ZINFI Technologies, Inc.

When you look at the sales landscape and the worldwide marketplace, it is obvious that things have changed A LOT over the past 10 to 20 years, particularly when you consider the impact of the Internet and the utilization of websites, social media and technology. One role in particular, the role of the inside sales representative, has changed drastically.

By definition, inside sales is professional sales done remotely or virtually. But inside sales representatives are absolutely not “smile and dial” B2C single-touch telemarketers. They are generally selling larger, more complex and more expensive B2B products or services. Great inside sales representatives are socially savvy, educated individuals who understand how to build relationships and trust by utilizing proven email or phone techniques. While their pitch is typically not scripted, the path to success generally requires several touches and has changed considerably in the last two decades.

To master any game, you must continually examine the changing landscape and understand HOW it has changed. Below are five huge new developments in the landscape of inside sales that you need to understand in order to compete effectively:

You can now pre-research the target person or company. Great inside sales reps now understand a little investigative work can go a long way. With the invention of the Internet and social media, there is a lot of information you can find on companies and individuals that can help quickly warm a conversation. Three minutes of research can make all the difference in determining whether or not you open the door to a 30-minute conversation and start building a relationship with your prospect.

Inside sales reps are flocking to social media. The new breed of inside sales representative understands that social media is a crucial way to stay in front of clients. Not only does social media let your buyers find out more about you, it gives you a platform to educate them about your product and service while you continue to build the relationship.

Inside sales reps now know that their job is not just to provide information about their product or service—it is to refine their value proposition. Because the Internet gives potential customers vast amounts of information about the products or services they are investigating, most customers these days are already 60% of the way through the buying process before they ever speak to an inside sales rep. What does this mean for the rep? General info about your product or service is not going to be enough. A good inside sales rep is going to push to differentiate their product or service with use cases and client success stories, industry analysis, and by evaluating the competitive landscape.

Collaboration solutions have opened up the playing field to selling “anytime, anywhere.” With new cloud meeting software capabilities, inside sales representatives now have a huge leg up on their past counterparts. If the need arises for a presentation, they can easily log into a meeting solution and share their presentation digitally. With the Internet, the sales agent can be in any time zone in any part of the world. Learning to leverage the full capabilities of cloud collaboration can allow the inside sales agent to provide expertise anytime, anywhere.

Inside sales reps are now becoming “great facilitators.” These days in sales, there are really only a few points in a client relationship (the demo, the quote, the contract negotiation) that require an inside sales rep to “sell.” Much of the game in inside sales is to be accessible to provide expertise. If a customer needs reviews or research done, often a good inside sales person will help facilitate the sharing of information. They will also recruit colleagues as resources for discussions and expertise.

Today, good inside sales representatives can wear many hats. They can cross into being product managers, social media marketers or content gurus, and they need to understand all of the basic principles of sales and communication. While there will be multiple touches that go into any inside sales effort, learning to leverage the new tools and capabilities of today’s landscape will go a long way. The world marketplace is constantly changing, and inside sales is no different.

For more information about sales and marketing best practices, marketing automation products or demand generation services, please visit us a ZINFI.com.

