ZINFI Technologies, Inc.

Growing revenue is a top priority for most B2B IT solutions providers. New customer acquisition is one way of accomplishing this, but we all know that winning new accounts in today’s hyper competitive IT market is really hard. So what else can drive this growth? The simple answer is: taking better care of existing customers. I know it sounds obvious, but the reality is, very few IT solutions providers have client management resources that are focused on growing existing relationships and do a good job with installed base selling.In our work with IT resellers we see a consistent set of characteristics among those who are successful and are capable of growing revenue. Here is a brief summary of what we believe to be the ‘success DNA’ of solution providers who have successfully grown their revenue through installed base selling.* Focus on quality of service– IT is not a hit and run business. The days of shipping a product and going dark until the next time the customer needs something are gone. Even – or especially – for small to mid-sized IT solution providers, it’s important to put some energy towards building a technical team that is highly focused, trained and certified and able to solve problems. The quality of the service resources you provide to your customers will drive the ongoing relationship, so hiring resources on the cheap or economizing on training and certifications is not a long-term strategy: eventually, it always backfires. Investing in competent technical resources, and paying good market rates is a winning formula for installed base selling.* Understand the business scenario– Whether you are selling a server as a transactional product or a SaaS application, it is very important to understand your customers’ overall business, their IT pain points and the usage pattern of their current solutions. The goal for installed base selling is not to sell something at any cost: it is to understand customers’ business goals so that you can recommend a set of solutions that will truly help them. Many IT solution providers claim they are trusted advisors, but to advise wisely you need to know your client well.* Understand the competition– We are all tempted to say that we are better than the competition, but the reality is that, for the most part, our competitors are just as smart as us. Very rarely in today’s market is there a market niche for which there is only one provider. Therefore, it’s crucial to maintain a broad perspective – understanding how your competition might want to help your customers, focusing constantly on service expansion and quality improvement, and not placing all your dependence on relationship-based engagement is vital for installed base selling.* Solve for today but build for tomorrow– While it’s a given that you need to make sure you deliver what your client asks for, be analytical: think through whether they are asking for the right solution or product, and what else they might need to achieve the expected result, or better. For example, the simple addition of a maintenance contract – especially for hardware – is the most common missed opportunity. IT providers sometimes think that if they sell a maintenance contract, the client may go directly with the technology vendor in case of faults or breakdowns. On the contrary. End customers buy maintenance contracts to protect their investment, but when repairs are required, its an opportunity for the service provider to re-engage with the client and for further installed base selling.* Build domain expertise – Many times we hear from IT providers that they are a general service provider – “We sell all things to all people” – especially in SMB segment. But, can you really be great at everything? Are you at risk of mediocrity by not specializing? The complexity and variety of IT solutions and software,...

Growing revenue is a top priority for most B2B IT solutions providers. New customer acquisition is one way of accomplishing this, but we all know that winning new accounts in today’s hyper competitive IT market is really hard. So what else can drive this growth? The simple answer is: taking better care of existing customers. I know it sounds obvious, but the reality is, very few IT solutions providers have client management resources that are focused on growing existing relationships and do a good job with installed base selling.

In our work with IT resellers we see a consistent set of characteristics among those who are successful and are capable of growing revenue. Here is a brief summary of what we believe to be the ‘success DNA’ of solution providers who have successfully grown their revenue through installed base selling.

* Focus on quality of service- IT is not a hit and run business. The days of shipping a product and going dark until the next time the customer needs something are gone. Even – or especially - for small to mid-sized IT solution providers, it’s important to put some energy towards building a technical team that is highly focused, trained and certified and able to solve problems. The quality of the service resources you provide to your customers will drive the ongoing relationship, so hiring resources on the cheap or economizing on training and certifications is not a long-term strategy: eventually, it always backfires. Investing in competent technical resources, and paying good market rates is a winning formula for installed base selling.

* Understand the business scenario- Whether you are selling a server as a transactional product or a SaaS application, it is very important to understand your customers’ overall business, their IT pain points and the usage pattern of their current solutions. The goal for installed base selling is not to sell something at any cost: it is to understand customers’ business goals so that you can recommend a set of solutions that will truly help them. Many IT solution providers claim they are trusted advisors, but to advise wisely you need to know your client well.

