By Diane Krakora, CEO
If you said ‘no,’ ‘I’m not sure,’ or ‘what’s partner experience?’ we should talk. You’re missing a fantastic chance to win hearts, minds and sales by providing a great experience that brings partners back time and again. Think of the partner experience like you might your own experience as a customer. For me, there’s one local restaurant with staff who always greet me by name, find a table for me, serve the best food and keep my wine glass full. They give me a great experience and have completely cornered my loyalty (and weekly patronage).
So if you’re like me, you understand the importance of a positive customer experience – be that at an airline, hotel, restaurant or coffee shop. But what about your partners? How is their experience with your company?
The partner experience was the topic of our most recent webinar, which included Lang Tibbils, head of Global Partner Experience at Palo Alto Networks. His title alone is interesting. I think I can count on both hands the number of vendors who have someone devoted to the partner experience.
Lang has worked at a few channel companies, so he’s seen how other vendors treat their channel partners, both good and bad. As such, he provided insight into why the partner experience is often less than optimal. He also demonstrated ways in which Palo Alto Networks keeps the partner experience top of mind (his title is a big hint).
“It used to be channels was something you had to do to achieve scale to grow your business, and it’s a strategic competitive advantage today if done correctly – which means it’s talked about at all levels of leadership and, I would submit that it’s even a board room conversation on a pretty consistent basis today,” he said.
Yes, it's important.
So why, then, do so many vendors treat their partners like redheaded stepchildren? They should be more aware especially these days, when partners have more power in the vendor/solution provider relationship and have no qualms about dropping under performing vendors. According to last year’s State of Partnering study, partners on average cut 10 percent of their vendor community from the previous year.
Clearly, then, vendors need to step up their game when it comes to ensuring partners have a positive experience in dealing with them. Yet, according to our study, vendors are faltering right out of the gate: Poor partner onboarding throws a huge damp towel on the partner experience. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and the onboarding process at most vendors is complicated and confusing.
To borrow a sports analogy (as I am wont to do), when partners are onboarded poorly, they’re suited up and ready to play and you sideline them with a process that takes too long. They get bored, realize you’re not organized, then get frustrated and find another team to play for. So the entire process is a giant waste of time for them and for you, and your reputation with that partner is in the ditch.
At Palo Alto Networks, Lang said onboarding is a major area of focus. Getting partners started off on the right foot, and with the right frame of mind, is critical to their overall success. That’s why the company has created an onboarding tool that features three modules: a 90-day online sales onboarding action plan, attendance at new hire and sales onboarding sessions at company headquarters so partners get the same level of education as new employees and mentoring and field coaching so partners can continue their training in the field.
Turn it off, and on again.
Tech support is another major area where vendors are, quite simply, faltering. Partners don’t want to start at square one every time they need support with a vendor’s product or service. On the customer side, tech support oftentimes is top-notch, yet for partners, tech support is painful, having to start with first-line support when they should be automatically pushed to third-line support.
Lang confessed tech support is an area Palo Alto Networks can do better. “You call in and start with level one support or start with, ‘Did you turn it off and turn it back on again?’ ‘Did you make sure it’s plugged in?’ And that is frustrating for someone who has gone through a ton of training and feels like, ‘Why can I not reach out to a peer?’” he said. “We try to make sure we have tech support in the field and mentor support in the field on a regular basis. But if you’re trying to call somebody at 2 a.m. and you have to start at ground zero, that’s not the optimal support partners want and so we’re looking at ways to try and make it better.”
At the end of the day, onboarding and tech support are two huge areas of frustration among partners. But there are others: deal management, communications, training and conflict. In our poll during the webinar, attendees actually pegged deal management and training as the two biggest partner experience killers. That shows a disconnect between what partners say they need and what vendors think partners need.
Obviously, it’s impossible to make everyone happy. But there are steps vendors can take to make most of their partners happy. Start at the beginning: Take a look at your onboarding process and ask yourself if it’s something you’d be satisfied with if you were a partner. Be honest. Then get to work making changes to make your partner experience the best it can be.
Diane Krakora is CEO of PartnerPath with two decades of experience defining the best practices and frameworks around how to develop and manage partnerships.