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When you look at the sales landscape and the worldwide marketplace, it is obvious that things have changed A LOT over the past 10 to 20 years, particularly when you consider the impact of the Internet and the utilization of websites, social media and technology. One role in particular, the role of the inside sales representative, has changed drastically.By definition, inside sales is professional sales done remotely or virtually. But inside sales representatives are absolutely not “smile and dial” B2C single-touch telemarketers. They are generally selling larger, more complex and more expensive B2B products or services. Great inside sales representatives are socially savvy, educated individuals who understand how to build relationships and trust by utilizing proven email or phone techniques. While their pitch is typically not scripted, the path to success generally requires several touches and has changed considerably in the last two decades.To master any game, you must continually examine the changing landscape and understand HOW it has changed. Below are five huge new developments in the landscape of inside sales that you need to understand in order to compete effectively:* You can now pre-research the target person or company. Great inside sales reps now understand a little investigative work can go a long way. With the invention of the Internet and social media, there is a lot of information you can find on companies and individuals that can help quickly warm a conversation. Three minutes of research can make all the difference in determining whether or not you open the door to a 30-minute conversation and start building a relationship with your prospect.* Inside sales reps are flocking to social media. The new breed of inside sales representative understands that social media is a crucial way to stay in front of clients. Not only does social media let your buyers find out more about you, it gives you a platform to educate them about your product and service while you continue to build the relationship.* Inside sales reps now know that their job is not just to provide information about their product or service—it is to refine their value proposition. Because the Internet gives potential customers vast amounts of information about the products or services they are investigating, most customers these days are already 60% of the way through the buying process before they ever speak to an inside sales rep. What does this mean for the rep? General info about your product or service is not going to be enough. A good inside sales rep is going to push to differentiate their product or service with use cases and client success stories, industry analysis, and by evaluating the competitive landscape.* Collaboration solutions have opened up the playing field to selling “anytime, anywhere.” With new cloud meeting software capabilities, inside sales representatives now have a huge leg up on their past counterparts. If the need arises for a presentation, they can easily log into a meeting solution and share their presentation digitally. With the Internet, the sales agent can be in any time zone in any part of the world. Learning to leverage the full capabilities of cloud collaboration can allow the inside sales agent to provide expertise anytime, anywhere.* Inside sales reps are now becoming “great facilitators.” These days in sales, there are really only a few points in a client relationship (the demo, the quote, the contract negotiation) that require an inside sales rep to “sell.” Much of the game in inside sales is to be accessible to provide expertise. If a customer needs reviews or research done, often a good inside sales person will help facilitate the sharing of information....

When you look at the sales landscape and the worldwide marketplace, it is obvious that things have changed A LOT over the past 10 to 20 years, particularly when you consider the impact of the Internet and the utilization of websites, social media and technology. One role in particular, the role of the inside sales representative, has changed drastically.

By definition, inside sales is professional sales done remotely or virtually. But inside sales representatives are absolutely not “smile and dial” B2C single-touch telemarketers. They are generally selling larger, more complex and more expensive B2B products or services. Great inside sales representatives are socially savvy, educated individuals who understand how to build relationships and trust by utilizing proven email or phone techniques. While their pitch is typically not scripted, the path to success generally requires several touches and has changed considerably in the last two decades.

To master any game, you must continually examine the changing landscape and understand HOW it has changed. Below are five huge new developments in the landscape of inside sales that you need to understand in order to compete effectively:

* You can now pre-research the target person or company. Great inside sales reps now understand a little investigative work can go a long way. With the invention of the Internet and social media, there is a lot of information you can find on companies and individuals that can help quickly warm a conversation. Three minutes of research can make all the difference in determining whether or not you open the door to a 30-minute conversation and start building a relationship with your prospect.

* Inside sales reps are flocking to social media. The new breed of inside sales representative understands that social media is a crucial way to stay in front of clients. Not only does social media let your buyers find out more about you, it gives you a platform to educate them about your product and service while you continue to build the relationship.

* Inside sales reps now know that their job is not just to provide information about their product or service—it is to refine their value proposition. Because the Internet gives potential customers vast amounts of information about the products or services they are investigating, most customers these days are already 60% of the way through the buying process before they ever speak to an inside sales rep. What does this mean for the rep? General info about your product or service is not going to be enough. A good inside sales rep is going to push to differentiate their product or service with use cases and client success stories, industry analysis, and by evaluating the competitive landscape.

* Collaboration solutions have opened up the playing field to selling “anytime, anywhere.” With new cloud meeting software capabilities, inside sales representatives now have a huge leg up on their past counterparts. If the need arises for a presentation, they can easily log into a meeting solution and share their presentation digitally. With the Internet, the sales agent can be in any time zone in any part of the world. Learning to leverage the full capabilities of cloud collaboration can allow the inside sales agent to provide expertise anytime, anywhere.