* Understand the competition- We are all tempted to say that we are better than the competition, but the reality is that, for the most part, our competitors are just as smart as us. Very rarely in today’s market is there a market niche for which there is only one provider. Therefore, it’s crucial to maintain a broad perspective - understanding how your competition might want to help your customers, focusing constantly on service expansion and quality improvement, and not placing all your dependence on relationship-based engagement is vital for installed base selling.

* Solve for today but build for tomorrow- While it’s a given that you need to make sure you deliver what your client asks for, be analytical: think through whether they are asking for the right solution or product, and what else they might need to achieve the expected result, or better. For example, the simple addition of a maintenance contract - especially for hardware - is the most common missed opportunity. IT providers sometimes think that if they sell a maintenance contract, the client may go directly with the technology vendor in case of faults or breakdowns. On the contrary. End customers buy maintenance contracts to protect their investment, but when repairs are required, its an opportunity for the service provider to re-engage with the client and for further installed base selling.

* Build domain expertise - Many times we hear from IT providers that they are a general service provider – “We sell all things to all people” - especially in SMB segment. But, can you really be great at everything? Are you at risk of mediocrity by not specializing? The complexity and variety of IT solutions and software, and the relevant certifications, make it unlikely that one provider can be a univers...

How things have changed during the past decade! Just a few years ago, outbound business-to-business (B2B) selling to the mid-market and enterprise – was mostly an exercise in cold calling. Now, with the advent of digital marketing and the evolution of CRMs and B2B list providers, the way that super-effective sales people sell today is very different. The sales process has evolved into an integrated social selling exercise, and it’s far more complicated. The question is what steps do we need to take to be effective sales persons today?

It boils down to seven critical tactics that, if they are aligned step-by-step, will increase sales effectiveness many times over... While the sales process has always been about building trust with a potential buyer who is interested in a seller offer, how that trust is built today is totally different:

Social Networking - The first step in social selling is about building your social network. In the old days, we used to call it the Rolodex, a highly personal but time-consuming and fallible system of keeping track of contacts. LinkedIn has completely changed all that. It’s second nature to send a ‘connect’ invitation to new business acquaintances and potential prospects. But it is incredibly important to manage this network carefully, not only to maintain brand awareness, but also to stay relevant as a professional connection.

Social Sharing - Once you have built a network, it’s tempting to share content. The question is what content is appropriate to share? What will truly interest your contacts? Do you need to write it yourself or can you share or reuse content from other sources? Sharing relevant, valuable content on a regular basis is incredibly important because it allows you to stay on top of mind and connected to your target prospect and customer base. Social sharing is the beginning of social selling. And, to do this right you need a Social Syndication capability that allows you to share relevant posts via multiple sites in a couple of clicks and track necessary metrics.

CRM - Yes, I know. Mentioning CRM as a critical sales tool nowadays is like saying we need to drink water to survive. There are many great CRM options available to choose from and I’m not going to recommend one over another. Just pick one and truly use it. Drinking water is not enough - you have to have eight glasses a day. Learning to use your CRM tool effectively is critical for success.

List Scrubbing - Now that you have a lead flow (from your marketing team, social networking and sharing etc.), you want to make sure that your target list is as accurate as possible. Don't spend time cleaning this list by yourself. Your time is valuable. Find a list services vendor and get your target database scrubbed a couple of times a year. In most businesses today, people change jobs every 3-5 years, so every year 20-35% of your contact database needs cleansing. You need a professional organization to do this for you.

Email Marketing - The goal is not to make you an email marketer, but a more effective hunter-gatherer. You can’t complete your social selling process without an effective email marketing tool. An office email application like Microsoft Outlook is a terrible way to prospect! You need a state of the art email marketing tool that allows you to send emails from a set of pre-populated templates and that allows you to track open rates, click-throughs, etc. This intelligence is critical for your efficiency and success.

Rapid Dialer - With 1-5 covered, now is the time to make sure you dial out using a modern, purpose-built sales platform that increases your connect and conversion rate. It takes a lot of effort to build a funnel of potential prospects, so make sure you reach out to them effectively. An industry-leading platform such as ZINFI's Automated Rapid Dialer, should allow you to dial out 20-30 calls an hour, leave or email pre-recorded voice mails, and send follow up emails with just a click or two.

