For technology and SaaS companies, customer retention is everything. Closing a sale is no longer enough; maintaining long-term customer relationships is how you keep the doors open. But the million (or billion) dollar question is, what can partner marketers do to keep partners involved throughout the customer journey?
The answer lies in fostering cooperation between your direct sales team and channel partners. By breaking down barriers and encouraging collaboration, you can create a seamless experience for your customers — and a more profitable partnership for everyone involved.
So, how do we do it? Here are five tips.
1. Invest in your channel partner relationship from the get-go
Want to know one obvious thing many overlook? The channel partner relationship! Don’t make the mistake of jumping right into trying to figure out what customers or prospects might need. Spend time getting to know your partners. A gift card for coffee and a casual meet-in-greet (even over Zoom) is a great way to humanize your partners and get to know them before the pressure of what you need to do kicks in.
Once you are familiar with your partners, it will be easier to engage with them as your relationship progresses. One thing to keep in mind (and we’ll bring it up again) is that channel partners bring unique value to the customer journey. Especially when integrated into your marketing efforts. They can offer
- specialized knowledge
- local market insights
- (often) a level of trust that direct sales teams can’t always achieve on their own
For partner marketers, getting your channel partners in on the fun is the secret sauce. According to John Murphy, partner development manager at HubSpot, “Customer retention rates are higher when a partner is involved throughout the customer journey, from discovery to post-sale.”
Getting to know and then including partners in your marketing strategies from the beginning helps you leverage their strengths — and create a more compelling proposition for potential customers.
2. Prioritize consistent communication
When partners are aligned with your marketing goals, they become an extension of your marketing team. In short, they help amplify your message to reach a broader audience. By involving partners in lead generation and educating them on successful co-selling methods, your messaging can stay consistent and impactful throughout the customer journey.
Our best tips for encouraging consistency:
Do it “together”
Did you know? According to McKinsey, 84% of top-quartile companies that outperform their peers invest in co-marketing.
The key to achieving integration is through co-branded campaigns. Co-marketing brings together the best of both worlds and can tap into the resources (aka budgets) of both partners. These campaigns offer an opportunity to create a unique product that leverages complementary features and can help amplify brand recognition.
If you need inspiration, HubSpot has rounded up its top 20 partnerships — our favorites include GoPro and Red Bull, Joybird and Sherwin-Williams, Starbucks and Spotify, Apple and MasterCard, and Levi’s and Pinterest.
Remember: knowledge is power
Provide your partners with resources such as brand and style guides, best practices FAQs and your best examples to help them understand and communicate your brand’s value accurately. Another way to enhance their knowledge of your brand is to hold training to ensure they grasp your values (and can ask questions).
Are you doing a co-branding campaign? You may need some education yourself. Ask for your partners’ guides and consider shifting your storytelling strategy. You may need to create a point-of-view architecture to establish consistent messaging for your collaborative product.
Make it easy on them
If your brand tends to evolve often, don’t forget to continually provide new marketing materials and templates to your partners so they are always sharing the latest information that aligns with what you are promoting.
3. Look out for communication barriers, and fix them!
Cooperation between direct sales reps and channel partners can sometimes be challenging despite the obvious benefits. Misaligned goals, lack of communication, and competition for leads are just a few barriers that can hinder effective collaboration.
In our experience, you can overcome communication breakdown challenges with the right strategies (especially when marketing is involved).
Here are two proactive ways to improve communication between partners:
Nurture from within
Help your partners feel like they are part of a team — yours! A collaborative approach not only helps partners feel more involved but also ensures that leads are being nurtured effectively from the start.
Many internal sales and marketing collaborative best practices work well for external partners, too. We recommend:
- Scheduling regular meetings to discuss ongoing campaigns, leads, feedback, and strategies.
- Establishing a system for sharing data related to customer interactions, campaign results, and lead statuses.
- Set goals together. This way, you will both be invested in campaign outcomes.
Share the (how-to) wealth
Educate partners on successful co-selling methods by equipping them with resources to complement their direct sales efforts, rather than compete with them. A few options include
- Co-branded sales presentations tailored to the partner’s specific audience
- Joint value proposition documents that highlight how both products/services complement each other
- Sales playbooks with guidelines on when to introduce complementary products and key messaging points
- Training webinars or workshops on co-selling strategies and cross-promotion techniques
- Case studies showcasing successful co-selling efforts between partners
- Customer success stories that illustrate the added value of using both solutions together.
- Demo scripts or templates for showcasing how the solutions work together
- Marketing collateral that emphasizes partnership benefits, such as whitepapers or eBooks
- CRM integration tips for tracking and managing co-selling opportunities more effectively
4. Enhance the customer experience through marketing continuity
Did you know that 66% of customers won’t tell you when they’ve had a bad experience? Probably because they will take their business elsewhere.
When partners and direct reps work together, the customer benefits from a more cohesive and personalized experience. Which, you guessed it, is reinforced by consistent marketing efforts. Each stage of the journey should be handled by someone who understands the customer’s needs and can provide relevant solutions — all while maintaining a consistent brand message.
Continuity builds trust and satisfaction, aka leads to higher retention rates.
Consider the discovery phase. When a partner is involved early on, they can customize the initial pitch to address specific pain points based on their deeper knowledge of the customer’s industry or market. As the customer moves through the sales process, the partner’s insights — backed by your marketing strategy, of course — help shape the solution to fit the customer’s unique needs. This leads to a sale that feels like a natural fit (and not a hard sell).
Two tips for supporting continuity:
Reminder 1: The sale isn’t the end
Remember, your partner’s role shouldn’t stop at the sale. They should continue to provide support post-sale to help the customer get the most out of the product. Continually provide them with fresh ideas, marketing materials and general email templates.
Reminder 2: Relationships go both ways
Set regular check-ins with your partners and always come with an agenda. Remember to ask if they need anything to support their customers (and ensure they are holding up their end of the deal). We can forget that our partners might have great insights into materials that could make their job easier or spot opportunities to better engage the customers.
Continuity starts with you — and your partners. So, do what you can to help out your partners.
5. Maximize cross-sell and upsell opportunities
One significant advantage of keeping partners involved throughout the customer journey? There is potential for cross-selling and upselling. For example, RingCentral upsells THREE TIMES as frequently with partners than without.
Two tips to maximize cross-sell and upsell opportunities:
Continually educate your partners
Just like your partners need to nudge the customer, you need to engage with your partners. Offer regularly scheduled training and newsletters that explain new features or offer insight about upgrade options.
Ask your partners what they need
Did we say this one already? (Yes, yes we did). It’s sooo important to treat your partners like a *gasp* partner and actually ask them what challenges and opportunities they are seeing. When partners are deeply embedded in the customer relationship, they’re in a prime position to identify new needs as they arise, providing marketers with valuable insights to craft targeted campaigns. Set up a weekly, monthly or quarterly meeting with your partners where they set the agenda and bring you their ideas, needs or thoughts.
When partners are consistently engaged, the benefits are clear: higher retention rates, smoother sales processes, and more opportunities for upselling and cross-selling.
Together everyone achieves more!
Do you want higher customer retention, better sales outcomes, and stronger relationships? Get your partners involved throughout the ENTIRE customer journey. For partner marketers, this means your partners must be integrated into your marketing strategies and equipped with the tools they need to succeed.
Do you need assistance fostering cooperation between your direct sales team and your partners? We’d love to help keep your partners engaged at every stage of their customer journey; just reach out!