* Inside sales reps are now becoming “great facilitators.” These days in sales, there are really only a few points in a client relationship (the demo, the quote, the contract negotiation) that require an inside sales rep to “sell.” Much of the game in inside sales is to be accessible to provide expertise. If a customer needs reviews or research done, often a good inside sales person will help facilitate the sharing of information.

Over the past decade — and particularly over the past five years — many channel marketing automation SaaS startups have entered the marketplace with the hope of garnering the interest of channel organizations looking to drive more demand through their channel. The first-generation tools rightfully focused on a missing gap — marketing resources at the channel partner organization — and addressed the promise of channel marketing automation by providing ready-to-launch, co-branded assets and campaigns for partner organizations to use. However, even with as they began to deploy a number of marketing automation tools, partners found they still needed to perform certain activities that require marketing resources or the allocation of resources from another area. As a result, with very few exceptions, most of these deployments delivered lackluster results. Organizations had switched channel marketing automation vendors in search of a better tool or platform but failed to address the need for a major behavioral shift in the partner base.

Partners are called resellers for a reason. They are not called remarketers. Most partner organizations (system integrators, VARs, resellers, franchises, agents, etc.) are resource-strapped and lack proper training, skills and marketing resources. So, despite the availability of sophisticated channel marketing automation tools, adoption of these tools has been tepid. That doesn’t mean vendors should abandon these platforms and go back to the dark ages of ZIP-file-based asset sharing. However, it is the duty of the channel marketing automation platforms to rise to the next challenge and address the core issue of sales enablement.

It is fair to assume the channel will look roughly the same over the next five years as it did over the past five. Until and unless a game-changing platform suddenly appears on the horizon or some other disruption takes place, changes in the channel are likely to continue incrementally. Despite seismic shifts tied to the cloud, mobility and the digitization of buyers’ engagement, it is highly unlikely that partner organizations will suddenly end up having abundant marketing resources. Therefore, channel marketing automation platforms need to address this gaping hole that the lack of marketing resources presents and convert that challenge into an opportunity. Instead of looking at the glass as a half-empty (partners lack marketing resources), I’d suggest we look at it as a half-full (sales resources are available) and focus on enablement activities.

Most vendor organizations selling through the channel provide some mechanism for lead distribution. Whether the industry is automotive, real estate, insurance, finance, technology or pharmaceutical, chances are there is a program in place for multi-channel lead generation, capture and lead distribution. When these leads are distributed, vendors should make it a priority to ensure the partner organization is capable of closing those leads in a highly competitive environment. In reality, most leads that are distributed to partners are not properly nurtured and followed up to be closed. This testifies to a lack of training and enablement in the sales organization, and reflects a significant shortcoming in many channel marketing automation platforms that are offered today.

Once we accept this premise that there is major opportunity that can be addressed by investing in partner sales enablement, the next logical question is to ask is: What is partner sales enablement? Partner sales enablement is a critical step in Unified Partner Management. It is about developing and deploying an integrated process that guides partners through a logical sequence of steps or stages required to close transactions, from the simplest to the most complex. This means providing not only structured training but also access to the necessary sales tools at each stage of the selling process.

From a functional perspective, sales enablement includes partner training, access to digital sales assets, and the ability to send interactive emails and digital content to track buyer engagement. A marketing automation platform offering state-of-the-art channel sales enablement tools should also provide deep business intelligence capabilities so that a vendor can continually track the effectiveness of sales programs, solutions content needed to close the sale, and all digital assets that play a role in the buyer engagement process.