Analytics - Last but not least, you need to know how you are doing, what is working and where you can improve. Access to dynamic sales and prospecting reports is critical for you to keep raising the bar on your own performance.

This list of tactics and tools can seem overwhelming for a busy sales person. The good news is that there are platforms like ZINFI's Marketing Automation tools that can give you a complete end-to-end control of social selling, allow you to get up and running in just a few minutes, and even provide marketing concierge support to help you push content via your social selling network. The right processes and the right tools will help you meet your goals and stay ahead of your competitors.

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How things have changed during the past decade! Just a few years ago, outbound business-to-business (B2B) selling to the mid-market and enterprise – was mostly an exercise in cold calling. Now, with the advent of digital marketing and the evolution of CRMs and B2B list providers, the way that super-effective sales people sell today is very different. The sales process has evolved into an integrated social selling exercise, and it’s far more complicated. The question is what steps do we need to take to be effective sales persons today?

It boils down to seven critical tactics that, if they are aligned step-by-step, will increase sales effectiveness many times over... While the sales process has always been about building trust with a potential buyer who is interested in a seller offer, how that trust is built today is totally different:

* Social Networking - The first step in social selling is about building your social network. In the old days, we used to call it the Rolodex, a highly personal but time-consuming and fallible system of keeping track of contacts. LinkedIn has completely changed all that. It’s second nature to send a ‘connect’ invitation to new business acquaintances and potential prospects. But it is incredibly important to manage this network carefully, not only to maintain brand awareness, but also to stay relevant as a professional connection.

* Social Sharing - Once you have built a network, it’s tempting to share content. The question is what content is appropriate to share? What will truly interest your contacts? Do you need to write it yourself or can you share or reuse content from other sources? Sharing relevant, valuable content on a regular basis is incredibly important because it allows you to stay on top of mind and connected to your target prospect and customer base. Social sharing is the beginning of social selling. And, to do this right you need a Social Syndication capability that allows you to share relevant posts via multiple sites in a couple of clicks and track necessary metrics.

* CRM - Yes, I know. Mentioning CRM as a critical sales tool nowadays is like saying we need to drink water to survive. There are many great CRM options available to choose from and I’m not going to recommend one over another. Just pick one and truly use it. Drinking water is not enough - you have to have eight glasses a day. Learning to use your CRM tool effectively is critical for success.

* List Scrubbing - Now that you have a lead flow (from your marketing team, social networking and sharing etc.), you want to make sure that your target list is as accurate as possible. Don't spend time cleaning this list by yourself. Your time is valuable. Find a list services vendor and get your target database scrubbed a couple of times a year. In most businesses today, people change jobs every 3-5 years, so every year 20-35% of your contact database needs cleansing. You need a professional organization to do this for you.

* Email Marketing - The goal is not to make you an email marketer, but a more effective hunter-gatherer. You can’t complete your social selling process without an effective email marketing tool. An office email application like Microsoft Outlook is a terrible way to prospect! You need a state of the art email marketing tool that allows you to send emails from a set of pre-populated templates and that allows you to track open rates, click-throughs, etc. This intelligence is critical for your efficiency and success.

* Rapid Dialer - With 1-5 covered, now is the time to make sure you dial out using a modern, purpose-built sales platform that increases yo...

Wikipedia defines trifecta as “a  parimutuel bet  in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third in exact order.” The good news is that when you are running a digital marketing program you don’t need to be quite so precise in order to win the bet as long as you are properly using three key tactics: Social Marketing, Search Engine Marketing & Email Marketing. And in fact, if you upgrade your usage of just one, you can make the others work more effectively as well.

Over the past couple of decades, the way we track down a good B2B vendor has changed completely. Where once we sifted through magazines or asked industry forums, now almost everything happens through online searches. In recent years, multitudes of social marketing channels like Slideshare, Facebook, or LinkedIn groups, have emerged to create a rich source of interest-specific content. These channels not only offer a value added source for news and product information, but are also a great way to listen into peer reviews and conversations.

