Impersonate a Partner and Experience Your Own PRM System
By Chris Smith, VP of Technology
It’s a new year, and a great time for reflection, goal setting and planning. Lately I’ve been reflecting on my performance, both professionally and personally, to find areas for improvement. I've committed to riding my bike more, eating healthier, learning a new skill and returning to my love of writing code. What do you want to work on in 2017? Would you like to improve channel partnering at your company? That’s a broad goal, albeit a noble one, so I suggest taking a moment to walk in your partner’s shoes. Reflect on their daily experience with your programs, systems and tools and see where there is room for improvement.
In particular, think about how your partners use your PRM system:
- How do they access your portal?
- Do they have the option to download resources and are those resources current, and targeted to their role within the partner company?
- How easy is it for them to register deals?
- Can they access new training when they need it?
A popular PRM feature is the ability to access the portal as another user. We call it the ‘impersonate’ feature. (We originally called it ‘masquerade’ – but we kept humming ‘Phantom of the Opera’ songs on team meetings.) This cool little feature allows an admin (probably you or one of your colleagues) to click a button on the profile of any user in the system and essentially “become” that user.
Everything you see is exactly what that user sees. This is a fantastic way to evaluate your partner’s experience, both the good and the bad. You can verify what they have access to see and download (and what they don’t) as well as troubleshoot problems they’re having so you can better understand where they’re having difficulty. Walking through the portal in their shoes is incredibly valuable to know you’ve set permissions correctly and created an experience they will enjoy.
At the start of this fresh new year, I’d like to challenge you to evaluate your PRM from your partner’s point of view. I don’t think you can improve anything until you’ve experienced it firsthand. Dig in and perform every task they perform in your portal. View every page, run every report, read every in-app message and email sent to your partners. Don’t ever forget that your PRM is for your PARTNERS first. It’s likely their first impression of your partner program and their primary interaction after joining your channel. Go experience your PRM firsthand from their perspective. I’m sure you’ll find some areas you can improve on in the new year!
Chris Smith is Vice President of Technology at PartnerPath with more than 10 years of experience in technology development.