Over the past decade — and particularly over the past five years — many channel marketing automation SaaS startups have entered the marketplace with the hope of garnering the interest of channel organizations looking to drive more demand through their channel. The first-generation tools rightfully focused on a missing gap — marketing resources at the channel partner organization — and addressed the promise of channel marketing automation by providing ready-to-launch, co-branded assets and campaigns for partner organizations to use. However, even with as they began to deploy a number of marketing automation tools, partners found they still needed to perform certain activities that require marketing resources or the allocation of resources from another area. As a result, with very few exceptions, most of these deployments delivered lackluster results. Organizations had switched channel marketing automation vendors in search of a better tool or platform but failed to address the need for a major behavioral shift in the partner base.Partners are called resellers for a reason. They are not called remarketers. Most partner organizations (system integrators, VARs, resellers, franchises, agents, etc.) are resource-strapped and lack proper training, skills and marketing resources. So, despite the availability of sophisticated channel marketing automation tools, adoption of these tools has been tepid. That doesn’t mean vendors should abandon these platforms and go back to the dark ages of ZIP-file-based asset sharing. However, it is the duty of the channel marketing automation platforms to rise to the next challenge and address the core issue of sales enablement.It is fair to assume the channel will look roughly the same over the next five years as it did over the past five. Until and unless a game-changing platform suddenly appears on the horizon or some other disruption takes place, changes in the channel are likely to continue incrementally. Despite seismic shifts tied to the cloud, mobility and the digitization of buyers’ engagement, it is highly unlikely that partner organizations will suddenly end up having abundant marketing resources. Therefore, channel marketing automation platforms need to address this gaping hole that the lack of marketing resources presents and convert that challenge into an opportunity. Instead of looking at the glass as a half-empty (partners lack marketing resources), I’d suggest we look at it as a half-full (sales resources are available) and focus on enablement activities.Most vendor organizations selling through the channel provide some mechanism for lead distribution. Whether the industry is automotive, real estate, insurance, finance, technology or pharmaceutical, chances are there is a program in place for multi-channel lead generation, capture and lead distribution. When these leads are distributed, vendors should make it a priority to ensure the partner organization is capable of closing those leads in a highly competitive environment. In reality, most leads that are distributed to partners are not properly nurtured and followed up to be closed. This testifies to a lack of training and enablement in the sales organization, and reflects a significant shortcoming in many channel marketing automation platforms that are offered today.Once we accept this premise that there is major opportunity that can be addressed by investing in partner sales enablement, the next logical question is to ask is: What is partner sales enablement? Partner sales enablement is a critical step in Unified Channel Management. It is about developing and deploying an integrated process that guides partners through a logical sequence of steps or stages required to close transactions,

Over the past decade — and particularly over the past five years — many channel marketing automation SaaS startups have entered the marketplace with the hope of garnering the interest of channel organizations looking to drive more demand through their channel. The first-generation tools rightfully focused on a missing gap — marketing resources at the channel partner organization — and addressed the promise of channel marketing automation by providing ready-to-launch, co-branded assets and campaigns for partner organizations to use. However, even with as they began to deploy a number of marketing automation tools, partners found they still needed to perform certain activities that require marketing resources or the allocation of resources from another area. As a result, with very few exceptions, most of these deployments delivered lackluster results. Organizations had switched channel marketing automation vendors in search of a better tool or platform but failed to address the need for a major behavioral shift in the partner base.

Partners are called resellers for a reason. They are not called remarketers. Most partner organizations (system integrators, VARs, resellers, franchises, agents, etc.) are resource-strapped and lack proper training, skills and marketing resources. So, despite the availability of sophisticated channel marketing automation tools, adoption of these tools has been tepid. That doesn’t mean vendors should abandon these platforms and go back to the dark ages of ZIP-file-based asset sharing. However, it is the duty of the channel marketing automation platforms to rise to the next challenge and address the core issue of sales enablement.

It is fair to assume the channel will look roughly the same over the next five years as it did over the past five. Until and unless a game-changing platform suddenly appears on the horizon or some other disruption takes place, changes in the channel are likely to continue incrementally. Despite seismic shifts tied to the cloud, mobility and the digitization of buyers’ engagement, it is highly unlikely that partner organizations will suddenly end up having abundant marketing resources. Therefore, channel marketing automation platforms need to address this gaping hole that the lack of marketing resources presents and convert that challenge into an opportunity. Instead of looking at the glass as a half-empty (partners lack marketing resources), I’d suggest we look at it as a half-full (sales resources are available) and focus on enablement activities.