As a B2B marketer today, it is almost impossible to run an effective digital marketing campaign without an integrated approach for using the trifecta of search marketing, social marketing and email marketing. Sifting through the mass of information on the topic, I’ve found that we can distil the key ingredients of a successful digital campaign into five key picks:

Picking the right content strategy- It is vital to plan a content calendar would stretching out for at least a six to twelve month cycle, and identify what products or solutions will be promoted, and when. It’s easy to get sucked into the habit of creating content for content’s sake, but without a cohesive content marketing strategy and calendarized plan it is almost impossible to get high ROI from digital campaigns.

Picking the right tactics- Once you have figured out your content framework, then you need to work out how best to promote the content that you would like your prospects or customers to consume. Content types and approaches differ widely for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Pinterest. Slideshare or YouTube can have high worth as value added tools, but need to be clearly aligned with content strategy in order to make an impact.

Initiating search optimization- While there is value in spending advertising budget on paid search, organic search can yield much better results and broaden the funnel to include people who may not be ready to buy, but are ready to engage with your content. Therefore, when a content calendar is being developed, it is important to understand what key words you are going to focus on for the next six to twelve months – not just today - and optimize around that longer term objective.

Being socially prudent- More is not more when it comes to social marketing. The goal is not to push random content and dilute the engagement. We need to be strategic about separating substance from noise. Substance, for example, would be a success story, and noise would be a low-priority version update announcement that doesn’t align with your overall solution marketing message. So, when you build your social marketing network, you need to be clear about how you will deploy content via each channel. Your content will drive user or reader engagement, which in turn will build your relationship with a future customer.

Optimizing the balance - You can leverage different social marketing channels to promote solutions and products, while still mapping them to defined keywords and an overall content strategy. Make room within your plan for tightly defined tactical activities as well as more strategic, long-term communications. The one-off approach might be an email prospects to a webinar or an event or announce a buy one get one free promotion. Or introduce a weekly or monthly newsletter offering value added content to potential and current buyers.  Just remember to tie in these approaches with your search and social marketing game plan. Also be sure to invite readers to sign up with your social marketing. This will increase your search engine ranking - especially when you align with your keywords strategy and content distribution.

ZINFI’s Partner Marketing Management (PMM) platform can substantially enable a vendor to provide a set of integrated tools to their channel partners, allowing them to run digital marketing campaigns by leveraging the winning trifecta search marketing, social marketing and email campaign.

In a future post, I’ll talk more about how to accelerate building the sales funnel by coupling these tactics with tele-prospecting and telemarketing.

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Wikipedia defines trifecta as “a parimutuel bet in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third in exact order.” The good news is that when you are running a digital marketing program you don’t need to be quite so precise in order to win the bet as long as you are properly using three key tactics: Social Marketing, Search Engine Marketing & Email Marketing. And in fact, if you upgrade your usage of just one, you can make the others work more effectively as well.Over the past couple of decades, the way we track down a good B2B vendor has changed completely. Where once we sifted through magazines or asked industry forums, now almost everything happens through online searches. In recent years, multitudes of social marketing channels like Slideshare, Facebook, or LinkedIn groups, have emerged to create a rich source of interest-specific content. These channels not only offer a value added source for news and product information, but are also a great way to listen into peer reviews and conversations.As a B2B marketer today, it is almost impossible to run an effective digital marketing campaign without an integrated approach for using the trifecta of search marketing, social marketing and email marketing. Sifting through the mass of information on the topic, I’ve found that we can distil the key ingredients of a successful digital campaign into five key picks:* Picking the right content strategy– It is vital to plan a content calendar would stretching out for at least a six to twelve month cycle, and identify what products or solutions will be promoted, and when. It’s easy to get sucked into the habit of creating content for content’s sake, but without a cohesive content marketing strategy and calendarized plan it is almost impossible to get high ROI from digital campaigns.* Picking the right tactics– Once you have figured out your content framework, then you need to work out how best to promote the content that you would like your prospects or customers to consume. Content types and approaches differ widely for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Pinterest. Slideshare or YouTube can have high worth as value added tools, but need to be clearly aligned with content strategy in order to make an impact.* Initiating search optimization– While there is value in spending advertising budget on paid search, organic search can yield much better results and broaden the funnel to include people who may not be ready to buy, but are ready to engage with your content. Therefore, when a content calendar is being developed, it is important to understand what key words you are going to focus on for the next six to twelve months – not just today – and optimize around that longer term objective.* Being socially prudent– More is not more when it comes to social marketing. The goal is not to push random content and dilute the engagement. We need to be strategic about separating substance from noise. Substance, for example, would be a success story, and noise would be a low-priority version update announcement that doesn’t align with your overall solution marketing message. So, when you build your social marketing network, you need to be clear about how you will deploy content via each channel. Your content will drive user or reader engagement, which in turn will build your relationship with a future customer.* Optimizing the balance – You can leverage different social marketing channels to promote solutions and products,

