Blog

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?

“We must consider the complex inputs to get to the desired output.” This quote from our webinar guest Lisa Stifelman-Perry, Director, Global Partner Experience Operations at Splunk, A Cisco Company, sounds so simple and yet so many companies don’t properly plan ahead before selecting and implementing partner automation tools.

Here's a checklist of 10 mistakes we see people make in designing and running a partner program. For context, details, possible fixes and some friendly banter, watch the video here.

One solution provider shares actions to take (or avoid) in your partner relationship.

We’ve been beating the drum about the importance of partner experience for a while now (if this is the first you’re hearing of it, grab a cup of coffee and start here). Every step along the partner journey is critical. The experience must be good to attract new partners. The experience must be good to win over and onboard new partners. And the experience must be good to engage and grow your partners.