Most vendor organizations selling through the channel provide some mechanism for lead distribution. Whether the industry is automotive, real estate, insurance, finance, technology or pharmaceutical, chances are there is a program in place for multi-channel lead generation, capture and lead distribution. When these leads are distributed, vendors should make it a priority to ensure the partner organization is capable of closing those leads in a highly competitive environment. In reality, most leads that are distributed to partners are not properly nurtured and followed up to be closed. This testifies to a lack of training and enablement in the sales organization, and reflects a significant shortcoming in many channel marketing automation platforms that are offered today.

Once we accept this premise that there is major opportunity that can be addressed by investing in partner sales enablement, the next logical question is to ask is: What is partner sales enablement? Partner sales enablement is a critical step in Unified Channel Management. It is about developing and deploying an integrated process that guides partners throug...

As vendor organizations trying to sell through the channel deploy channel marketing automation platforms to enable their partners to drive demand from their prospect and customer base, vendors may become frustrated by the lack of adoption of these state-of-the-art tools. Why don’t more partners use channel marketing automation platforms to take advantage of the various tools and assets vendors provide? In other articles we have discussed in detail a variety of factors that may be at play in the lack of adoption among partners (see, for example, Why Partner Marketing Fails Most of The Time), but in this article we will focus on one specific solution that in many cases can solve the problem.

First, let’s quickly define what a channel marketing automation platform is and list its basic components. Then we will explore why partners do not use many of these tools and why broader adoption is always a challenge. A state-of-the-art channel marketing automation platform should be able to address both inbound (e.g., search, social and web syndication) and outbound (e.g., email, telemarketing and microsite) marketing tactics. The channel marketing automation platform should also be able to provide different campaigns to different groups of partners so that only relevant campaigns are available to individual partners, depending on their profile. And finally, lead management will play a central role in driving the marketing activities forward so vendors can truly track return on investment from these integrated tactics.

The challenge, however, is this: When a vendor launches a channel marketing automation platform, after the initial excitement the adoption typically drops quite dramatically over a period of time. What are the primary reasons for such a failure and what can be done about it? To answer, let’s first identify the most common types of failure that prevent widespread adoption of a channel marketing automation platform.

Awareness – If you have a broad channel with a few thousand partners, chances are the majority of them are not aware of your channel programs and tools. So, if you are trying to deploy a channel marketing automation platform, you need to focus on driving awareness first. In order to do this you need marketing concierge capabilities that will drive integrated campaigns (search, social, email, webinars, etc.) to drive awareness among your partner base. It is always good to start with the most valuable partners (MVPs) first and then work your way down to your broader list in some sort of a logical fashion.

Engagement – Driving awareness is one thing; driving engagement is another. It is essential, once your partners are aware of your channel marketing automation platform, to make sure your concierge infrastructure engages the partner through proper training. This is where the partners should not only learn how to use the tools by themselves, but also understand how to pick the right campaign for their market segment and how to drive prospect and buyer engagement. This is a very important step for the success of your channel marketing automation platform.

Execution – Once you have crossed the first two major hurdles of making partners aware of how your channel marketing automation platform can help and then showing them how the platform can positively impact their sales pipeline, the key next step is to help them execute campaigns. Since partners are busy, you have to provide help on demand so they can reach out via email, chat or phone during business hours to get support, but also get support during off hours using online help and other means to educate themselves. This support needs to be available locally in the various countries where you are providing the channel marketing automation platform.

Rewards – One great way to drive awareness and engagement is to celebrate success. We talk about this a lot because it is incredibly powerful. If partners cannot see how the channel marketing automation platform is benefiting other partners, many may not engage at all—despite a high level of awareness. Giving out awards, celebrating success and promoting best practices are critical activities for driving adoption of your channel marketing automation platform.

Repeat engagements – Once you have successfully engaged a partner to go execute campaigns and programs using your channel marketing automation platform, the next step is to make sure they repeat those activities on their own (or with the help of your concierge team) quarter after quarter. Marketing is not an event—it’s a process. If your partners are selling to midmarket and enterprise prospects, it is highly unlikely that one simple marketing tactic such as email, events or telemarketing will drive results on its own. That’s why it’s so important to put together a multi-quarter campaign plan and drive execution successively. The more partners that do this globally, the bigger your partner-led pipeline is going to be.