Wikipedia defines trifecta as “a parimutuel bet in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third in exact order.” The good news is that when you are running a digital marketing program you don’t need to be quite so precise in order to win the bet as long as you are properly using three key tactics: Social Marketing, Search Engine Marketing & Email Marketing. And in fact, if you upgrade your usage of just one, you can make the others work more effectively as well.

Over the past couple of decades, the way we track down a good B2B vendor has changed completely. Where once we sifted through magazines or asked industry forums, now almost everything happens through online searches. In recent years, multitudes of social marketing channels like Slideshare, Facebook, or LinkedIn groups, have emerged to create a rich source of interest-specific content. These channels not only offer a value added source for news and product information, but are also a great way to listen into peer reviews and conversations.

As a B2B marketer today, it is almost impossible to run an effective digital marketing campaign without an integrated approach for using the trifecta of search marketing, social marketing and email marketing. Sifting through the mass of information on the topic, I’ve found that we can distil the key ingredients of a successful digital campaign into five key picks:

* Picking the right content strategy- It is vital to plan a content calendar would stretching out for at least a six to twelve month cycle, and identify what products or solutions will be promoted, and when. It’s easy to get sucked into the habit of creating content for content’s sake, but without a cohesive content marketing strategy and calendarized plan it is almost impossible to get high ROI from digital campaigns.

* Picking the right tactics- Once you have figured out your content framework, then you need to work out how best to promote the content that you would like your prospects or customers to consume. Content types and approaches differ widely for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Pinterest. Slideshare or YouTube can have high worth as value added tools, but need to be clearly aligned with content strategy in order to make an impact.

* Initiating search optimization- While there is value in spending advertising budget on paid search, organic search can yield much better results and broaden the funnel to include people who may not be ready to buy, but are ready to engage with your content. Therefore, when a content calendar is being developed, it is important to understand what key words you are going to focus on for the next six to twelve months – not just today - and optimize around that longer term objective.

* Being socially prudent- More is not more when it comes to social marketing. The goal is not to push random content and dilute the engagement. We need to be strategic about separating substance from noise. Substance, for example, would be a success story, and noise would be a low-priority version update announcement that doesn’t align with your overall solution marketing message. So, when you build your social marketing network, you need to be clear about how you will deploy content via each channel. Your content will drive user or reader engagement, which in turn will build your relationship with a future customer.

Most vendors spend millions of dollars in generating end user awareness and inbound leads. However, very few have systems in place for getting those leads effectively to channel partners. Instead, many of those leads tend to be pursued by inside sales teams, but lack of an integrated channel lead management system substantially reduces marketing ROI.

 

At ZINFI, we regularly do channel partner satisfaction surveys and ask them how vendors can help them grow their businesses. The number one item on the list is distribution of good leads to partner sales reps. What we’ve found is that, even where leads are forwarded to top tier partners, very rarely do they have a structured system in place where leads are distributed, nurtured, qualified, tracked and closed. However, a good Channel Marketing Automation platform can significantly increase sales closures through a proper lead management system.

Before we delve into this topic, let’s make sure we are clear what we mean by a lead management system. It is an automated, programmatic way of generating, allocating and tracking the performance of end user leads that have been provided to channel partners. Without an end-to-end automated platform, all this would be really hard to achieve. A state of the art lead management system should have a few core components:

Prospect Records Management - Since most lead management systems need to connect to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, it is essential that the prospect records management system is built upon a CRM-like structure. This greatly enhances data flow between the lead management system as well as other CRM platforms on the vendor or partner side.

