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Expressions that May Insult Your Channel Partners

Posted on: February 1st, 2012 by admin No Comments

No one likes being insulted, especially your channel partners.

Communicating with your channel partners using insincere and clichéd compliments can sometimes be viewed as an insult.

If you want to better communicate with your channel partners, you’ll want to avoid these four expressions at all costs.

Expression #1: “We Appreciate Your Business” – This phony expression was mentioned in a great CBS Money Watch post. Your channel partners know you appreciate their business. Think of a sincere and personal way to shows this.

Expression #2: “We Value You as a Channel Partner” – Again another impersonal pleasantry, you’ll want to avoid. Saying something like this is the easy way out. Give them an example of why you value them.

Expression #3: “We Couldn’t Have Done It without You” – This expression is used so much it’s laughable. Instead of saying this, tell them how they made an impact.

Expression #4: “You’re our Most Valuable Channel Partner” – If you say this to your channel partner, they’re probably thinking, “Do they say this to everyone?”

Avoid these expressions in your emails, telephone conversations and any correspondence with your channel partners. Be sincere when communicating with your channel partners. If you do that, you’ll create meaningful, profitable relationships that will last.

At Right On – No Bull Marketing, we can help you increase dealer network sales through our dealer portal reviews and other expert services for distributors and manufacturers.

To learn more about our company and services, visit, www.RightOn-NoBull.com or call us at 602-412-3168.

How to Make Your Dealer Portal Work For You

Posted on: January 16th, 2012 by joe No Comments

A dealer portal is one of the best ways for distributors and manufacturers to stay in touch and top of mind with their channel partners.

This is a great way to interact with your channel partners so you can increase dealer network sales. A dealer portal is more than just a website that your channel partners use to get information about your products and services.

It’s an interactive resource that allows you to build a stronger relationship with your channel partners.

Unfortunately, most dealer portals gather dust as soon as they are created because of a lack of fresh content. If you want to make your dealer portal work for you, you need to follow these tips.

Have a Plan – For any dealer portal, you need to have plan. Your plan should include what sorts of meaningful content you want on your portal. You can learn more about creating meaningful content for your channel partners by reading, “Are You Creating Meaningful Content?”

Keep It Organized – A channel partner shouldn’t have to dig for any information on your dealer portal. It should be easy to navigate. To ensure that your dealer portal is easy to use, try a website usability testing service. UserTesting.com is a popular website testing service many top companies use.

Respond Quickly to Channel Partner Questions – You should respond quickly to any questions channel partners may have about the content on your dealer portal. Making them wait is going to put a strain on your relationship.

Provide Information that Solves Problems for Channel Partners – A dealer portal should be a place where your channel partners can find answers to their problems. Try to create content that helps them improve their business. It can be simple sales and marketing tips. The idea is to give them fresh, useful information.

If you’re still looking for more ways to improve your dealer portal, you should consider getting a dealer portal review from a company like Right On – No Bull Marketing.

We can help you optimize your dealer portal so you can increase channel partner sales. To learn more, contact us today at 602-412-3168 or visit the Right On – No Bull Marketing Contact Page.

How To Keep Channel Partner Sales Rolling Through The Holiday Season

Posted on: December 12th, 2011 by joe No Comments

The six weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be maddening for salespeople.

Turkey, gifts and time off puts sales meetings and calls on ice for weeks. Many salespeople are on autopilot during this time. This is the time when your team should be seriously planning and prepping for the New Year.

To keep your business rolling during this slow time, here are some easy way to keep your salespeople on point.

Research, Research, Research – This is a great time to research your prospects to get an understanding of how they operate and make decisions. Look at company websites and social media sites such as LinkedIn to get some intelligence.

Education – When things are slow, it’s a great opportunity for channel partner salesperson education. Whether you attend webinars or in-person training sessions, this is a great opportunity to improve your staff.

Plan Ahead – This is the time to lay the groundwork for important trade shows and sales meetings with channel partners throughout the year. If you map out your year ahead of time, you’ll be in better shape for the duration of the year.

Create a Campaign – Start the New Year off with a bang with a campaign that targets your sales leads.

Following these tips will keep you rolling through the holiday season. For more great tips, be sure to read other post on the Right On – No Bull Marketing Blog. There, you’ll find expert best practices on the best ways to increase dealer network sales.

