Your goal should be to put your partner reps in the best possible position to sell for you.

How do you do that?

Product knowledge for sure, but the road to better partner sales performance goes well beyond product applications and configurations.

So how can you get better sales results from your channel partners? Here are five simple tips for more sales:

1. Teach them to become better at generating sales leads.

Every partner in your network needs sales leads. Teach your partners how to generate leads for your products and services, especially via the internet, search engines, email, and social media. Teach B2B salespeople within your network how to prospect for leads and nurture leads using internet tools and social media. The more sales opportunities your partners have to sell your goods or services, the more revenue you should earn.

2. Place importance on lead nurturing.

It’s important that your partners establish relationships with prospects at every stage of the sales funnel. For many companies, the earlier the prospect enters the funnel, the higher the likelihood of a sale – but only IF the company stays engaged with the prospect. According to Marketo, 50% of the leads in any system are not yet ready to buy. That means relevant persuasive engagement is necessary as the prospect moves through the stages of the sales funnel and ultimately becomes a customer. Help your partners become better at lead nurturing so they are engaged with prospects throughout the entire sales funnel.

3. Be social.

Make sure to connect with your partners and their key employees via social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. You’ll have more authentic, personal and regular interactions. Positive partner interactions lead to stronger relationships and more sales.

4. Don’t be a one-hit wonder.

Provide training and interactions with your partners on a regular, systematic basis. People become better with repetition. Relationships become stronger with positive interactions. Use workshops, conferences, email newsletters, webinars, white papers, eBooks, infographics and more to bring value to your partners so they can generate more leads and make more sales. Call them regularly to offer assistance and to build trust.

5. Invest time and resources.

Proper resource and time allocation to teach lead generation and lead nurturing is crucial for driving increased sales from your channel partners. You need to allocate the financial and human resources to make your efforts a success. You also need to give things time to work. Babies aren’t born in a month, Warren Buffett didn’t become rich overnight, and you don’t teach your daughter to balance a checkbook when she’s two years old. You need to take some sort of action each and every month designed to help your partners become better at generating leads and nurturing leads. It’s through repetition and application that partners get better.

There’s five of our favorite ways to increase channel partner sales. What tips can you share?