Records Life Cycle Management - Once leads have been distributed to partner’s sales team, it should be possible to move the record through various sales cycles and track progress from stage to stage. Vendors should be able to log into the platform to check the progress of each record and the overall status of the pipeline. The partner should be able to record events like converting a prospect to a contact and adding opportunities to create a pipeline forecast.

Lead Distribution and Withdrawal - This is a critical feature for vendors, first of all to make sure a set of leads can be given to a set of partners, but also, if partners are not following up after a certain time, to be able to withdraw the leads back into the Prospect Records Management system for redistribution to other partners.

Lead Distribution Rule Set - A vendor should be able to push leads manually or automatically to a set of partners based on the lead type (SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise, or other categorization) and also to match partner competencies, locations, and so on. This ability to create rule sets adds an important layer of automation to lead distribution, which gets the leads to partner team as soon as they are generated.

Account Protection - Certain end user accounts are managed by large or premier partners and a vendor may want to protect these accounts. The lead management system has to be able to protect one or multiple accounts and automatically push leads from those accounts to specific partners and sales people. On the other hand, if a vendor wants to have partners compete for certain accounts, they should be able to keep these leads as open records.

Rewards Integration - By integrating proper rewards and incentives, a vendor can greatly drive partner engagement and status reporting. We all know sales reps are busy and they have their own preferred CRM systems. However, a proper incentive structure around reporting can substantially enhance a vendor’s ability to track lead status, by using sales rewards to motivate individuals to enter lead status details into the platform - either manually or by automatic synchronization by connecting their CRM accounts to the lead management system.

Dynamic Reporting - A state of the art lead management system should be able to provide dynamic reporting to both partners and vendors, so that lead and pipeline status can be tracked at multiple levels. Since selling is a competitive sport, the ability to share stack ranking among individual partner reps also drives better participation and adoption of channel programs.

While such a long list of requirements may be daunting to anyone considering a lead management system, a robust Channel Marketing Automation platform such as ZINFI’s Partner Relationship Management (PRM) platform can not only facilitate lead distribution, but also substantially increase ROI.

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Most vendors spend millions of dollars in generating end user awareness and inbound leads. However, very few have systems in place for getting those leads effectively to channel partners. Instead, many of those leads tend to be pursued by inside sales teams, but lack of an integrated channel lead management system substantially reduces marketing ROI.

At ZINFI, we regularly do channel partner satisfaction surveys and ask them how vendors can help them grow their businesses. The number one item on the list is distribution of good leads to partner sales reps. What we’ve found is that, even where leads are forwarded to top tier partners, very rarely do they have a structured system in place where leads are distributed, nurtured, qualified, tracked and closed. However, a good Channel Marketing Automation platform can significantly increase sales closures through a proper lead management system.

Before we delve into this topic, let’s make sure we are clear what we mean by a lead management system. It is an automated, programmatic way of generating, allocating and tracking the performance of end user leads that have been provided to channel partners. Without an end-to-end automated platform, all this would be really hard to achieve. A state of the art lead management system should have a few core components:

* Prospect Records Management - Since most lead management systems need to connect to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, it is essential that the prospect records management system is built upon a CRM-like structure. This greatly enhances data flow between the lead management system as well as other CRM platforms on the vendor or partner side.

* Records Life Cycle Management - Once leads have been distributed to partner’s sales team, it should be possible to move the record through various sales cycles and track progress from stage to stage. Vendors should be able to log into the platform to check the progress of each record and the overall status of the pipeline. The partner should be able to record events like converting a prospect to a contact and adding opportunities to create a pipeline forecast.

* Lead Distribution and Withdrawal - This is a critical feature for vendors, first of all to make sure a set of leads can be given to a set of partners, but also, if partners are not following up after a certain time, to be able to withdraw the leads back into the Prospect Records Management system for redistribution to other partners.

* Lead Distribution Rule Set - A vendor should be able to push leads manually or automatically to a set of partners based on the lead type (SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise, or other categorization) and also to match partner competencies, locations, and so on. This ability to create rule sets adds an important layer of automation to lead distribution, which gets the leads to partner team as soon as they are generated.