So how can these issues be solved? Here’s the secret: You need a partner marketing concierge organization. You can either build this in-house or find a marketing concierge agency that can do this for you globally. In case you are trying to build this in-house, here are the key elements you need to address to build a successful partner marketing concierge program that can drive pipeline and partner satisfaction.

Concierge competency development – This is your front line to your partner awareness, engagement and execution support. It is very important to make sure you have a multi-level concierge support infrastructure, and appropriate partner-facing competencies. When it comes to supporting your channel marketing automation platform successfully, you will need to make sure there are three core competencies in place when it comes to hiring, training and growing your concierge teams: customer service skills, technical marketing abilities and organization skills. We will explore these competencies in detail in a separate article.

Concierge process automation – Automating your channel marketing processes includes not only putting together the channel marketing automation platform and the right structure around people, but also an automation capability that allows you to streamline your concierge engagement process with your partners. This is somewhat similar to a technical support infrastructure, but it’s different in that you probably need more collaboration tools to keep track of changes to what the partners are using from a marketing services perspective, such as marketing collateral, list services, and so on.

Concierge performance tracking – In much the same way you manage your other team members, you will need to manage your concierge team to make sure they are hitting their onboarding and execution targets. It’s one thing to put together a group of people to dial out to a partner, but it’s an entirely different matter to truly optimize the performance of this organization to drive top- and-bottom line results and improve partner satisfaction. We will discuss how to do this in a separate article.

As you can see, rolling out a channel marketing automation infrastructure is only the first step. To ensure your partners adopt the platform and drive results, you need a complementary marketing concierge infrastructure (people, process and platform). You can certainly build this internally, or you can outsource it to a company like ZINFI, where we do this for a living. An effective partner marketing concierge service can put together marketing plans, support execution and drive results tracking for a large group of partners globally. Reach high, make your partners happy, and drive adoption and results globally!

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As vendor organizations trying to sell through the channel deploy channel marketing automation platforms to enable their partners to drive demand from their prospect and customer base, vendors may become frustrated by the lack of adoption of these state-of-the-art tools. Why don’t more partners use channel marketing automation platforms to take advantage of the various tools and assets vendors provide? In other articles we have discussed in detail a variety of factors that may be at play in the lack of adoption among partners (see, for example, Why Partner Marketing Fails Most of The Time), but in this article we will focus on one specific solution that in many cases can solve the problem.First, let’s quickly define what a channel marketing automation platform is and list its basic components. Then we will explore why partners do not use many of these tools and why broader adoption is always a challenge. A state-of-the-art channel marketing automation platform should be able to address both inbound (e.g., search, social and web syndication) and outbound (e.g., email, telemarketing and microsite) marketing tactics. The channel marketing automation platform should also be able to provide different campaigns to different groups of partners so that only relevant campaigns are available to individual partners, depending on their profile. And finally, lead management will play a central role in driving the marketing activities forward so vendors can truly track return on investment from these integrated tactics.The challenge, however, is this: When a vendor launches a channel marketing automation platform, after the initial excitement the adoption typically drops quite dramatically over a period of time. What are the primary reasons for such a failure and what can be done about it? To answer, let’s first identify the most common types of failure that prevent widespread adoption of a channel marketing automation platform.* Awareness – If you have a broad channel with a few thousand partners, chances are the majority of them are not aware of your channel programs and tools. So, if you are trying to deploy a channel marketing automation platform, you need to focus on driving awareness first. In order to do this you need marketing concierge capabilities that will drive integrated campaigns (search, social, email, webinars, etc.) to drive awareness among your partner base. It is always good to start with the most valuable partners (MVPs) first and then work your way down to your broader list in some sort of a logical fashion.* Engagement – Driving awareness is one thing; driving engagement is another. It is essential, once your partners are aware of your channel marketing automation platform, to make sure your concierge infrastructure engages the partner through proper training. This is where the partners should not only learn how to use the tools by themselves, but also understand how to pick the right campaign for their market segment and how to drive prospect and buyer engagement. This is a very important step for the success of your channel marketing automation platform.* Execution – Once you have crossed the first two major...

