How to Nurture a Partner Program

Grow your relationships with partners to multiply your results.

Your online presence will grow exponentially if you nurture your partner programs. Partners should play an integral role in your marketing and sales plans, and nurturing those partners to success should top your list of things to do every day. Get over the idea that you are doing them a favor; they are making your business successful. Once you have a few practical tools, you can nurture partnerships and grow your business faster than you may have imagined.

Instructions

1. 

   Taking care of your partners means taking care of business.

   Enable partners to sell your products. Make selling your products as simple and quick as possible. Give them the tools they need, such as buttons to embed in their sites, and give them a hotline number or email address to help them sell your products more easily.

2. 

   If you make doing business easy, your partners will remain loyal.

   Make it easy to do business with you. Make sure payments, credits and returns have simplified strategies. Become the easiest source of income your partners have. Pay on time, issue credits quickly and deliver products efficiently. Don't throw up barriers like difficult partner agreements, complicated order fulfillment or complex handling of special requests.

3. 

   Dangle rewards and your partners will move forward with you.

   Reward results. Pay more for the best. When partners learn that they can earn bonuses or graduate to upper levels of a tiered reimbursement program, they become more motivated to improve results. As the slow performers peel away, you can grow a top notch team of partners that are happy with you.

4. 

   A strong leader at the top can make partnerships last.

   Provide leadership. Offer guidelines, new ideas and new techniques for partners to use. Don't simply wait until problems arise or business cools off. Offer leadership in new ways to market, sell and move your product. Helping your partners means helping yourself.

5. Respond to partner needs. Resist the temptation to be a one-size-fits-all partner. Find out what individual partners need to succeed, and help them solve their problems. Designate a part of each day to resolving difficulties with your partners.

6. 

   Train your partners so they can profit with you.

   Offer training. Help your partners understand your product and your customer. Make sure they know the ins and outs of promoting your product, and they will be less likely to become frustrated with you. Train them so they can avoid pitfalls.

7. Automate your partner communications. Send messages automatically, at routine intervals, to keep your partners abreast of developments. Free up your time to handle special requests, individual needs and sudden problems.

References

• Websense: Global Partner Program
• The Var Guy: Partner Programs, Time for an Overhaul
• dtvirtualservices.com: Nuture Marketing