12 Reasons PRM is the Single Most Powerful Lever You Can Pull to Accelerate the Performance of Your Channel

“Users report improvements on everything from deal registration, sales enablement, onboarding, training and marketing that help accelerate performance.”

Author: Dave R Taylor, CMO, Impartner

As a business executive, you know how rare it is to find a single business “lever” that, when pulled, will deliver 5% or 10% growth. You work hard to find process enhancements that will yield even a 1% or 2% increase in revenue. Everyone is looking for the most powerful lever to accelerate their performance.

For the second time in the last few years, Impartner conducted a Customer Success Survey of our global customer base. In the anonymized survey, using the Qualtrics analytics platform, we asked our over 300 customers to share the business results they have experienced from using Impartner PRM. In one surprising statistic after another, the power of this solution to accelerate channel revenue and optimize the partner experience at every step of the partner journey is unparalleled.

Based on the results of Impartner’s second, bi-annual global Impartner customer survey in which responses are anonymized, THE lever is clear: Partner Relationship Management. In one surprising stat after another, the power of this solution to accelerate channel revenue and optimize the partner experience at every step of the partner journey is unparalleled.

Consider these statistics from our customers and the impact Impartner PRM could have on YOUR business:

1. 32.3%: Increase in revenue in the first year of use alone: At every step of the partner journey, from recruiting to onboarding to deal registration to lead management to business planning to marketing to training, Impartner’s turnkey, out-of-the-box PRM helps you optimize every step of your partner’s experience and performance. Plus, you’ll be able to manage your indirect sales with the same level of visibility you have into your direct sales – all culminating in an average increase of 32.3% a year in channel revenue in the first year of use alone. PRM gives you more revenue from your channel.
2. 29%: Decrease in administrative costs in the first year of use alone. Your company probably has a team of highly capable, highly experienced, highly paid channel leaders who can help recruit the best partners and work together with them to create the most valuable strategies – they are money. However, if they’re tied up doing administrative work on spreadsheets to track partner recruiting or MDF spend versus actually driving business, you’re wasting their value. By automating operational basics, your best talent can focus on creating strategic relationships with your partners that truly elevate your program. PRM allows your talent to spend their valuable time on strategic, versus administrative work.
3. 78%: A partner experience that’s a competitive advantage. Let’s face it, in a world of speeds, feeds and other performance stats, the customer/partner journey is THE differentiator for most companies. The experience has become the product. A full 78% of companies using Impartner PRM say the experience the solution allows them to create for partners gives them an advantage over the competition. PRM makes you more competitive.
4. 77%: ROI payback in less than 18 months. Very few businesses decisions result in an average 32.3% increase in revenue. Investing in a contemporary, out-of-the-box PRM is the single most important investment you can make to transform the performance of your channel and pay for itself in just over a year and a half. PRM accelerates your indirect sales and delivers rapid ROI.
5. 75%: Better ability to scale. The indirect sales channel, by its very nature, is an accelerator for your business by giving you an entirely new path to market. However, PRM is truly what separates those companies who have an incremental growth, to those companies who have a transformative leap in performance that explodes the growth of the channel. PRM helps you scale your channel program faster.
6. 41%: Better engagement. Every day, we all make decisions about which websites to visit to run our lives – for news, for communicating, for traveling, for shopping. You come back regularly for new information and in today’s market, you have a fundamental expectation for an easy-to-use, consumerized experience. That same expectation extends to the experience users expect from the business solutions they use – including your Partner Portal. Is it any wonder then, that companies see a 41% jump in the number of partners signing into their portals when they deploy a new PRM. Sign in is easier, content is fresher, and the experience is “consumer-grade” and simpler. PRM gives you more engaged partners.
7. 45%: Better partner onboarding and recruiting. The first impression of your partner program is your portal. Without one, especially one without a frictionless, consumer-grade experience, you send the message you’re not serious about your channel. No matter how much more value you drive out of your existing partners, if you want to truly grow and scale your partner program and convey to the best partners that you are a desirable company with top-flight technologies, your Partner Portal must match that promise. Plus, once you get them on board, the automation is key. Without automation, beyond 50 partners, leading analyst firm Forrester says admin will stall your growth. PRM supercharges your partner recruiting and onboarding.
8. 80%: Less channel conflict. The No. 1 reason for partner attrition is channel conflict. If you can’t see what your partners and your direct sales teams are doing with a deal and make sure you can protect the deal properly, you are going to have one or all of three things: conflict with your partners, legal exposure, and loss of valuable channel partners. In 2019, there is no reason you should have this risk to your channel. PRM eliminates channel conflict.
9. 26%: More partners performing better. The stat of 20% of partners producing 80% of revenue is everywhere, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Impartner PRM’s ability to segment your partners in a way that allows providing the right “care and feeding” to every kind of partner, brings out the gold in everyone. We help you shorten the “long tail” and make sure more partners are performing to their full potential. When the “the next 20” partners perform as well as the top 20, the impact is immediate and powerful. PRM makes more partners perform better – driving more channel revenue from your existing partner base.
10. 22%: more revenue from partners who use marketing solutions. If you can afford to reach 1,000 prospects, making it easy for your partners to amplify your marketing message through our partners, can help you reach tens of thousands or millions more (all while protecting your brand). Through-channel marketing solutions help even your smallest partners market like pros – you provide the tools and the messages and they simply amplify your messages with their own efforts. PRM helps your partners amplify your marketing in a way you can’t afford.
11. 50%: better ability by CAMs to meet quota. Many companies have shied away from the channel for fear that they will be unable to manage channel sales with the same levels of visibility as direct sales – making channel sales feel unpredictable and repeatable. With Impartner PRM, channel managers have the tools they need to crack open the black box on partner performance and be able to optimize and prioritize time and resources so much so, that users see a 50% increase in their ability to meet quota. PRM helps your channel team meet quota predictably and consistently.
12. So many good stats help drive revenue: Users report improvements everything from deal registration, sales enablement, onboarding, training and marketing that help accelerate performance. matter how you slice it, Impartner’s contemporary PRM solution elevates every aspect of your channel. As a system of record for your channel technology stack, a PRM unifies and optimizes the performance of your channel – enhancing the experience for your partners and accelerating revenue for your indirect sales in a way that ensures your channel is viewed as a valued revenue producer and not a cost center. PRM elevates the performance of your channel from every angle.

For the full whitepaper detailing these results, click here for your complimentary copy. If you’re making PRM decision and want to learn more about how Impartner can help you drive these results for your business, share 15 minutes and let us show you a demo and see we can increase your revenue by an average of 32.3%.

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