* Account Protection - Certain end user accounts are managed by large or premier partners and a vendor may want to protect these accounts. The lead management system has to be able to protect one or multiple accounts and automatically push leads from those accounts to specific partners and sales people. On the other hand, if a vendor wants to have partners compete for certain accounts, they should be able to keep these leads as open records.

* Rewards Integration - By integrating proper rewards and

Last updated: August 2026

Vendors and providers frequently struggle to figure out the right set of programs to deploy

Market Development Funds (MDF) or Co-operative (Co-op) Marketing Funds

effectively. This 2026 guide covers the seven MDF program types that consistently produce

return across industries, how leading PRM platforms automate the end-to-end

fund lifecycle, and what governance controls separate high-performing programs from the rest.

TL;DR

The seven MDF programs with the strongest track record are: partner training reimbursements,

installed base upgrade campaigns, co-branded webinars, appointment-setting programs, SMB

roadshows, social selling, and marketing automation access. Each requires pre-approval

workflow, proof-of-performance claims, and ROI reporting tied to deal registration to

generate measurable returns. ZINFI's Unified Partner Management platform handles the full

MDF lifecycle — allocation, approval, claims, reimbursement, and pipeline attribution —

within a single integrated system, rated 97/100 on G2.

What Are Market Development Funds?

Market Development Funds (MDF) are marketing budgets provided by vendors to

their channel partners to fund joint demand-generation activities. Unlike co-op funds that

reimburse a percentage of partner revenue, MDF programs are typically pre-allocated,

activity-specific, and tied to measurable campaign objectives.

A well-structured MDF program covers the full lifecycle: fund allocation, partner request

and proposal submission, vendor approval, activity execution, proof-of-performance (POP)

claims submission, reimbursement, and ROI reporting. Each of these stages is a potential

breakdown point without the right platform infrastructure.

MDF vs. Co-op Funds

Co-op funds are calculated as a percentage of a partner's sales revenue

(for example, 2% of prior-quarter bookings) and are typically more flexible in usage.

MDF programs are vendor-allocated, activity-specific, require a proposal

and approval step before execution, and are tied to measurable objectives. Most enterprise

PRM platforms

manage both within a single module.

How Modern PRM Platforms Automate the MDF Lifecycle

Before selecting which programs to fund, vendors need the infrastructure to run them without manual overhead. Best-in-class PRM platforms handle:

Fund allocation: Pre-load budgets by partner tier, region, or product line with configurable rules.

Request and proposal workflows: Partners submit activity proposals with estimated spend, target audience, and expected outcome. Automated routing sends requests to the right approver.

Multi-currency and multi-language support: Critical for global programs across APAC, EMEA, and LATAM partner ecosystems.

Proof-of-performance (POP) claims: Partners submit evidence via the portal. Automated validation checks completeness before routing for approval.

Reimbursement processing: Integrates with accounts payable or issues credits directly against future orders.

ROI reporting and analytics: Links spend to pipeline generated, deals registered, and revenue closed.

Finance-grade audit trails: Every approval, rejection, and claim is timestamped and stored for compliance review.

ZINFI's Market Development Funds (MDF) management

module includes full multi-currency and multi-language support, with native integration into

Through-Channel Marketing Automation (TCMA)

for end-to-end campaign attribution.

The 7 MDF Programs That Yield the Highest ROI

1 Partner Training and Certification Reimbursement

Subsidizing strategic training programs is one of the most ROI-efficient uses of MDF because the return compounds. Partners with certified technicians generate more qualified pipeline, close deals faster, and have lower support overhead. A common model reimburses up to 80% of approved certification fees, tiered by certification level and partner status.

What to TrackCertification completion rates, time-to-first-deal for newly certified partners, revenue per certified rep vs. uncertified.

Platform RequirementPRM must link training completion data to deal registration and revenue reporting to demonstrate the ROI connection.

2 Installed Base Upgrade and Add-On Campaigns

For vendors with a large installed base, MDF spent on upgrade and cross-sell campaigns delivers near-term return because the audience is already qualified. Partners can execute targeted campaigns to existing end customers, and if point-of-sale data is available through the PRM, ROI tracking is direct and attributable.