As vendor organizations trying to sell through the channel deploy channel marketing automation platforms to enable their partners to drive demand from their prospect and customer base, vendors may become frustrated by the lack of adoption of these state-of-the-art tools. Why don’t more partners use channel marketing automation platforms to take advantage of the various tools and assets vendors provide? In other articles we have discussed in detail a variety of factors that may be at play in the lack of adoption among partners (see, for example, Why Partner Marketing Fails Most of The Time), but in this article we will focus on one specific solution that in many cases can solve the problem.

First, let’s quickly define what a channel marketing automation platform is and list its basic components. Then we will explore why partners do not use many of these tools and why broader adoption is always a challenge. A state-of-the-art channel marketing automation platform should be able to address both inbound (e.g., search, social and web syndication) and outbound (e.g., email, telemarketing and microsite) marketing tactics. The channel marketing automation platform should also be able to provide different campaigns to different groups of partners so that only relevant campaigns are available to individual partners, depending on their profile. And finally, lead management will play a central role in driving the marketing activities forward so vendors can truly track return on investment from these integrated tactics.

The challenge, however, is this: When a vendor launches a channel marketing automation platform, after the initial excitement the adoption typically drops quite dramatically over a period of time. What are the primary reasons for such a failure and what can be done about it? To answer, let’s first identify the most common types of failure that prevent widespread adoption of a channel marketing automation platform.

* Awareness – If you have a broad channel with a few thousand partners, chances are the majority of them are not aware of your channel programs and tools. So, if you are trying to deploy a channel marketing automation platform, you need to focus on driving awareness first. In order to do this you need marketing concierge capabilities that will drive integrated campaigns (search, social, email, webinars, etc.) to drive awareness among your partner base. It is always good to start with the most valuable partners (MVPs) first and then work your way down to your broader list in some sort of a logical fashion.

* Engagement – Driving awareness is one thing; driving engagement is another. It is essential, once your partners are aware of your channel marketing automation platform, to make sure your concierge infrastructure engages the partner through proper training. This is where the partners should not only learn how to use the tools by themselves,

Over the past decade or so, many large organizations have deployed channel marketing automation tools involving partner relationship management (PRM) and partner marketing management (PMM). If you are currently considering whether to make such an investment, there are a few things you need to think about before you make that jump. You may have the budget, but is making an investment in channel marketing automation the right next step for your channel management team?

Let’s take a few minutes and discuss what channel marketing automation is, and then we will lay out a framework for you to use to figure out whether this makes sense for you or not. Most organizations selling through the channel need to recruit, engage, enable and manage their partners. A channel marketing automation solution focuses primarily on the marketing aspects of this equation. Whether you are marketing to your partners to recruit and engage them or marketing through those partners to engage prospective buyers of your products or services, you need a set of channel marketing automation tools not only to make your marketing processes more efficient execution-wise, but also to provide the business intelligence that will help you understand what is working and what is not. That’s the basic premise for considering a channel marketing automation platform.

A typical channel marketing automation platform will have several integrated modules designed for you to run campaigns to and through your partner base. These modules are:

Lead management: You should be able to upload a set of records—whether partner records or end-user records—to distribute via your partner network to drive campaign execution and closure using lead management tools.

Search and social marketing: While these are two independent sets of modules, you will need core capabilities in these areas to truly drive awareness of your target audience. Your channel marketing automation platform should start with these search tools as the core inbound marketing tactics.

Email marketing: Email marketing tools should allow you to run multi-touch email marketing campaigns to and through your partner base to engage your target audience with compelling content.