Bad Channel Partner Growth Strategies For Distributors And Manufacturers

Posted on: November 23rd, 2011 by joe No Comments

Too many distributors and manufacturers implement bad strategies when it comes to their channel partner sales programs.

They just don’t know how to find the right channel partner sales growth programs strategy.

CBS Money Watch had a great post on 10 Strategies That Kill Companies – And Careers. The post discussed remarkably flawed business strategies.

Here are a few of the strategies the blog covered as well as a few of our own that apply to distributors and manufacturers.

1). The Hope Strategy

Strategy – You pray and hope things get better.

Reality – Unless you believe in divine business miracles, things are probably going to get worse before they get better.

2). The Throw Money At It Strategy

Strategy – You blindly throw money at a problem with the hopes that it gets better.

Reality – Showering money on problems only creates bigger problems. Your business has less money.

3). The Spreading It Thin Strategy

Strategy – You focus on a lot of different areas with the hope that you hit it big at one of them.

Reality – You’re spreading yourself and your resources thin. You’ll never succeed at any of them.

4). The Dream Big Strategy

Strategy – You want your employees think big and dream big like you.

Reality – You spend too much time dreaming, you never get anything done.

5). Sidelines Strategy

Strategy – You end up sitting on the sidelines waiting for the right time to make your move.

Reality – If you believe in this type of strategy, there will never be a good time for you to get off the sidelines.

6). The New Customer Strategy

Strategy – You spend 100 percent of your time and resources looking for new customers.

Reality – You’re spending so much time focusing on getting new customers, you forget your existing customers. They’re the ones actually spending money with you.

Developing A Good Strategy

When it comes to developing a fundamentally sound channel partner sales growth strategy, you want to base it on:

Numbers, not hunches and guesses
Expert opinions, case studies and professional advice
Proven techniques and practices that actually increase sales

At Right On – No Bull Marketing, we can help you increase your channel partner sales. For more great advice, be sure to read other posts on the Right On – No Bull Marketing Blog.

5 Social Media Trends Impacting Manufacturers

Posted on: November 9th, 2011 by joe No Comments

If you want to increase dealer network sales, your network of dealers needs to be using social media to promote your products and services.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all great ways to grow your business.

However, if you want your channel partners to use social media, you really need to understand the important trends impacting manufacturers.

Social Media Examiner recently had an excellent posting on important social media trends. We’ve highlighted the most important ones for distributors and manufacturers looking to grow channel partner sales.

Trend #1: Focus On Facebook and LinkedIn

When it comes to social media, companies tend to focus on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. The stats from the Social Media Examiner posting show social media use at:

Facebook – 49%
Twitter – 40%
LinkedIn 27%
YouTube 23%

In our opinion, it’s important to focus on Facebook and LinkedIn. That’s because Facebook and LinkedIn have very large user bases. They also very easy to interact with potential customers.

Trend #2: Most Channel Partners Need Social Media Help

According to the report, lots of companies now use social media to promote products and services. But do they know what they’re actually doing?

Our guess is that some have a slight idea to what they’re doing while most are completely clueless. For distributors and manufacturers, it’s important to make sure your channel partners know how to promote your products and services via social media.

There are channel partner salesperson education programs that can help teach your channel partners how to sell and market in the internet era.

Trend #3: Be Patient

If you want to see success, you and your channel partners need to be patient. You’re not going to see record results overnight. It takes time and hard work.

The report showed that most companies generally saw an increase in confidence with social media at the two-year mark. We know that’s a long time, but if you have a fully developed social media marketing plan, you may not have to wait that long.

Trend #4: It’s All About Conversation

In the report, it showed many companies are using social media to broadcast marketing messages. This is totally wrong.

With social media, it’s all about the conversation. Have discussions with your customers on Facebook. You’ll build a stronger relationship and have a life-long customer. That’s the goal that you need to stress to your channel partners.

Trend #5: Measure Results

When it comes to social media marketing, most do not measure results. If you want to see channel partner sales increase, you need to pay close attention to your social media results.

According to the report, more than half of the respondents didn’t consistently pay attention to the results. This is a big mistake. By paying attention to the number of followers, comments, likes, postings, etc., you’ll be able to create a more successful social media marketing plan.

Get More Great Tips!

Paying attention to these five trends will help you increase channel partner sales. For more great tips, be sure to read other posts on the Right On – No Bull Marketing Blog and follow us on Facebook!