AND PRODUCT PROCESSES ARE IN ALIGNMENT TO GENERATE LEADS, NURTURE OPPORTUNITIES AND MAINTAIN ENGAGEMENT THROUGH AN INCREASINGLY COMPLEX BUYING PROCESS - YOU REALLY DON’T NEED INCENTIVES AT EVERY STAGE, YOU JUST NEED TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE TO ADVANCE THAT ONE AREA IN NEED OF IMPROVEMENT.
In the digital age, you must provide a mix of individual-, team-, and company-level
rewards to motivate your partners and their teams to initiate transformation. This can
be achieved by combining company-level and individual/team-level incentives into a
single program that is built around your partners’ sales cycles. Most current channel rewards programs deliver a benefit only after revenue is attained;
therefore, there is no reason for the partner sales rep and sales engineer to engage up front.
The result is that programs that initially seem attractive tend to fall by the wayside as partner
teams become busy and see no immediate benefit. Even worse are programs that reward
individuals for sales that they would have attained anyway.
What partner behaviors should incentives motivate?
The final step of the model is determining desired partner behaviors. When creating incentive programs, channel
leaders should identify the behaviors they want to encourage and design incentives accordingly. Organizations
typically look for behaviors from their partners that fall into the following categories:
These individuals should be rewarded substantially for training on using the tool, piloting a few of these campaigns-in-a-box, and loading the proof-of-performance. The rewards will result in increased utilization and demand generation drive. Although these incentives cannot compensate for the absence of an easy-to-use CMM tool or effective campaign offerings, they can be effective as part of a holistic strategy for improving partner engagement at both the organizational and individual levels. The individual starter incentives need to be paid only once per training course and per campaign, as these campaigns should yield results that will earn the partner marketing manager top recognition within the business. In many instances, recognition is as important - if not more important - than the incentive itself. Remember You have to allocate the reward where the effort is being made to accomplish your objectives.
Research continues to show that financial (extrinsic) rewards can reduce the effect of meeting intrinsic goals, if they are not balanced.
Intrinsic motivation is a stronger indicator of job performance, whereas concentrating on monetary rewards takes attention away from the fundamental needs such as learning new skills, nurturing intellectual curiosity, and enjoying tasks that are critical to keeping employees engaged and motivated.
A key to designing a successful rewards program should be based on an understanding of employees’ values and the creation of tools that target factors that motivate and inspire. Providing choices other than cash creates an emotional attachment, while cash is an unemotional reward that gets forgotten when spent like a salary.
LET’S RECAP – START BY MODELING THE PARTNER LIFE CYCLE. KNOWING WHERE TO INVEST BEGINS WITH AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPECIFIC BEHAVIORS YOU WANT TO INFLUENCE WITHIN YOUR CHANNEL. WHEN DECIDING WHICH BEHAVIORS ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU, AND THEREFORE WHERE TO INVEST, . THEN MODEL YOUR PARTNER SALES PROCESS ALIGNED TO THAT JOURNEY BY EXTENDING THE ENABLEMENT PHASE AND INTRODUCING THE CONCEPTS OF DEMAND TYPE, THE STAGES OF THE BUYER’S JOURNEY, AND HOW TO ALIGN SOLUTION MESSAGING WITH DEMAND TYPE. FOCUS TRAINING ON HELPING PARTNERS EVALUATE THE DEMAND TYPE AND BUYER’S JOURNEY FOR THEIR SPECIFIC AUDIENCES AND OFFERINGS SO THAT THEY CAN TO START CONVERSATIONS WITH THE BUYER. APPLY THE RIGHT INCENTIVE PROGRAM TYPE AND INCENTIVE RATE
AN INCENTIVE PROGRAM ALIGNED TO THE BUYER’S AND PARTNER JOURNEY RECOGNIZES THAT A SUCCESSFUL SALE IS THE RESULT OF A STRING OF PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES, THAT WHEN COMBINED, LEAD TO THE SALE. - THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE FOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WITH LONG SALES CYCLES, WHERE MANY DIFFERENT SALES, MARKETING, AND PRODUCT PROCESSES ARE IN ALIGNMENT TO GENERATE LEADS, NURTURE OPPORTUNITIES AND MAINTAIN ENGAGEMENT THROUGH AN INCREASINGLY COMPLEX BUYING PROCESS - YOU REALLY DON’T NEED INCENTIVES AT EVERY STAGE, YOU JUST NEED TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE TO ADVANCE THAT ONE AREA IN NEED OF IMPROVEMENT.