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Why Deal Reg incentives don’t motivate us (or partners).

Most vendors have two goals when offering a deal registration incentive to their solution provider partners. The more holistic goal is increased visibility into who is working on which prospects to help minimize channel conflict. The more self-serving goal is to motivate partners to influence a prospect to choose your brand. But it’s a fallacy to think you can sway a partner to do something they didn’t plan to do anyway. 

As a consulting partner for many PRM companies, I’m going to shoot you straight. Like many of your solution provider partners, we are looking out for our clients’ best interests. We don’t really care which partner management technology our clients buy. To optimize our program framework recommendations, we only care that our clients effectively implement a solution that enhances partner experience. Our clients pay us to provide consulting and advice, to align their needs to the best technology solutions available. 

Do we care about your partner program or deal registration incentives? Nope. We don’t even want your referral rewards. Those feel icky. Our clients engage us to give them the best solution for their business need, not the one that pays us the most. Like your partnering ecosystem, we want to understand the features and benefits of your technology solution and your ideal customer profiles. But regardless of your incentive structure, we will make a recommendation based on our clients’ needs. Sorry not sorry.

That said, will we register the deal with you? Probably. Will we register it with the three other solutions on our client’s short list? Likely. Are your partner program policies and incentives providing a leg up in our eyes? Nope.

Let me reiterate. We are looking for, and living off, consulting, advice, product evaluation, and business process change services. Your referral fees wouldn’t cover my wine bill let alone payroll. Partners who not only consult, but also implement your technology, also engage with 3 or 4 of your closest competitors. They’re covering their bets by registering the deal with multiple vendors. Are those other vendors influencing the customer? Still no. Partners want their customers to buy SOMETHING, so they can sell more services, and the solution they recommend is based on more influential factors than referral fees. 

What will we, and your other consulting or services partners, do for you (our vendor partners)? What are those “more influential factors?” We will get you a seat at the table if your solution is a good fit. We will share with you what we know about the prospect’s pain points and needs. We will work with our client on the business case of buying a solution (buy something!). What can you do to influence us? Or other influencers? Focus on communicating the functionality and benefits of your products. Convey how to differentiate your product from your competition. Educate and enable your partners on the technology, your target customers, and how best to engage you in the customer sales and success lifecycle. Don’t get distracted that your deal registration incentives will change your partners’ behaviors. Those are a nice “thank you” but aren’t enough to motivate.

Is AI good or bad? Should it be used in Oscar-nominated movies? I don’t claim to have an answer to either of those questions, but I can say that AI, leveraged correctly, can help vendors save time and personalize some of their tools, processes and content for partners. It’s called a relationship for a reason, and we all know relationships take work. But with only so many hours in the day, it’s worth thinking about how some of the recurring actions of a partner program could be performed by AI.

Embrace the fundamentals to achieve success as a partnering leader.

My stepson, like many recent college graduates, is trying to figure out what he will be when he grows up. On a recent trip for his graduation, he asked me about how I got into partnering and what skill set I consider important for the job. Trying to answer these questions prompted our summer series of interviews with partnering executives: Bob Skelley, Beth Glasstetter and John Schwan. I asked our first webinar guest, Bob Skelley, Vice President of Channel Sales & Strategy at Arctic Wolf, how he got into partnering and what skill set he thought would be important. His answers about listening, lifelong learning, and consistent follow-through align with those I’ve found to be true.

Help your partners sell simplicity for improved customer satisfaction.

I’m a fan of indirect channels and I’ve spent years helping companies engage, empower and evolve partner ecosystems. I’ve always defended solution providers to vendors who undervalue partner contributions. But lately I’ve noticed that customers are being sold complex solutions when simpler ones will do – and I suspect partners are partly to blame. Don’t get me wrong, direct sales are also guilty of selling complexity. The fact is: complex solutions ensure lucrative services revenues (which is bread and butter for partners). But ultimately, everyone wants happy customers. If the right thing for the customer is a simpler solution (with a faster install, easier onboarding and less ongoing maintenance), how do we encourage a shift in sales priorities?