How Can We Use Channel Program in Salesforce?

In the era of commerce predominantly driven by partnerships, being on the same page with all business partners are crucial. Efficient channel management brings better results in sales, marketing, in other words, channel revenue. To achieve this, platforms like Salesforce offer cloud-based programs for channel management. Once your needs and roles are clearly identified as a channel, you will definitely come across a relevant channel program in Salesforce. A solution that can be integrated within your channel will let you create value for the end customer as a whole team.

A channel is the sum of every activity and people involved in delivering a product, technology, or service. Here’s a bit of info to let you picture all its actors behind-the-scenes: Channel partners are distributors, independent dealers, retailers, consultants, tech integration partners, or any other body. How can such a crowd embody the same brand vision and act as a whole?

Channel partnerships can be high-yielding once established in sync with your brand’s destination. However, in the data-driven world today, there’s much more than meets the eye in this journey. It’s now more than solely defining work processes or tangible sales targets. It’s now a more complex, and definitely not a linear path. You need a well-structured strategy to resolve this.

Growth through Partnership

From giants to smaller ones, countless businesses across the world use channel partners to distribute their products and services worldwide. 

Usually a partner has specific knowledge for their local market and a pre-existing regional customer base. This is priceless for saving your time and efforts in expanding your path to new markets. In this light, coordinating a channel program should not only mean supervision from a superior authority. Channel management is a two-sided relationship, continuously fostering each other, learning from the mistakes and achievements of each other.

This should not downplay, though, the need for a single foundation in managing such a multilayered and partnered ecosystem. The brand owner should define the base strategy strictly. When reinforced with the correct data derived from CRM, and AI powered resources, it acts as a powerful guide for partners to turn to in order to understand in which direction they should steer to.

PRM Combined with CRM in an Engaging Way

Partner Relationship Management (PRM) applications integrated into CRM, your channel base, can help you manage all aspects of a B2B ecosystem. This way, you obtain a holistic understanding of all channel activities across sales, marketing, and service, monitor, and evaluate them.

PRM includes a vast variety of elements like templates, personalization tools, advanced analytics, and many other features. Today, with the impact of community-driven trends in technology, Apex Loyalty implemented on-site tools within PRM systems. On-site engagement and gamification tools help you communicate with your B2B channel partners in a fun and rewarding way.

Personalized Experience for Everyone in Channel Program in Salesforce

Still, a modern channel program today encompasses more than all of the above. Be it a customer or a partner, any user seeks personalization and customization. In a world swarming with thousands of similar products, a personalized experience is not only for the customers anymore. It also tells about the distinguishing value you are offering.

Salesforce has long been operating with extensions, and channel management is among the solutions offered in the AppExchange. With Salesforce AppExchange partners programs, there are numerous solutions. However, the initial interface where both sides meet is a user-friendly and customizable portal in the channel program in Salesforce.

As mentioned before, the channel partnership is a reciprocal relationship. When channel partners are welcomed with an easy interface, it will also become a deciding factor for them in whether selling your or a competitor’s product.

Apex Loyalty’s drag-and-drop design wizard provides your customers with the simplicity and familiarity they seek. This way they are encouraged to become more present in this engaging platform.

Enabling and Engaging Channel Partners

Speaking the same language as a whole community is important. When equipped with spot-on training and correct tools, program partners can represent you in a flawless way. Apex Loyalty provides email and SMS marketing tools as part of a branded and sustainable communication approach. Also with the built-in training tools, Apex Loyalty offers, training your channel is easy and fun.

A channel partnership also takes its strength from relevant customer campaign segments based on CRM data and behavior patterns. The Apex Loyalty segmentation and campaign wizard lets you produce an unlimited amount of customer segmentation and campaigns for collecting and redeeming points.

Such a rewarding environment will drive your partners to be more enthusiastic in considering your customers as their customers.

Measurable Channel Performance 

In a wildly competitive world of commerce, every move reflects on revenue. That’s where scalability became a driving force in all this complexity.

With a channel program in Salesforce, you are able to create programs for different types of partners, that are classified as Resellers, Value Added Resellers (VARs), Distributors, and Managed Service Providers (MSPs). You can also categorize your partners according to their geographical location or their level of expertise.

Salesforce offers Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for defining partner levels. Creating channel program levels enables you to assign each partner to a level on the basis of their performance. Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels offer different incentives that encourage partners towards a better level.

For instance, Salesforce gold partners have access to market development funds, which is indeed a solid motivation to make more sales. Seeing such incentives, a Silver level member would try to work their way up to Gold level.

Apex Loyalty embraces a similar approach – Silver, Gold, Platinum levels are offered and partners can redeem points while climbing up the ladder.

With Apex Loyalty you can track your partner loyalty in various scalable ways. Without a doubt, it’s a powerful tool for determining how each partner might help you reach your goals.

You can click the link https://www.apexloyalty.com/b2b-sales-incentives/ to read our previous link.