What to TrackUpgrade attach rate, average deal size lift, time-to-close for add-on opportunities vs. net-new.

Platform RequirementPOS data integration or deal-level tagging within the partner portal to distinguish upgrade transactions from net-new.

3 Co-Branded Webinar and Virtual Event Series

End-user webinars are consistently the most cost-effective demand generation format available to channel programs. Through-Channel Marketing Automation (TCMA) enables this at scale: the vendor controls the content and registration flow; partners receive a unique tracking URL; the platform captures attendance by partner source; and follow-up sequences are triggered automatically per partner.

What to TrackRegistrations by partner, attendance rate, pipeline generated per event, cost per MQL.

Platform RequirementTCMA integration with the MDF module to link event spend to pipeline attribution in a single report.

4 Appointment-Setting for Mid-Market and Enterprise

Tele-prospecting funded through MDF requires careful design. The math only works at a minimum average selling price of 20 to 30 times the campaign cost. A per-partner campaign costing $3,000 to $10,000 needs to close at least one deal in the $60,000 to $300,000 range to justify the spend. Gate eligibility with required deal-size thresholds and verified partner capacity.

What to TrackAppointments set per campaign, conversion rate from appointment to opportunity, pipeline generated, revenue closed within 180 days.

Platform RequirementDeal registration linked to the MDF campaign that generated the appointment, with automated pipeline attribution.

5 SMB Lunch-and-Learn Roadshows

For products with sufficient lifetime value, partner-run lunch-and-learn events (15 to 30 attendees, $1,500 to $2,500 budget per event) produce consistent pipeline for local-market partners. This program type does not work for transactional products with low deal sizes. Gate eligibility by minimum average selling price and restrict to partners with a local customer base large enough to fill the room.

What to TrackAttendees per event, opportunities created within 30 days, revenue closed attributed to event.

Platform RequirementEvent registration captured in the partner portal with post-event claim submission linked to opportunity creation in CRM.

6 Social Selling and Digital Demand Generation

Partners with active presences on LinkedIn, X, and niche industry communities can convert MDF into a digital pipeline at a fraction of the cost of paid search. TCMA platforms enable social selling at scale by giving partners pre-approved, co-branded content to publish from their own profiles, with engagement tracked back to the program.

What to TrackContent impressions by partner, link clicks, MQL conversions, pipeline attributed to social-sourced leads.

Platform RequirementTCMA with UTM parameter tracking linked to MDF claim submission and pipeline reporting.

7 Marketing Automation and Demand Generation Platform Access

One of the highest-leverage uses of MDF is subsidizing partner access to the vendor's own marketing automation stack. When partners run campaigns through a shared platform, attribution is automatic, content stays on-brand, compliance is enforced, and ROI is visible in real time. This converts MDF from a reimbursement program into an execution platform.

What to TrackCampaigns launched per partner, email open and click rates, landing page conversion rate, pipeline generated per campaign, MDF spend per MQL.

Platform RequirementNative integration between TCMA, the MDF module, and partner deal registration to close the attribution loop.

MDF Budget Allocation Framework

A practical starting allocation for a balanced MDF portfolio:

Program TypeSuggested Budget Share

Partner training and certification15–20%

Installed base upgrade campaigns20–25%

Webinar and virtual events15–20%

Appointment-setting campaigns10–15%

SMB roadshows5–10%

Social selling and digital10–15%

Marketing automation access10–15%

Discretionary / innovation budget5–10%

Reserve 5 to 10% as a discretionary budget for partner-proposed programs. Constrain it with clear criteria: minimum deal size, proof-of-performance requirements, and a defined timeline for ROI measurement.

Governance and Compliance Controls That Protect MDF ROI

The programs above generate a return only when accompanied by governance controls that prevent misuse and ensure attribution:

Pre-approval workflows: No funds are disbursed without an approved activity proposal.

Proof-of-performance requirements: Claims require invoices, screenshots, or third-party verification before reimbursement is issued.

Budget caps per partner: Prevents concentration risk where one or two partners absorb a d