Microsite marketing: Chances are you sell a whole bunch of products and have multiple channel programs. It is challenging to promote all of these programs at the same time with the same level of intensity. If your channel marketing automation platform comes with microsite or landing page marketing capabilities, then you should be able to set these up on the fly and drive engagement using the email marketing engine that I talked about earlier.

Event marketing: Partner recruitment efforts rely heavily on road shows and webinars. If you are trying to recruit existing partners to new programs or new partners to the company, you need a robust event marketing platform. A proper channel marketing automation platform should be able to provide that to your channel team.

Web syndication: If you are trying to make sure your product and solution showcases are extended beyond your own website, then you need to think about distributing that content via a partner network. This is where web syndication becomes a very important element of your channel marketing automation platform.

Intelligence & reporting: Knowing which specific parts of your marketing programs and activities are actually driving results is critical for optimizing those programs and activities to get a better return on your channel marketing investment. Your channel marketing automation platform must be able to provide a robust analytical engine to provide business intelligence and reporting.

Now that we have outlined the core features that a state-of-the-art channel marketing automation platform must have, the next step is to understand the benefits of such a platform. (Once we have discussed the benefits, we will explore whether investment in a platform fits in with your own channel requirements and growth opportunities.)

Scalability: One of the main benefits of a typical channel marketing automation platform is to allow you to scale a program across multiple partners and geographies. When you figure out that a specific campaign is driving results and you want to deploy that quickly across multiple countries, then you likely need to rely on some form of automation, and this where a channel marketing automation platform can reap big rewards.

Speed: If your world revolves around the 90 days of the fiscal quarter and you need to cut down how much time it takes to execute programs and campaigns, then you require a channel marketing automation platform that not only enables you to operate efficiently on a global scale, but also eliminates redundant steps to significantly increase speed of execution.

Efficiency: As noted earlier, automating workflows allows you to cut out redundant steps so you can reduce your labor costs and the speed of your execution. In essence, this is all about maximizing how fast and efficiently you can execute—and a channel marketing automation platform is key to making that happen.

Visibility: If you truly want to know which partner programs are working and which are not, you need end-to-end channel marketing automation. There is simply no other way. Gone are the days when you can run an effective multi-tactic, integrated campaign using Outlook or Microsoft Office, and traditional direct marketing automation platforms are too expensive and complex. To gain visibility and control over your channel marketing program, there is no substitute for a channel marketing automation platform.

Return on investment: This is the final and most important benefit. A typical investment in a channel marketing automation platform costs around $100,000. This investment should give you a return of $10 million to $20 million in the form of additional pipeline within a year. A properly configured and deployed channel marketing automation platform typically breaks even and starts returning on the investment in six months or less.

Now that we have explained what a channel marketing automation platform is and what business benefits it can provide, you need to ask yourself three fundamental questions:

Am I always struggling with budgets? If the answer is yes, then you must look at a channel marketing automation platform. With a six-month return on investment, it will not only earn your money back but will also help you to do much more with the dollars you spend.

Do I really know what works in my channel programs? If your answer is no or maybe, you absolutely need a channel marketing automation platform that gives you complete control over programs and visibility into what’s working, what’s not and why.

How can I get promoted? Isn’t that what you want at the end of the day when you put in all this hard work? The best way to get there is to do more with less. That’s what every CEO, CFO and CMO wants. If you can demonstrably scale your program globally at the same cost or even at lower cost, and if you can clearly show a significant return on investment, then your career trajectory is almost guaranteed to rise.

I hope this article gives you a clear set of ideas in terms of what a channel marketing automation platform is and what value it can bring it to your company. Keep in mind that, in addition to driving business results, it can also make your job easier, more predictable, more fun and a lot more engaging. Furthermore, it can help you to win over other stakeholders within the organization by streamlining workflows, making it easier to do business with partners (at least from a marketing perspective) and showing a clear return on investment.

With all that said, are you still asking whether you need a channel marketing automation platform? Really? Isn’t the answer a resounding yes? Please contact us at ZINFI and we will show you with real customer examples how channel marketing automation can save money, increase efficiency and improve your channel marketing efforts across the board—beginning today.

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